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XL(4)                     OpenBSD Programmer's Manual                    XL(4)

NAME
     xl - 3Com EtherLink XL and Fast EtherLink XL Ethernet

SYNOPSIS
     xl* at pci? dev ? function ?
     xl* at cardbus? dev ? function ?

DESCRIPTION
     The xl device driver supports the 3Com EtherLink XL and Fast EtherLink XL
     family of Ethernet cards, and embedded controllers based on the 3Com
     ``boomerang'' and ``cyclone'' bus master EtherLink XL chips.  This in-
     cludes, among others, the following models:

           3C575   10/100 LAN CardBus PC Card
           3C900   EtherLink XL PCI
           3C900B  EtherLink XL PCI
           3C905   Fast EtherLink XL PCI
           3C905B  Fast EtherLink XL PCI
           3C905C  Fast EtherLink XL PCI
           3C980   Fast EtherLink Server NIC
           3CSOHO  OfficeConnect Fast Ethernet NIC

     It also supports embedded 3C905-TX and 3C905B-TX Ethernet hardware found
     in certain Dell OptiPlex and Dell Precision desktop machines, as well as
     some Dell Latitude laptop docking stations.  Other models of 3Com network
     cards are supported by the ec(4), eg(4), el(4), ep(4), and ie(4) drivers.

     Category 3, 4 or 5 unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) cable should be used for
     RJ-45 (10baseT), thick Ethernet coaxial (RG59 B/U, 50 ohm) for AUI/DIX,
     and thin Ethernet coaxial (RG58 A/U or C/U, 50 ohm +/- 4) for BNC
     (10base2).  Some 3Com NICs also support MII connectors (switchable
     10/100Mbps UTP).  The 3C905B-FX and other similar cards are capable of
     100Mbps over fiber.

     The 3C985 series of Gigabit cards are supported by the ti(4) driver.

     The following media types and options (as given to ifconfig(8)) are sup-
     ported:

           media autoselect
                Enable autoselection of media type and options.  Note that
                this media type is only available with adapters that have ex-
                ternal PHYs or built-in autonegotiation logic.  For 3C900 and
                3C900B adapters, the driver will choose the mode specified in
                the EEPROM.  You can change this by adding media options to
                the appropriate /etc/hostname.xlX file.

           media 100baseFX mediaopt full-duplex
                For those cards that support it, force full-duplex 100Mbps op-
                eration over fiber.

           media 100baseFX mediaopt half-duplex
                For those cards that support it, force half-duplex 100Mbps op-
                eration over fiber.

           media 100baseTX mediaopt full-duplex
                Set 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet) operation and force full-duplex
                mode.

           media 100baseTX mediaopt half-duplex
                Set 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet) operation and force half-duplex


                mode.

           media 10baseT mediaopt full-duplex
                Set 10baseT (UTP) operation and force full-duplex mode.

           media 10baseT mediaopt half-duplex
                Set 10baseT (UTP) operation and force half-duplex mode.

           media 10base5
                Set 10base5 (thick-net) operation (half-duplex only).

           media 10base2
                Set 10base2 (thin-net) operation (half-duplex only).

     For more information on configuring this device, see ifconfig(8). To view
     a list of media types and options supported by your card try ifconfig -m
     <device>. For example, ifconfig -m xl0.

DIAGNOSTICS
     xl%d: couldn't map memory  A fatal initialization error has occurred.

     xl%d: couldn't map interrupt  A fatal initialization error has occurred.

     xl%d: device timeout  The device has stopped responding to the network,
     or there is a problem with the network connection (cable).

     xl%d: no memory for rx list  The driver failed to allocate an mbuf for
     the receiver ring.

     xl%d: no memory for tx list  The driver fauled to allocate an mbuf for
     the transmitter ring when allocating a pad buffer or collapsing an mbuf
     chain into a cluster.

     xl%d: command never completed!  Some commands issued to the 3C90x ASIC
     take time to complete: the driver is supposed to wait until the ``command
     in progress'' bit in the status register clears before continuing.  In
     rare instances, this bit may not clear.  To avoid getting caught in an
     infinite wait loop, the driver only polls the bit a finite number of
     times before giving up, at which point it issues this message.  This mes-
     sage may be printed during driver initialization on slower machines.  If
     you see this message but the driver continues to function normally, the
     message can probably be ignored.

     xl%d: chip is in D3 power state -- setting to D0  This message applies
     only to 3C905B adapters, which support power management.  Some operating
     systems place the 3C905B in low power mode when shutting down, and some
     PCI BIOSs fail to bring the chip out of this state before configuring it.
     The 3C905B loses all of its PCI configuration in the D3 state, so if the
     BIOS does not set it back to full power mode in time, it won't be able to
     configure it correctly.  The driver tries to detect this condition and
     bring the adapter back to the D0 (full power) state, but this may not be
     enough to return the driver to a fully operational condition.  If you see
     this message at boot time and the driver fails to attach the device as a
     network interface, you will have to perform second warm boot to have the
     device properly configured.

     Note that this condition only occurs when warm booting from another oper-
     ating system.  If you power down your system prior to booting OpenBSD,
     the card should be configured correctly.

     xl%d: WARNING: no media options bits set in the media options
     register!  This warning may appear when using the driver on some Dell
     Latitude docking stations with built-in 3C905-TX adapters.  For whatever
     the reason, the ``MII available'' bit in the media options register on
     this particular equipment is not set, even though it should be (the
     3C905-TX always uses an external PHY transceiver).  The driver will at-
     tempt to guess the proper media type based on the PCI device ID word.
     The driver makes a lot of noise about this condition because the author
     considers it a manufacturing defect.

SEE ALSO
     ec(4), eg(4), el(4), ep(4), ie(4), ti(4), ifmedia(4), ifconfig(8)

HISTORY
     The xl device driver first appeared in FreeBSD 3.0. OpenBSD support was
     added in OpenBSD 2.4.

AUTHOR
     The xl driver was written by Bill Paul <wpaul@ctr.columbia.edu>.

OpenBSD 2.7                     August 16, 1998                              3