Quad-port SuperMicro input errors (Intel 82571)

[tdi]

Hello,

I have just installed 4-port card (http://www.supermicro.com/products/accessories/addon/AOC-UG-i4.cfm) on 1.2.3-RELEASE.
Card is AOC-UG-i4 Quad-port Supermicro PCI Gigabit Ethernet adapter based on Intel's 82571 chip.

em0, em1, em2 and em3 interfaces are almost unusable with high input errors count even for a small amount of traffic.
dmesg shows frequent UP/DOWN link state changes.

This is same for both default 6.9.6 and newly installed 6.9.21 if_em.ko:
em0: <intel(r) 1000="" pro="" network="" connection="" 6.9.21="">port 0xc880-0xc89f mem 0xfe880000-0xfe89ffff,0xfe860000-0xfe87ffff irq 25 at device 0.0 on pci4

Changing hw.em.rxd and hw.em.txd to higher values (tried both to 1024 ad 4096) does not affect this problem.

If anyone had similar issues or has helpful hints please step forward :)

Thanks!</intel(r)>

[jimp]

You might try a 2.0 snapshot, much newer drivers, it might be better. Though current 2.0 snaps have an em driver that also has issues with certain chipsets, it's generally older ones.

[tdi]

It seems that cards themselves are working OK on both 6.9.6 and 6.9.21 drivers.

Direct connection with crossover cable between two quad cards gives error-free 1Gbps connection.
Also, errors are only present on few interfaces connected to Linksys SRW224P switches.

Replacing SRW224P switches with Cisco Catalyst 2925 and some other linksys non-manageable switch removes input error problems.

Thanks for your help!

[tdi]

Update: SRW224P gigabit interfaces also work well with AOC-UG-i4