Intel em0 watchdog timeout & RESET * Solved Issue

[gtivey]

A recent install of an Intel 1000/GT network adapter started acting up with watchdog timeouts and adapter resets. I slowed the errors considerably by enabling POLLING on the card, but the errors were still occurring on a regular basis. I was looking for a better fix.

Poking around on Intel site for a Driver Update, I found the FreeBSD 7 source code version em-6.9.21 (pfsense 1.2.3 ships with a really old version 6.9.6).
As there are no binaries available, I had to install FreeBSD 7.2 on a separate system so I could compile the FreeBSD kernel module. After compiling the if_em.ko module, it was copied over to the pfsense firewall.  Add if_em_load="YES" to /boot/loader.conf and the new module will load on a reboot, instead of old driver built in to the kernel. Version numbers are displayed by typing " dmesg | grep Intel" at the console.

I would recommend that the developers update all the pfsense versions with the   
em-6.9.21 version Intel Gigabit driver. I'm happy with this fix, as the errors have gone from 30-40 a day to -none-.

[stephenw10]

Interesting. I had some timeouts show up recently.
Did you try the 2.0 beta?

Steve

[gtivey]

Hi Steve –-

I have not tried the 2.0 Beta. All firewalls I manage are key networking devices in a production enviroment. After five minutes spent on the "bug-list" page looking it over, I decided that there were far too many outstanding issues.

As a side note, while searching for a solution, many postings on other FreeBSD boards are describing the same or similar problems with various versions of FreeBSD.