Re: QUESTION: Network hangs with BP6 and 2.4.x kernels, hardware

[Linus Torvalds]

On Sat, 13 Jan 2001, Andrew Morton wrote:
> 
> 3c59x calls disable_irq() once per minute, and seems to be
> one of the most-affected drivers.

The ne2k thing seems to be the _most_ affected one, as far as I can tell.

However, it could easily be a matter of timing - for example, if the
driver does something to trigger an interrupt _just_ before (or after,
considering the asynchronous nature of writing to the IO-APIC) doing the
enable_irq(), then..

I'm also nervous about the complete lack of locking in vortex_timer():
disabling interrupts doesn't mean that transmits couldn't be
pending. But maybe the hardware is ok with changing status concurrently.

		Linus