*BSD News Article 64243


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From: rll@marvin.corp.arco.com (Richard L. Lamb)
Subject: Slow 3C509 - More data
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Organization: ARCO Corporate
Date: Wed, 27 Mar 1996 21:12:50 GMT

I posted last week concerning slow performance from a 3C509.  I was
getting 100Kbytes/sec from a Sun 10/51 to my 486/33, which typically
was good for 700-800Kbytes/sec under Linux.

I haven't solved the problem yet, but I have done some further testing.

I deliberately mismatched the 3C509's IRQ setting with what the kernel
expected.  Result: 100Kbytes/sec.

I swapped out the 3C509 for a 3C507.  Result: 100Kbytes/sec.

This seemed a bit too coincidental, so I repeated the 3C507 test using
/dev/null as the local target of the FTP.  Result: 600Kbytes/sec!

I don't think the problem is a slow disk subsystem; I can copy a 2MB
file in the blink of an eye.

Here's a bit more detail on the system configuration:

AST Power Premium 486DX/33
16MB RAM
EISA bus
Adaptec 1740 SCSI controller, Enhanced mode
Maxtor 340MB and Seagate 1GB SCSI disks
Wangtek 5150ES SCSI tape
Toshiba 3401 SCSI CDROM
ATI Graphics Ultra (Mach 8)
and of course the 3C509 or 3C507 Ethernet adapters.

Yes, I know all this is aging hardware and that much newer and faster
stuff is available :-)

Being brand new to the FreeBSD world, I'm at a loss---this is just
too weird.  If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be grateful.

Thanks,
Richard Lamb
rll@marvin.corp.arco.com