Up_down~up

[Michael Powell]

Jos Chrispijn wrote:

> Just saw this in my security log:
> 
> +++ /tmp/security.CVzQ19kE    2008-08-15 00:04:29.000000000 +0200
> +fxp0: link state changed to DOWN
> +fxp0: link state changed to UP
> +fxp0: link state changed to DOWN
> +fxp0: link state changed to UP
> +fxp0: link state changed to DOWN
> +fxp0: link state changed to UP
> 
> Does this indicate a nearly_broken nic or is this caused by someting else?
> Jos

I recently had an onboard 82540 chip fry out. It started sporadically and
over time became more frequent. When I googled I found many references to
heat problems. I then disabled rx/tx checksum offload and it seemed like it
fixed it, but only for a short while. It got worse and ultimately died
altogether. Had to disable and put a PCI NIC in.

While it is normal to see the ifup/down a couple of times at boot, it is an
abnormal indication when you begin seeing lots of them in /var/log/messages
during normal operation. If you notice a "pause" for a short while in your
network connection and then a tail /var/log/messages starts showing you
these messages your NIC is probably dying. If you only see a couple of
these at boot you're probably OK.

-Mike