[cobalt-users] Raq3i: onboard-NIC dies under heavy load

["Gunther Stammwitz" <gstammw@xxxxxxx>]

Hello,

I'm using my cobalt RaQ 3i as a firewall. It is equipped with two onboard
intel-nics and one additional tulip-based nic in the pci slot. The bios has
been flashed and the box is running debian with a 2.4.x-kernel.

The problem is, that the box is carrying about 30 to 40 megabits per seconds
- which means routing from one nic to the other. After running fine for a
period that changes between just 3 hours or even 3 days the box looses the
network-connection on one the first onboard nic (eth0). The second
onboard-nic has died since such an event. DMESG logs some kind of
netdev-watch-message: NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth2: transmit timed out NETDEV
WATCHDOG: eth2: transmit timed out NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth2: transmit timed out
NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth2: transmit timed out NETDEV WATCHDOG: eth2: transmit
timed out

The link on the nic is still up, but I cannot transfer any data. After
rebooting everything is fine again. Any ideas ?? Maybe - the nics are
getting too hot ???

Merry x-mas,
Gunther