jme JMicron gigabit ethernet driver and FC14 failing ...

[nyceyes]

Hi Friends:

I'm experiencing a problem with the "jme" driver for my ethernet controller, which is as follows:

root# lspci | grep "Ethernet Controller"
Ethernet Controller: JMicron Technology Corp. JMC250 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet

The "jme" driver version I'm running is the latest one I could download (and compile)
from the JMicron.Com website (version 1.0.7.1 here):

ftp://driver.jmicron.com.tw/Ethernet/Linux

root# ethtool -i eth0
driver: jme
version 1.0.7.1-jmmod
firmware-version:
bus-info: 0000:03:00.0

The issue I'm having is that the eth0 link works for a little while (like 30 - 40 seconds or,
alternatively perhaps for a certain number of downloaded bytes), before failing (link goes
down). When it fails, the console indicates the following message repeatedly:

jme: Disable RX engine timeout

Any ideas how to fix/work around this. I'm running the FC14 (just installed and not yet yum
updated since I'm having problems with eth0. Actually I did update the kernel).

Thanks in advance,
Noel

[sonoran]

Looking at the Linux Kernel Driver Database, http://cateee.net/lkddb/web-lkddb/JME.html,
the Fedora jme driver ought to work, at least since kernel 2.6.28. Do you get no eth0
connection after installation?

[nyceyes]

Hey Sonoran....

Thanks.

Indeed I do get an eth0, however the link level does not last long before the it goes down. My kernel (I
forgot to mention it explicitly) is "2.6.35.10-74.fc14.x86_64". The driver starts to complain (as though
it hits a bug or saturation point early on - see message above). Today I wrote JME support, as well as to the
author email address stated in output of the command "modinfo jme".

This is a bummer because, without a reliable network link, I can't start looking for other drivers for this
brand new laptop. For example, one alternative is to use the Wireless device for now -- which is provided by Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6230 -- but after doing a "modload iwlagn", I don't see a wlan0 device (only eth0 and lo).
Not to digres -- that's another problem, and perhaps another post very soon.

So the search continues. :-(

Thanks,
Noel

[sonoran]

The author of the linux jme driver has a website: http://cooldavid.org/
He might be interested in your problem.

[nyceyes]

Thanks for that. Yes that is actually who I wrote. I'll post back what he/she has to say so others can learn from
this experience.

[supernova420]

I am in the same boat. I also just emailed the author.

Did anyone ever resolve this issue?

[dpephd]

Hi,

I too am seeing similar behavior with my recently purchased Sager notebook with a JMicron JMC250 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller.

When trying to use the ethernet port, I inevitably end up with a kernel panic (error) and the entire OS eventually freezes.

I don't know if the wireless ethernet adpater is using the same device, but it too appears to have some issues when performing lengthy downloads.

I've experienced these issues with both Fedora 14 and Fedora 15-alpha (2.6.38.2.9-fc15.x86_64). I'm currently using Fedora 15-alpha since the ethernet device did not work at all with Fedora 14.

Any help would be appreciated. I'm aware that JMicron makes a jme kernel module available via their website. Would recompiling the jme module and patching into the kernel help resolve this issue?

Thanks,

dpe

[dpephd]

Hi,

I was able to get a BIOS update from my notebook vendor (Sager) which resolved this problem. Recommend that anyone experiencing this problem flash the latest BIOS on their computer.

dpe

[jcrummy]

I can confirm on an Asus K42F that a BIOS update fixed this problem. Note that this is in Ubuntu, so it is not a generic Fedora issue.

As a side note, my transfers using rsync over ssh went from anywhere in between 1-3 Mbit/s to ~40Mbit/s when I did the update.

[planar3d]

I think I just stumbled into this problem with a new laptop and Fedora 15. Here's the thread I created under installation help. JMC250 rev 05 is my ethernet chip.

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?t=265003

In reference to dpephd, this laptop uses UEFI instead of BIOS and there is no UEFI/BIOS firmware update as of yet.

[cooldavid]

Just fixed a critical bug of jme driver.

Please reference:
https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=373109

Hope this also fix the jme driver issue in fedora.