[clug] Re: Ethernet problem: NIC Link goes down regularly on ThinkPad X60s (Lachlan Rogers) (From: linux Digest, Vol 55, Issue 13)

[Miles Goodhew]

On 11/07/2007, at 10:00 PM, linux-request at lists.samba.org wrote:

> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:29:58 +1000
> From: Lachlan Rogers <lachlan at rogers.name>
> Subject: [clug] Ethernet problem: NIC Link goes down regularly on
> 	ThinkPad	X60s
> To: CLUG List <linux at lists.samba.org>
> Message-ID: <20070710222958.86ec41bc.lachlan at rogers.name>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>
> Hi everybody,
>
> I am running Gentoo linux on my new IBM ThinkPad X60s and am having  
> problems with the ethernet connection dropping out.  I've been  
> along to two CLUG meetings now, and have seen at least 2 people  
> with ThinkPad X60 laptops.  I am wanting to determine if my problem  
> is simply a Linux driver issue or whether it is hardware that  
> should be fixed while under warranty.
<< Blah, blah, blah >>

	Stabbing in the dark, I'd say it's some kind of hardware problem.  
Antti Roppola suggested futzing with the cable and link speed and I  
second this motion. Gig-e has a lot less tolerance of problems. Try  
using ethtool to scale-back to lower-speed modes to see if it makes a  
difference (10/half/no-auto -> 10/full/no-auto -> 100/half/no-auto ->  
100/full/no-auto -> 1000/half/no-auto -> autoneg). FWIW Gig-E uses  
all four pairs of the ethernet cable (10 and 100 only use two, hence  
you can pair-multiplex two "phone lines" _and_ one 100btx _or_ two  
100btx links through a single physical cable).
	If that (blaming the cable) gets you no joy, then I'd consider a  
return.

M0les.