IBM Support

Broadcom Ethernet adapter loses network connectivity - Servers

Troubleshooting


Problem

After a few hours of network activity the Broadcom 5703 Gigabit network adapter does not function normally and stops to send or receive data. This isolates this system on the network and all applications on this system and on other systems that depend onnetwork communication with this server stop functioning correctly.

Resolving The Problem

Source

RETAIN tip H18510

Symptom

After a few hours of network activity the Broadcom 5703 Gigabit network adapter does not function normally and stops to send or receive data. This isolates this system on the network and all applications on this system and on other systems that depend on network communication with this server stop functioning correctly.
 
The behavior starts off by showing a degradation in network activity and the system can ping itself but no other systems on the network. After a few minutes, it finally loses all connectivity to the network and additionally cannot ping itself.

Affected configurations  

The system may be any of the following IBM eServer xSeries servers:  

  • an xSeries 450, type 8688, any model
  • an xSeries 440, type 8687, any model
  • an xSeries 380, type 8683, any model
  • an xSeries 360, type 8686, any model
  • an xSeries 350, type 8682, any model
  • an xSeries 342, type 8669, any model
  • an xSeries 340, type 8656, any model
  • an xSeries 330, type 8675, any model
  • an xSeries 330, type 8674, any model
  • an xSeries 330, type 8654, any model
  • an xSeries 300, type 8672, any model
  • an xSeries 232, type 8668, any model
  • an xSeries 230, type 8658, any model
  • an xSeries 220, type 8646, any model

The system may be any of the following IBM Netfinity servers:  

  • a Netfinity 6000R server, type 8682, any model
  • a Netfinity 5100 server, type 8658, any model
  • a Netfinity 4500R server, type 8656, any model

The following network operating systems are affected:  

  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Terminal Server, with Service Pack 4 applied
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server
  • Microsoft Windows 2000 Datacenter Server

Note: This does not imply that the network operating system will work under all combinations of hardware and software. Please see the IBM ServerProven compatibility page for more information:

Solution

In some configurations this behavior has been associated with a downlevel S3 video driver which came from the Microsoft Windows 2000 CD. The downlevel driver version is 0.8.40.1 dated 10-25-1999.
 
Verify that this is the case and upgrade this driver to the one that is released by IBM, which is available from the support Web site. Click Servers - File and device driver downloads to find the driver for your system type dated 8-20-2002 version 6.13.10.8013 or newer.

Workaround

No workaround exists to fix this problem. Rebooting the server will bring back the network up, but the adapter may encounter the same problem after a few hours of work.

Additional information

 The Broadcom network driver APIC table is getting full and it cannot service any of its interrupts. This prevents the driver from functioning normally. There is a connection with the downlevel S3 video driver to be causing this failure condition.
 
The upgraded S3 video driver has fixed this problem on several customer systems which had been seeing this network loss symptom and we highly recommend that the latest S3 driver from the IBM support Web site be used.

Document Location

Worldwide

Operating System

Older System x:Windows 2000

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Document Information

Modified date:
29 January 2019

UID

ibm1MIGR-53216

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