Network problems

[Scott Likens]

On Sat, 2003-09-20 at 15:10, Cameron Murdoch wrote:
> I have a strange problem with my Dell Inspiron Laptop.  The network card
> will stop responding to all network traffic.  This happens very
> regulally, though without any obvious pattern.  Sometimes it only
> appears as slight packet lose though normally the network connection
> goes completly.  But then at other times the connection stays up for a
> resonable time.  I have tried different cables, hubs, etc but to no
> avail.  
> 
> Link status doesn't seem to get dropped, only IP.
> 
> When the connection gets dropped doing an ifconfig down/up on the
> interface does ?
> 
> Unplugging and then inserting the network cable will restore the
> connection for at least a few seconds.
> 
> I am running a recent current:
> FreeBSD opal.macaroon.net 5.1-CURRENT FreeBSD 5.1-CURRENT #0: Fri Sep 19
> 21:59: 12 BST 2003 root at aalto.macaroon.net:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/OPAL
> i386
> 
> The network card is an integrated intel card, (fxp0):
> 
> fxp0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
>         options=3<RXCSUM,TXCSUM>
>         inet 10.1.10.200 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 10.1.10.255
>         ether 00:20:e0:69:50:3c
>         media: Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <half-duplex>)
>         status: active
> 
> Unfortunatly I can't remember when it started happening.  I have been
> tracking current weekly for the past few months.  It certainly seems to
> be getting worse though.
> 
> Any help would be much appriciated.
> 
> Cameron

First few questiond i'd have to ask is simple,

First, do you use DHCP?

What are you doing exactly when it looses 'net or 'ip?

Specifically, does it come out of suspend mode?  cable fall out? maybe
the dhcp server times out?

Is there any messages on the console or viewable via 'dmesg'?

Thanks