[ltp] 560Z and 3Com 3cCFE575BT Cardbus card slow as 16Bit-PCMCIA since upgrade

[wes schreiner]

Heiko Rosemann wrote:
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I'm running a Thinkpad 560Z as a tiny web/eMail/whatever-Server plus
> downloading-machine (mainly onlineTVrecorder) First I had a Xircom 16Bit
> PCMCIA-network card, but it soon bothered me that I could only get
> ~500kB/s from it. So I bought the above-mentioned 3Com Cardbus card
> 3cCFE575BT (see lspci-Output below) plugged it in and got 2.5-3MB/s from
> it (which was not fast, but - well - OK...)

I have a similar 3cCFE575CT that I formerly used in a Thinkpad 600E.  It 
never had a speed problem.  For fun I stuck it into my T30 (the 600E is 
not available) and it works as expected.

> I might just have forgotten a simple step somewhere in the middle of the
> PCMCIA-config,

I don't think there is anything you could forget that would just cause a 
slowdown.

> So, if anyone has any suggestions for me - I'd be happy to try them out,
> this is driving me nuts.

I think this is the clue:

> z560 ~ # mii-diag
> Using the default interface 'eth0'.
> Basic registers of MII PHY #0:  1000 282d 0300 e54b 00a1 41e1 0003 0000.
>  The autonegotiated capability is 00a0.
> The autonegotiated media type is 100baseTx.
> 
> (note: should be 100baseTx-FD - but forcing that with -F doesn't work
> either)
> 
>  Basic mode control register 0x1000: Auto-negotiation enabled.
>  You have link beat, and everything is working OK.
>  Your link partner advertised 41e1: 100baseTx-FD 100baseTx 10baseT-FD
> 10baseT.
>    End of basic transceiver information.

There is nothing you could do by way of misconfiguration that would 
cause the card to select half duplex when the other end advertises full 
duplex.  I suspect that you have a hardware problem, probably cabling. 
Can you try a different cable between the card and your switch?  If the 
existing cable is long could you try a short one?  Perhaps try a 
crossover cable to another computer?  Here, with nearly the same card, 
on a 2.6.21.4-rt10 kernel, in a Thinkpad T30, with a 100baseTx-FD 
connection, to another computer on the same switch, I can get 10 to 11 
MB/s in sustained transfers of hundreds of MB.  Do you see collisions or 
errors with ifconfig after trying some transfers?  A lot of collisions 
will kill your speed too.

wes