Strange network problem after kernel upgrade [SOLVED]

Bogart · 2006-06-30 21:19:49

I'm having a really strange problem. I was using kernel 2.6.16.20 up to now without any issues. Today I upgraded to the new kernel 2.6.17.2 (which means some changes). I updated lilo and after rebooting everything looks ok except some strange network problems:

In firefox, I can access a few pages, but others I can't. For example, google.com or webshots.com work fine, but yahoo.com or distrowatch.com don't work (as if i had no network connection, it stays waiting forever). In fact, about 80% of the pages don't work at all, but a few do work !

In gaim, my icq account works, but my yahoo one can't connect.

Any clue about what's happening? I know it's not a problem with my connection or ISP, I checked many times rebooting to other OS's and it works fine.

Oh, and pages that don't work on firefox, I can ping them in a terminal without problem !

I know it's all too weird, but can't find a fix...

alexpnx · 2006-07-01 13:44:39

maybe it's the ipv6 module's fault (check lsmod | grep ipv6). you could try disabling it (add "echo net-pf-10 off" to /etc/modprobe.conf) and reboot

Bogart · 2006-07-01 15:23:16

Thanks for reply.

I looked at the modules and it didn't seem the problem. IPv6 wasn't loaded by default. I tried loading it with no results... Also tried oading/unloading other modules, but nothing. Finally I downgraded to 2.6.16 kernel and it works again. Strange problem...

Jacob · 2006-07-02 01:27:29

Yeah I'm getting the same problem with both my systems. One uses the "skge" driver the other uses the "8139too" driver. Only solution was to downgrade the kernel.

I think there is something wrong with 2.6.17 series.

The problem resembles a large MTU, as some pages I can access and some I cannot. But shrinking the MTU of eth0 doesn't help. And what is worse is that both cards seem to be bottlenecked at a maximum download speed of ~40KBytes/sec.

Help!

Jacob

Jacob · 2006-07-02 01:33:59

Figured it out...

Archlinux needs to add:

echo 0 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_window_scaling

somewhere and everything will return to normal speed/operation.

Jacob

Gullible Jones · 2006-07-02 02:11:35

Maybe try setting that to false in /etc/sysctl.conf?

(FWIW I don't have any of the problems you speak of...)

Bebo · 2006-07-02 12:48:02

Jacob wrote:

I think there is something wrong with 2.6.17 series.

Sort of, see http://kerneltrap.org/node/6723

Bogart · 2006-07-02 12:55:08

Ok, that explains the problem.

Now I upgraded again to the latest 2.6.17 kernel, added the line:

net.ipv4.tcp_window_scaling = 0

to /etc/sysctl.conf and the problem is solved for now.

Thanks to everyone for the help

Arch Linux

#1 2006-06-30 21:19:49

Strange network problem after kernel upgrade [SOLVED]

#2 2006-07-01 13:44:39

Re: Strange network problem after kernel upgrade [SOLVED]

#3 2006-07-01 15:23:16

Re: Strange network problem after kernel upgrade [SOLVED]

#4 2006-07-02 01:27:29

Re: Strange network problem after kernel upgrade [SOLVED]

#5 2006-07-02 01:33:59

Re: Strange network problem after kernel upgrade [SOLVED]

#6 2006-07-02 02:11:35

Re: Strange network problem after kernel upgrade [SOLVED]

#7 2006-07-02 12:48:02

Re: Strange network problem after kernel upgrade [SOLVED]

#8 2006-07-02 12:55:08

Re: Strange network problem after kernel upgrade [SOLVED]

Board footer