help

[darkrevival]

Hello,

Does anyone know how can i update the bios on that board ? I have some
issues with it under Linux (it runs fine, and after that, suddenly, it
stays connected to the network, but other computers can't reach it) and
I hope a bios update will do the job.

Anyway, it is for a router, and I am not going to spend my money on
hardware that does not stay cool, like this Intel 166.

Thanks.

 

[Tony Hill]

Hello,

Does anyone know how can i update the bios on that board ? I have some
issues with it under Linux (it runs fine, and after that, suddenly, it
stays connected to the network, but other computers can't reach it) and
I hope a bios update will do the job.

Anyway, it is for a router, and I am not going to spend my money on
hardware that does not stay cool, like this Intel 166.

Err.. uhhh.. what board?

 

[darkrevival]

Via apollo 5v-1a, aka 5vpx2.
I disabled internal and external cache, and it worked fine for 6
hours.. after that, bang.. no connections to it.. What could be wrong ?
Will a BIOS update solve it ?

10x

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Via apollo 5v-1a, aka 5vpx2.
I disabled internal and external cache, and it worked fine for 6
hours.. after that, bang.. no connections to it.. What could be wrong ?
Will a BIOS update solve it ?

You're being very vague about your problem. All I can tell from you is
that you're having some sort of networking problem. If that's true, then
the answer is no, a BIOS update will not take care of it.

Yousuf Khan

 

[darkrevival]

Okey, let me light it up:

It works fine for no matter how much time, but at some intervals the
networked computers can't acces the router or the outside. It goes to
normal if I ping the machines from it, or if I wait ~10min.
It does that on any kernel/distribution. In fact, I just don't know
what is happending. When my computer looses acces to it, 2 servers next
by have acces to it..
The next that happend is I changed the mobo and the cpu and the network
cards and it still does that.
It's the first time I see this in some years now..

 

[nobody]

Okey, let me light it up:

It works fine for no matter how much time, but at some intervals the
networked computers can't acces the router or the outside. It goes to
normal if I ping the machines from it, or if I wait ~10min.
It does that on any kernel/distribution. In fact, I just don't know
what is happending. When my computer looses acces to it, 2 servers next
by have acces to it..
The next that happend is I changed the mobo and the cpu and the network
cards and it still does that.
It's the first time I see this in some years now..

So, evidently, neither the hardware nor the mobo BIOS have anything to
do with it. There's something screwed up in network config...IMHO...
Can't help any further, my knowledge of linux networking is nil.
NNN

 

[Yousuf Khan]

Okey, let me light it up:

It works fine for no matter how much time, but at some intervals the
networked computers can't acces the router or the outside. It goes to
normal if I ping the machines from it, or if I wait ~10min.
It does that on any kernel/distribution. In fact, I just don't know
what is happending. When my computer looses acces to it, 2 servers next
by have acces to it..
The next that happend is I changed the mobo and the cpu and the network
cards and it still does that.
It's the first time I see this in some years now..

Have you tried changing your network cards?

Yousuf Khan

 

[Tony Hill]

Via apollo 5v-1a, aka 5vpx2.

Is that the Lucky star 5VPX2 based off the VIA Apollo VPX chipset? If
so I think you may have trouble finding any BIOS updates, since as
best as I can tell Lucky Star no longer exists.

I disabled internal and external cache, and it worked fine for 6
hours.. after that, bang.. no connections to it.. What could be wrong ?
Will a BIOS update solve it ?

I *HIGHLY* doubt that a BIOS update would solve this issue. In my
experience, networking problems can be broken down at about 1% problem
with the electronics of the NIC, 1% physical problem with the NIC (ie
broken pin), 2% cable/router issues and about 95% software. The
remaining 1% would compromise every other aspect, including the (very)
odd BIOS issue.

If you're having networking problems, I would really recommend looking
long and hard at the software side of things, drivers, DHCP settings,
configurations, firewall settings, router settings, etc. My guess is
that you're solution will be somewhere in there. While you're at it
though, it might be worthwhile trying other cables, switches and/or
routers if possible to try and eliminate that aspect of things.

 

[George Macdonald]

Okey, let me light it up:

It works fine for no matter how much time, but at some intervals the
networked computers can't acces the router or the outside. It goes to
normal if I ping the machines from it, or if I wait ~10min.
It does that on any kernel/distribution. In fact, I just don't know
what is happending. When my computer looses acces to it, 2 servers next
by have acces to it..
The next that happend is I changed the mobo and the cpu and the network
cards and it still does that.
It's the first time I see this in some years now..

Which system is the DHCP Server and what is the lease period time-out? Any
Win2K or WinXP systems/servers on the LAN?

This thing is a router?... so has two NICs in it? Connected with what --
coax or TP? -- to the LAN by what: a hub, switch? What speeds here -
10Base-T, 100Base-TX? If you have same-brand NICs you could run a
diagnostics check for connectivity. If you have a switch with some kind of
diags -- at least a Web-based interface -- you could check for LAN traffic
errors.

IME if a LAN has been working and then suddenly starts exhibiting problems,
it's been some kind of network equipment incompatibility: I've had NICs
which would not talk to certain hubs/swicthes at certain speeds; I've had
NICs which would hang the hub/switch, i.e. the entire network, when the
system they were in was powered off; I've had hubs/switches which would not
talk to each other, some not at all, others only certain speeds; I've had
hubs which would "partition" with heavy traffic with a too large TCP Window
size.

This is a P5 with L1 & L2 disabled?... why? That is a damned slow system
then and with two NICs in it could be just too slow - possibly that VIA
chipset will not do Bus Mastering reliably with two NICs, especially with
no caches. It could also just be component aging - e.g. electrolytic caps
drying up. If it's never been replaced, try changing the mbrd battery as a
last stab before junking it.

As you can see there's many things which could be wrong - finding the "one"
is umm, hard... nigh impossible without some kind of sniffing capability.
I've seen people putting better systems than your "router" in the garbage -
a visit to the Salvation Army might turn up something better for the job:
say a P3-500 on a 440-BX mbrd with 256MB memory.

 

[darkrevival]

Hello,

And yes, you`re right. After all, the problem was my workstation with
win32. After some further tests on another mobo and cpu, all works
fine, on all operating systems. I just re-tested the 166mhz on 5v-1a
and it works like a charm, with L1&L2 enabled.

My windows workstation was the problem, it must have caught a cold..
Dun`no... After the reinstall it works just fine, like the other
*nix-es and flavours in here.

Thanks for your help.