[CentOS] tg3 ethernet card drops connection under heavy load

[Sean Carolan]

> why don't you start with the kernel version and architecture?
> -> uname -a

This server is running centos 3.9
Linux server.domain.com 2.4.21-57.ELsmp #1 SMP Wed May 7 06:10:55 EDT
2008 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

> -> /var/log/messages relevant lines?

There was nothing out of the ordinary in /var/log/messages.  The
logging just stops after the network card drops offline.  dmesg also
shows nothing out of the ordinary when the driver is loaded.  The
network card works fine until it is under heavy load.

> -> /sbin/ifconfig -a

eth0    Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF
          inet addr:10.100.1.200  Bcast:10.100.255.255  Mask:255.255.0.0
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:56261 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:30199 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:5969478 (5.6 Mb)  TX bytes:3305868 (3.1 Mb)
          Interrupt:26

(MAC address was changed by me)

> -> ethtool eth0 and ethtool eth1

Settings for eth0:
        Supported ports: [ MII ]
        Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
                                1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
        Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
                                1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
        Speed: 1000Mb/s
        Duplex: Full
        Port: Twisted Pair
        PHYAD: 1
        Transceiver: internal
        Auto-negotiation: on
        Supports Wake-on: g
        Wake-on: d
        Current message level: 0x000000ff (255)
        Link detected: yes

Settings for eth1:
        Supported ports: [ MII ]
        Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
                                1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
        Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
                                1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
        Speed: Unknown! (0)
        Duplex: Half
        Port: Twisted Pair
        PHYAD: 1
        Transceiver: internal
        Auto-negotiation: on
        Supports Wake-on: g
        Wake-on: d
        Current message level: 0x000000ff (255)
        Link detected: no