8139too modprobe freezes the machine

[Xavier Barnabe-Theriault <x@xebu.org>]

hi

On muy debian/stable P1 home server w/2 realtek NIC, everything works
smoothly with 2.2.20 and rtl8139. But with 2.4.18 and 8139too, the
modprobe dies saying this:

Loading modules: af_packet 8139too 8139too Fast Ethernet driver 0.9.24
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 00:0b.0 to 64

<... hang ...>

The required mii.o loads well, but 8139too fails and crashes the
machine. I found one answer to the only post I've found related:

   Last time I had these sorts of problems was when the interrupts
   were shared and the interrupts were level triggered.  Check your
   BIOS but also try moving the slot the card is in if you cannot
   set to edge triggered interrupts.

But I do not know what to look for in the BIOS (and all periphericals
possess different IRQ).

Where should I look ?

Below is a /proc/pci sample of 2.2.20 and 2.4.18 w/1 card, where you'll
notice the similitude except for latency and I/O in "[...]" which I do
not understand the meaning.

Thanks in advance,
Xavier

----------------------------------------------------------------------

2.2.20:
=======
  Bus  0, device  11, function  0:
    Ethernet controller: Realtek 8139 (rev 16).
      Medium devsel.  Fast back-to-back capable.  IRQ 11.  Master Capable.  Latency=64.  Min Gnt=32.Max Lat=64.
      I/O at 0xfc00 [0xfc01].
      Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xfedffc00 [0xfedffc00].

2.4.18:
=======
  Bus  0, device  11, function  0:
    Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139 (rev 16).
      IRQ 11.
      Master Capable.  Latency=8.  Min Gnt=32.Max Lat=64.
      I/O at 0xfc00 [0xfcff].
      Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xfedffc00 [0xfedffcff].


-- 
Xavier Barnabe-Theriault                             http://xebu.org/
Maitrise en physique, etudiant               M.Sc. Student in Physics
Gulus:                                              http://gulus.org/
Mydynaweb: Develop(peu|e)r                      http://mydynaweb.net/