[ltp] Slow Ethernet performance using 10BaseT

[Nathan Kurz]

I'm running 2.6.9 on a Thinkpad X30 and I'm running into a problem
that I don't understand. It seems like I'm getting very slow ethernet
performance when I connect with 10BaseT.  Transferring files between
two local computers I get about 30KB/s using ftp or scp, which is much
slower than I would expect.

At first, I suspected that maybe other traffic was causing collisions
in some sort of bad feedback loop, so I tried connecting the two
machines together on a separate ethernet hub, but I got the same
result.  On the other hand, if I connect the two computers together
with a crossover cable, I get the 100BaseT speed I would expect
(around 10 MB/s for ftp or scp, no apparent processor limitation).

I've tried switching cables, but no difference.  I've tried two
different hubs: no difference (but I don't have a 100BaseT hub to
try).  The 802.11b wireless speed is what I would expect (300KB/s if I
remember correctly, but in any case much higher than the 10BaseT), and
since that comes off the same ethernet interface on the host machine,
I think the problem has to be with the laptop.  

I've tried this with both the eepro100 and e100 drivers, and get the
same result.  I'm not sure what to try next.  Anyone see problems
similar to this, or have an idea what might be happening here?

Thanks!

Nathan Kurz
nate@verse.com