5.3-Stable network issue

[Freddie Cash]

> Yeah, I've thought about it. But I got no non realtek cards on me, so
> I'd have to buy them. And there's always a chance this has nothing
> to do with network cards or the driver (after all, it has worked
> flawlessly for me since the FreeBSD 3.x days).

> I am wondering if it is related to my motherboard, or something else?
> I have a Epox dual cpu board... K something, I'd have to dig it up.
> Perhaps there is some issue with that, causing the kernel to do funny
> things?

> What will enabling polling support do?

Unfortuntealy, nothing for you, as it doesn't work with SMP setups
(or, at least, not yet).  :)  For UP setups, it helps with managing
interrupts and smoothing the load on the system when lots of packets
are going through (or something along those lines - check the comments
in /usr/src/sys/conf/NOTES and /usr/src/sys/i386/conf/NOTES for more
info on the option).

If you could drop the number of RealTek NICs down to one, that should
help a lot.  I'm running a FreeBSD 5.3 firewall using an onboard
RealTek NIC and a D-Link or NetGear NIC (dc(4) driver) and it works
much nicer than the 2 rl(4) setup that was in there originally.  Every
now and then, though, I still have to get a tech to reset the NIC
(it's slated for replacement, just haven't got around to it yet).

-- 
Freddie Cash, CCNT CCLP        Helpdesk / Network Support Tech.
School District 73             (250) 377-HELP [377-4357]
fcash-ml at sd73.bc.ca