freebsd stable - Mar 2006 - ppp HDLC errors

Dear list members,

I'm trying to get a 3g / UMTS connection to work on my RELENG_6
(i386, AMD Sempron) machine. I've installed a Novatel Merlin U630
card (pcmcia) which is providing a hayes serial modem to the system
(on sio4 in my case).

Dialing works fine but most DNS queries are timing out, but also
most tcp sessions won't work. While in ppp (userland) I'm seeing
messages like:

Phase: deflink: HDLC errors -> FCS: 28, ADDR: 0, COMD: 0, PROTO: 0
Phase: deflink: HDLC errors -> FCS: 27, ADDR: 0, COMD: 0, PROTO: 0
Phase: deflink: HDLC errors -> FCS: 102, ADDR: 0, COMD: 0, PROTO: 0
Phase: deflink: HDLC errors -> FCS: 25, ADDR: 0, COMD: 0, PROTO: 0
Phase: deflink: HDLC errors -> FCS: 9, ADDR: 0, COMD: 0, PROTO: 0
Phase: deflink: HDLC errors -> FCS: 10, ADDR: 0, COMD: 0, PROTO: 0

Later I'm seeing message like that on the console screen:

sio4: 152599 more interrupt-level buffer overflows (total 152599)

I've tried increased and decreased the baud rate in ppp but the same
appears.

dmesg for the devices involved:

cbb0: <RF5C475 PCI-CardBus Bridge> at device 13.0 on pci0
cardbus0: <CardBus bus> on cbb0
pccard0: <16-bit PCCard bus> on cbb0
pccard0: Allocation failed for cfe 7
sio4: <Novatel Wireless Merlin UMTS Modem> at port 0x2f8-0x2ff irq
17 function 0
 config 15 on pccard0
sio4: type 16550A
sio4: unable to activate interrupt in fast mode - using normal mode
pccard0: Allocation failed for cfe 7
pccard0: Allocation failed for cfe 15
sio5: <Novatel Wireless Merlin UMTS Modem> at port 0x2e8-0x2ef irq
17 function 1
 config 23 on pccard0
sio5: type 16550A
sio5: unable to activate interrupt in fast mode - using normal mode

It's a RELENG_6 machine with a recent kernel (compiled yesterday
with kernel sources from Feb-26).

The same appears whether or not SMP kernel is being used. I've been
unable to find anything in the archives closely related. The card
works fine under Win2k (on a different machine). The RELENG_6
machine is using a PCI-PCMCIA adapter. Any hint is welcome! :)

Is there a workaround? Should I go with pppd or mpd?

Do you need any more info on that? Is there something more I might
check out?

What about the dmesg messages:
pccard0: Allocation failed for cfe 7
sio4: unable to activate interrupt in fast mode - using normal mode


As always, thanks a lot for your help!

Volker

On Wed, Mar 01, 2006 at 04:19:37PM +0100, Volker wrote:
> Dear list members,
> 
> I'm trying to get a 3g / UMTS connection to work on my RELENG_6
> (i386, AMD Sempron) machine. I've installed a Novatel Merlin U630
> card (pcmcia) which is providing a hayes serial modem to the system
> (on sio4 in my case).
> 
> Dialing works fine but most DNS queries are timing out, but also
> most tcp sessions won't work. While in ppp (userland) I'm seeing
> messages like:
I had a similar problem with PCI-800H card.
> Later I'm seeing message like that on the console screen:
> 
> sio4: 152599 more interrupt-level buffer overflows (total 152599)
Have a look at http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/query-pr.cgi?pr=51982
maybe it is related. You could change sio.c and increase cp4ticks
by factor of 10, then recompile your kernel and see if it helps.

have you activated rtscts-flowcontrol (see /etc/rc.d/serial) for sio4?
> It's a RELENG_6 machine with a recent kernel (compiled yesterday
> with kernel sources from Feb-26).
> 
> sio4: unable to activate interrupt in fast mode - using normal mode
this might be if sio4 shares its irq with other resources...

Regards,
Holger Kipp