Hello,<br />
<br />
When booted from a CentOS 5.5 LiveCD, or from a proper installation running from a USB key, after a random (?) amount of time / traffic, the Intel 82574L-based onboard NIC (e1000e module) will fail catastrophically. The only way to "fix" the fault is to reboot.<br />
<br />
Oddly, if the installation is made to the hard drive, this failure is not re-producible - it only occurs when running from a LiveCD or USB install.<br />
<br />
An example of ifconfig output of a failed NIC is as follows :<br />
<br />
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:25:90:01:0C:BD <br />
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1<br />
RX packets:3318 errors:4294955080 dropped:4294965260 overruns:0 frame:4294959152<br />
TX packets:371 errors:4294963224 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:4294963224<br />
collisions:4294965260 txqueuelen:1000 <br />
RX bytes:792726 (774.1 KiB) TX bytes:29200 (28.5 KiB)<br />
Memory:fb6e0000-fb700000 <br />
<br />
I have tested and can re-produce this condition 100% of the time on both the stock 2.6.18.194.el5 kernel, as well as the updated 2.6.18.194.3.1.el5 kernel. Furthermore, I have tested this on two different (but identical) machines, and on two physically different networks with different switching equipment and cabling types.<br />
<br />
Further details in the "Additional information" area.
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