Can't get if_txp(4) to attach to a 3CR990B-TXM NIC

[Pyun YongHyeon]

On Fri, Jun 08, 2007 at 09:13:37AM -0700, Freddie Cash wrote:
> Good morning,
> 
> I'm having a bit of an issue getting a 3CR990B-TXM NIC detected and 
> usable.  Just wondering if anyone knows of any issues with this NIC 
> chipset and/or with the motherboard chipset.
> 
> The motherboard is a Biostar GeForce 6100 AM2 using an nVidia nForce 410 
> chipset and nVidia GeForce 6100 vide chipset.
> 
> I've tried FreeBSD 6.1, 6.2, 6-STABLE (from Wed), and 7-CURRENT (from Thu) 
> on this system.  Everything installs nicely, everything on the board is 
> detected correctly and usable.  It's just the PCI NIC that doesn't work.
> 
> If I compile a custom kernel without any network drivers in it, and then 
> kldload if_txp, the following appears (same message on all 4 versions):
> 
> txp0: <3Com 3cR990B-TXM Etherlink with 3XP Processor> port 0xbc00-0xbc7f 
> mem 0xfdcff000-0xfdcff07f irq 16 at device 8.0 on pci3
> txp0: not waiting for boot
> device_attach: txp0 attach returned -1
> 
> If I reboot and load if_nve (on 6.2 and 6-stable), then I get:
> nve0: <NVIDIA nForce MCP13 Networking Adapter> port 0xdc00-0xdc07 mem 
> 0xfe02d000-0xfe02dfff irq 22 at device 20.0 on pci0
> nve0: Ethernet address 00:19:21:37:d5:60
> 
> Followed by the above messages for txp0 (it seems to detect and load 
> if_txp automativally when loading if_nve).
> 
> I've updated the BIOS on the motherboard.  I've tried different PCI slots 
> on the motherboard.  Nothing changes.  The "not waiting for boot" message 
> keeps appearing.
> 
> Attached are dmesg output from:
>   6.1-RELEASE  GENERIC kernel                dmesg_6.1.txt
>   6.2-RELEASE  GENERIC kernel                dmesg_6.2.txt
>   6.2-RELEASE  GENERIC kernel  verbose boot  dmesg_6.2_verbose.txt
>   6-STABLE     GENERIC kernel                dmesg_6_generic.txt
>   6-STABLE     TEST kernel (no NIC drivers)  dmesg_6_custom.txt
>   7-CURRENT    GENERIC kernel                dmesg_7_generic.txt
>   7-CURRENT    TEST kernel (no NIC drivers)  dmesg_7_custom.txt
> 
> I've looked through the cvsweb entries for txp and didn't see anything 
> related to this issue.  Reading the man page for if_txp(4) doesn't show 
> anything about this error.  I tried reading the source, but C is pretty 
> much Greek to me.
> 
> Everything I've read online says this NIC should work, and other are using 
> it successfully.  My gut feeling is that it's something to do with the 
> motherboard chipset and the way it detects the NIC.  But I could be way 
> off.
> 
> (As a test, I popped in a Kanotix LiveCD and the 3Com NIC is detected and 
> usable, so it's [hopefully] not a defective NIC.)
> 
> Anyone have any suggestions?  Comments?  Methods to destroy the NIC as an 
> act of defiance?  :)
> 

Now I've encountered similar issue. See
http://lists.freebsd.org/pipermail/freebsd-current/2009-February/003033.html
for possible fix.