Network problems with nVidia MCP55 network devices

This document (7006203) is provided subject to the disclaimer at the end of this document.

Environment

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 3
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Service Pack 4

Situation

On hardware with on board nvidia based network cards the network statistic shows many RX Errors or the network doesn't come up after booting. This was reported on devices with Device PCI-ID's 0x0373 and 0x0057 (see below how to check the PCI-ID of your network card).

SuSE Linux Enterprise Server Service Pack 3 ships with an updated forcedeth_new driver that is not affected by the problem. The driver supports only newer models of nVidia network devices, devices with Vendor PCI-ID 0x10DE "nVidia Corporation" and Device PCI-ID's 0x0373 or 0x0057 are not yet supported with the forcedeth_new driver.

You'll find the PCI-ID when you enter 'hwinfo --netcard' on a terminal. In the resulting output look at the line starting with 'Device', it will show pci 0x0373.

32: PCI 08.0: 0200 Ethernet controller
[Created at pci.317]
UDI: /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_10de_373_2
Unique ID: rBUF.wrgcu9Lr3L3
SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:08.0
SysFS BusID: 0000:00:08.0
Hardware Class: network
Model: "nVidia MCP55 Ethernet"
Vendor: pci 0x10de "nVidia Corporation"
Device: pci 0x0373 "MCP55 Ethernet"
SubVendor: pci 0x10de "nVidia Corporation"
SubDevice: pci 0xcb84
Revision: 0xa3

Resolution

The kernel maintenance update, kernel version -2.6.16.60-0.66.1 includes patches to resolve the problem on network devices with PCI-ID 0x0373.
The kernel version -2.6.16.60-0.67.1 includes patches to resolve the problem on network devices with PCI-ID 0x0057.

After the update of the kernel including the patches you have to blacklist the forcedeth driver and bind the network device to the forcedeth_new driver. This can be done as follows:

1. Blacklist "forcedeth":
# echo "blacklist forcedeth">> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

2. Use YaST to bind the network device's PCI-ID to forcedeth_new:
Open YaST -> System -> System Settings -> Add -> Manually 
and enter the following fields:
Driver: forcedeth_new
Vendor: 10DE
Device: 0373

The last step can be automatized so that you don't have to use YaST.

Create the following files and add the content for each file:

# cat /etc/modprobe.d/newid
install forcedeth_new /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install forcedeth_new; echo '10DE
0373' > /sys/bus/pci/drivers/forcedeth_new/new_id

# cat /etc/sysconfig/hardware/hwcfg-vpid-10DE-0373
MODULE='forcedeth_new'
STARTMODE='auto'
MODULE_OPTIONS=''

# cat /etc/sysconfig/hardware/newids 
10DE 0373,forcedeth_new

Additional Information

Disclaimer

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