Ethernet hangs only with SMP kernel (ES40)

[Stefano Curtarolo <auro@nietzsche.mit.edu>]

Hi AlphaFriends,

We have bought 4 new ES40 with 4 CPUS (667) each.
I am running debian 2.2 with kernel 2.2.15 or 2.3.99pre9.
I have istalled everything with a 2.2.15-generic kernel and
everything works great with a single CPU. The netwotrk adapter is
a DE600, a clone of eepro100.
Anyway, all the kernels I did for 1CPU are working fine. I can run
benchmark and do other stuff. But when I turn on the SMP option,
the kernel books regularly, it starts the 4 cpus, the ethernet, but I am
not able to ping out of the box. 
Running the diagnostic: "dmesg | less" I have found that the eth0 hangs
because an interrupt conflict.
The dmesg writes that the IRQ is busy and the eth0 connection
goes to timeout. I have tryed to remove the board and replace with a 3com
905. I compile with the 3com 590 driver and the result is the same:
the single CPU runs perfectly, the SMP hangs the ethernet.
Same problem with/without DP264 option/ kernel 2.2.15 or 2.3.99pre8 or
pre9.


Am I mistaking something ???

Thanks

Stefano Curtarolo
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dep. Materials Science and Engineering
MIT - Room 13-4069
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, USA