Via-rhine with 10Mbit HD

Problem:

Bad network cable will not work with 100MBit FullDuplex/HalfDuplex instead I had to set it to 10Mbit HD!

The tool mii-tool which is in the net-tools package will help you out here.

Solution:

root@QKliX:/usr/src/linux-2.4.22# mii-tool --help
usage: mii-tool [-VvRrwl] [-A media,... | -F media] [interface ...]
      -V, --version               display version information
      -v, --verbose               more verbose output
      -R, --reset                 reset MII to poweron state
      -r, --restart               restart autonegotiation
      -w, --watch                 monitor for link status changes
      -l, --log                   with -w, write events to syslog
      -A, --advertise=media,...   advertise only specified media
      -F, --force=media           force specified media technology
media: 100baseT4, 100baseTx-FD, 100baseTx-HD, 10baseT-FD, 10baseT-HD,
      (to advertise both HD and FD) 100baseTx, 10baseT

Ok let's have a look at the configuration:

root@QKliX:/usr/src/linux-2.4.22# ifconfig eth1
eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0B:6A:C5:08:21
         inet addr:192.168.100.18  Bcast:192.168.100.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
         UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
         RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
         TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
         collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
         RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
         Interrupt:12 Base address:0xb400

You have to run this command:

root@QKliX:/usr/src/linux-2.4.22# mii-tool -F 10baseT-HD eth1

After running mii-tool you have to set the interface back up! root@QKliX:/usr/src/linux-2.4.22# ifconfig eth1 up

Let's have a look if it is working:

root@QKliX:/usr/src/linux-2.4.22# ping 192.168.100.181
PING 192.168.100.181 (192.168.100.181): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 192.168.100.181: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.8 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.100.181: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.5 ms
...

Hehe :-)

Making changes permanent

root@QKliX:/usr/src/linux-2.4.22# cat /etc/network/interfaces

# /etc/network/interfaces -- configuration file for ifup(8), ifdown(8)

# The loopback interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The first network card - this entry was created during the Debian installation
# (network, broadcast and gateway are optional)
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
       pre-up mii-tool -F 10baseT-HD eth0
       address 192.168.100.203
       netmask 255.255.255.0
       network 192.168.100.0
       broadcast 192.168.100.255
       gateway 192.168.100.181