Odd network connection behavior.

I have spent a couple days googling this to no avail so far. I have a new install of Freebsd 8.1. The problem is that upon booting the system I get no network communication until I bring the connection down and back up again, then the connection will lose packets when communicating.

When I run a ping it will timeout for one or two pings within the first ten and then gradually lose more and more until it reaches 100% loss from then on (multiple targets within and outside my network). After that I will only recieve "Host is down" errors on a ping and no communication using any protocol is possible until reboot.

Occasionaly it will seem to work but where every other PC on my network is getting a download rate of ~25 KiBps this system gets ~3 KiBps, when is does finally stop working like this it locks my entire network down until I have shut it off.

The behavior seems to resemble a packet storm except removing this PC always fixes it, and it is usually only this one effected. I dual boot this machine with Windows 7 and had Opensuse installed before loading Freebsd so I know the hardware is working correctly.

Listed below are some outputs I have seen requested in other networking posts so I put them in. I have never seen anything like this and am completly at a loss.

[cmd=]ifconfig[/cmd]

Code:
msk0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
	options=c019b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,TSO4,VLAN_HWTSO,LINKSTATE>
	ether 00:1f:e2:02:b4:ee
	inet 20.20.30.101 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 20.20.30.255
	media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex,flag0,flag1>)
	status: active
lo0: flags=8049<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 16384
	options=3<RXCSUM,TXCSUM>
	inet6 fe80::1%lo0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x2 
	inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 
	inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 0xff000000 
	nd6 options=3<PERFORMNUD,ACCEPT_RTADV>

[cmd=]netstat -rn[/cmd]

Code:
Routing tables

Internet:
Destination        Gateway            Flags    Refs      Use  Netif Expire
default            20.20.30.160       UGS        36       60   msk0
20.20.30.0/24      link#1             U           0       29   msk0
20.20.30.101       link#1             UHS         0        0    lo0
127.0.0.1          link#2             UH          0       62    lo0

Internet6:
Destination                       Gateway                       Flags      Netif Expire
::1                               ::1                           UH          lo0
fe80::%lo0/64                     link#2                        U           lo0
fe80::1%lo0                       link#2                        UHS         lo0
ff01:2::/32                       fe80::1%lo0                   U           lo0
ff02::%lo0/32                     fe80::1%lo0                   U           lo0

[cmd=]cat /etc/rc.conf[/cmd]

Code:
# -- sysinstall generated deltas -- # Sat Sep 25 19:02:38 2010
# Created: Sat Sep 25 19:02:38 2010
# Enable network daemons for user convenience.
# Please make all changes to this file, not to /etc/defaults/rc.conf.
# This file now contains just the overrides from /etc/defaults/rc.conf.
hostname="avanesov-pc.assimilation.home"
ifconfig_msk0="20.20.30.101/24"
defaultrouter="20.20.30.160"
moused_enable="NO"
moused_port="/dev/mse0"
nfs_client_enable="NO"
sshd_enable="YES"

# Set clock at bootup

ntpdate_enable="YES"
ntpdate_flags="-b 20.20.30.2"

# -- sysinstall generated deltas -- # Sun Sep 26 01:43:26 2010
rpcbind_enable="YES"
nfs_client_enable="NO"
amd_enable="YES"
inetd_enable="NO"
nisdomainname="NO"
dbus_enable="yes"
hald_enable="yes"
local_startup="${local_startup} /usr/local/kde4/etc/rc.d"
kdm4_enable="YES"
 
Avanesov said:
Listed below are some outputs I have seen requested in other networking posts so I put them in. I have never seen anything like this and am completly at a loss.

[cmd=]ifconfig[/cmd]

Code:
msk0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
	options=c019b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,TSO4,VLAN_HWTSO,LINKSTATE>

I don't have anything specific to help you (I've never used Marvell-based boards on FreeBSD), but providing the output from # pciconf -l | grep msk may assist others in helping you. That output will tell them the exact Marvell chip you have as well as what manufacturer made the board it's on (if not Marvell themselves).
 
Hello,

I wonder how's your net work physically set up.
For me this behavior should have a hardware reason. Did you checked the cabling and the - if you have one - switch/hub your box is connected to.
 
I dual boot this system with Win7, and had Opensuse installed before I loaded Freebsd. I had no issues with Opensuse and I have no issues with Win7 on it.

I picked up a 10/100 network card at work today. I am going to install it this evening and see how Freebsd works with it (I believe the issue is with BSD drivers for the current NIC, I will see tonight).
 
Ok, follow-up:
I ended up out of town for a few days and just got back yesterday evening. It looks like Sunsyril was probably right and this is going to be a hardware issue. I dont don't know why I never saw a problem while running opensuse (I installed BSD in its place) but I just started getting the same symptoms in Win7. In Win7 I have disabled the offending NIC completly and setup a usb wireless and the performance of my entire network has picked up. I have 2 intel 10/100/1000 NIC's on order (The one I picked up from work was old and wouldnt work on a 64 bit OS) and when they come in I will try BSD with one of them and repost the results...and hopefully add solved to the title. ::)
 
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