Dell B57.LAN NIC drivers 2

[marvhuffaker]

I post this hoping someone can help me make sense of it. I have a client with a few NW6 servers, all DELL 2650's. They have a problem with connectivity, and I am trying to cover all bases, starting with the server and infrastructure and working my way to the workstations.

I have found through research a very bad history of defects, bugs, backrev's, and patches for the B57.LAN driver. I even found a post stating that the B57.LAN driver in NW6SP2 was defective.

Can someone shed some light and let me know what the deal is? Or what is stable? Also maybe what custom configuration load options are working? I've read that sometimes they are necessary but can't get a consistent answer on that either.

I already realize that if these were compaq's we wouldn't be having problems, but this is a new client and I had no control.

Marvin Huffaker MCNE, CNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting

http://www.redjuju.com

 

[ak8899]

Hi Marvin

You're right this Broadcom Chip based NIC is very infamous.
There were lots of known issues. You can find them documented on support.novell.com.

You'll find the latest B57.lan driver in the beta SP4 for NW6.
B57.LAN 132741 11-14-2003 03:20PM

That driver should solve the issues.

If you are not going to install the whole SP4, than I would recommend to install the latest tcpip update (tcp607k.exe) along with the new driver.

regards,
Alain

 

[TheBoySmith]

And new compaq's also use the broadcoms. They must be giving them off free or near as free.


Lee Smith
Associated Network Services
Snr Systems Engineer
Lee.Smith@ANSPLC.Com

 

[Provogeek]

One of my coworkers researched this, here is a copy of his report.

Gentlemen,

Some of the indicators that your servers may be having problems with a Broadcom gigabit NIC include, but aren't limited to:

- frequent loss of time synchronization
- servers losing and regaining communication with each other on a frequent basis
- persistent NDS sync problems or stuck obituaries
- random ABENDs, especially during periods of high server utilization
- servers with low utilization that are delivering puzzlingly slow performance on file copies, moves, etcetera

The Broadcom gigabit chipset is used by HP, Compaq, IBM, Dell, 3Com, and I've recently been informed that some models of Intel card also use the chipset.

Please find and download version 6.4 of the B57.LAN driver.

This version of the driver will work for nearly any gigabit NIC using the Broadcom chipset. If you have any HP/Compaq servers using Compaq's "branded" Q57.LAN driver ... this driver will also work for those servers. It just doesn't say "HP" or "Compaq" when you load it.

IN ADDITION to trying this driver, FOR EVERY SERVER that is running a B57.LAN or Q57.LAN driver, I recommend doing the following:

1. Edit SYS:ETC\NETINFO.CFG
2. For each line that starts "LOAD B57.LAN ...", go to the end of that line, and add the words "CHECKSUM=OFF" (don't type the quotes).
3. Save and exit NETINFO.CFG
4. Edit SYS:ETC\NETINFO.CHK
5. Change the number in that file to "0" (zero, don't type the quotes).
6. Save and exit NETINFO.CHK
7. Take the server down gracefully.
8. Power the server OFF. This must be done to reset the Broadcom chipset. Just warm-booting won't always do it.
9. Power the server back on, and bring up the server.

This procedure turns off packet checksumming, which is what's been causing all of the problems with this chipset's driver. Some clients have reported a slight performance decrease, but I haven't been able to get any definitive performance measurements, so this may be simply an apocryphal/emotional reaction.

allan hurst / technical principal, novell enterprise systems group
KIS computer center

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Brent Schmidt Certified nut case
Senior Network Engineer

http://www.kiscc.com

 

[ak8899]

Hi Provogeek

Thanks for this post, useful stuff.
worth a star

regards,
Alain

 

[marvhuffaker]

Brent, thanks for that info.

Marvin Huffaker MCNE, CNE
Marvin Huffaker Consulting

http://www.redjuju.com