> Limaunion wrote:
>> hi all! I've been using OpenBSD during the last 2-3 years mainly running
>> it as a firewall.
>>
>> I've an old machine (486 + 48MB RAM) and yesterday decided to make
>> some improvements: upgrade it from 4.0 to 4.2 (new installation) and
>> replace the two NICs, switching from NE2000 clones (RTL8029) to 3C905B.
>> The problem is that i'm getting ton of this messages which
>> bring down the two interfaces:
>>
>> xl0: reset didn't complete
>> xl1: reset didn't complete
>> xl0: command never completed!
>> xl1: command never completed!
>>
>> I found that man xl already has some information about 'command never
>> completed' but in this case the driver does not continue to function
>> normally. Is this problem a combination of old hardware with the xl
>> interfaces ? or are this interfaces crap too ? switching to a newer
>> machine (pentium 166) may help ? or should I buy another brand (which) ?
>
> xl(4) devices are pretty far down the list as far as performance and
> quality. However, I haven't seen those messages in quite some time,
> and never saw them as fatal failures as you are.
>
> HOWEVER, that being said, I haven't seen a 486 with a good PCI bus in
> a while, either. Most of the "real" 486 systems with PCI busses
> probably worked for something in some way on some OS, but not for me.
> (I have a few AMD5x86-oriented boards that appear to have a very
> functional PCI bus, but those were in the Pentium days. Actually,
> on closer examination, you may have one of those boards.)
>
> SO, I'm going to guess it is a combination of a cranky driver in a
> slightly non-standard PCI bus.
>
> For a quick fix, let's look back to your RT8029 cards. While the
> RT8029 is probably about the worst performing NIC to ever go on a
> PCI bus, it will handle most home-grade uses just fine. I suspect
> the PCI bus on the things will give them better performance than any
> ISA card, and I've moved a lot of data through ISA cards in the past.
>
> So, were you having a problem with the RT8029s, or just trying to
> put in a "better" card? Odds are, if you need the performance of a
> 100Mbps card, you may be needing a new computer (in which case, your
> P166 is probably great). If you didn't NEED the performance, put
> the 8029-based cards back in.
>
> Hm. Looking at your dmesg, I see
>> pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 1 (bios)
> which I don't recall having seen before...might be worth checking
> to see if the BIOS has a "PNP Aware OS" mode for the BIOS. (heh,
> just spot checked a couple machines, they both have this line, but
> both say "(no bios)". So much for my memory, which should lead one
> to doubt my interpretation, but still might be an interesting test.
>
> Once I get some space on a shelf, might have to plug one of my
> similar looking boards in, see what it does. :)
>
>
>
>> Thanks in advance for any help!.
>> Jorge
>>
>> PS: on 2006-01-06 I reported a keyboard problem with OpenBSD 3.8, the
>> problem is still present with 4.2:
>>
http://marc.info/?l=openbsd-misc&m=113658848307726&w=2
>
> Dang, I think I remember that. Had me scratching back then, too.
> Not doing any better now...
>
> This might be a stinker of a MoBo. We just don't have too many
> keyboard problems reported...
>
> Nick.
