[CentOS] Eth1 problem on CentOS-6.3

I am trying to transport a dd image between to hosts over a cross
linked gigabit connection.  Both hosts have an eth1 configured to a
non routable ip addr on a shared network.   No other devices exist on
this link.

When transferring via sftp I received a stall warning.  Checking the
logs I see this:

dmesg | grep eth

e1000e 0000:00:19.0: eth0: (PCI Express:2.5GT/s:Width x1)
00:1c:c0:f2:1f:bb
e1000e 0000:00:19.0: eth0: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Connection
e1000e 0000:00:19.0: eth0: MAC: 7, PHY: 8, PBA No: FFFFFF-0FF
r8169 0000:01:00.0: eth1: RTL8168d/8111d at 0xffffc9000187c000,
00:0a:cd:1d:44:fe, XID 081000c0 IRQ 31
r8169 0000:01:00.0: eth1: jumbo features [frames: 9200 bytes, tx
checksumming: ko]
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
device eth0 entered promiscuous mode
r8169 0000:01:00.0: eth1: invalid firwmare
r8169 0000:01:00.0: eth1: unable to load firmware patch
rtl_nic/rtl8168d-1.fw (-22)
r8169 0000:01:00.0: eth1: link down
r8169 0000:01:00.0: eth1: link down
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth1: link is not ready
r8169 0000:01:00.0: eth1: link up
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth1: link becomes ready
e1000e: eth0 NIC Link is Up 1000 Mbps Full Duplex, Flow Control: None
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
br0: port 1(eth0) entering learning state
eth1: no IPv6 routers present
eth0: no IPv6 routers present
br0: port 1(eth0) entering forwarding state
r8169 0000:01:00.0: eth1: link down
r8169 0000:01:00.0: eth1: link up
r8169 0000:01:00.0: eth1: link down
r8169 0000:01:00.0: eth1: link up

This may, or may not, be related to this bug:

https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=12411

Is there some way to confirm whether or not this is the case.  Is
there a work-around for it if it is this bug?  If it is not then has
anyone any idea what is happening and how to fix it?

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James B. Byrne                mailto:ByrneJB at Harte-Lyne.ca
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