ET server bug/problem ?

(net_mike) #1

Hi, ok i’ll write it short:

I’ve LAN:

  • One GOOD computer and one POOR computer which is server (Celeron 466, 256 RAM).
  • Both are connected to router with adsl modem.

The problem:

IF i put video card (ATI MACH 64) into the server then both me (in LAN) and net friend cannot connect (awaiting connection 1…2…3…etc.) … WHEN i put good video card with ACCELERATION like Geforce 4 MX then i and my net friend can connect to server and play without any problems.

What’s more:

  • Server & Internet Connection dont have problems with 6 players … so its not bandwith (upload 256kbps)
  • Router is configured properly with port forwarding … also ports 27950-27965 are not blocked
  • Of course .cfg files are proper (as i said it works fine with second video card)
  • Server is dedicated to NET but tried LAN too
  • hunkmegs set in order to not use all memory (hunkmegs 32)
  • I’ve tried different systems (win98/win2000/linux) - no difference, well there was one but i’m not sure about it, that with windows2000 - my net friend could connect to ati mach server but i (in Lan) could not … o_O
  • I was also using one computer as router (with software like winroute) before i bought router and the problem was still the same …
  • In both configurations (ati/geforce) server is visible in ase … however with ati mach (when i turn on inbuild server browser (in ET) ) lan server is appearing once for 4-5 refresh clicks with ping 200-800ms …
  • There no errors in console when i put ati mach 64 video card into server … it looks and works the same as with geforce …

So in my opinion after several weeks/months i came to conclusion it is VIDEO CARD problem BUT:

  1. I would like someone to explain if it can be VIDEO CARD problem (well someone who knows et source for example) and if there is any solution for me
  2. No i dont want to switch to Geforce 4 cause i want to reduce temperature in the server and apart from hard disk, geforce is the only temperature problem … i dont need it … its a server not computer for playing …

Thx in advance for any solutions … i will also appreciate any answer from Splash Damage… cause i havent seen any video card requirements in server config and would like to know if its a bug or it has to be like that and what to do with it …

Michal

(Sick Boy) #2

Maybe the Mach 64 is sharing resources with the network card.

If it’s a PCI card, try slapping it in another slot. Or change IRQ’s. Is device manager showing any conflicts?

(net_mike) #3

Well i dont remember any conflicts on windows, now its on linux so i dont even know how to check it but if there were conflicts … then other things like ping/www … in general LAN shouldnt work, right ? but it works … pings/dns etc. work … but thx for reply and idea - i’ll try to look for those IRQ’s … i’ll check something else too and update here if anything happens …

(Jaquboss) #4

how about older , but better cards, like Rivas and Rages ?

(SCDS_reyalP) #5

I do assume you are starting the server with etded ? If not, et may be having trouble with the display.

Assuming you are, I concur with sick boy. IRQ conflicts are supposed to be a thing of the past with PCI, but in fact they are not. The simplest thing to is try moving the cards to different slots. Different OSes and drivers may behave differently.

(net_mike) #6

Till now i can say it’s not IRQ because i have moved card to other slot i have also ‘assign IRQ to vga’ or th like that enabled in BIOS.
Now I’l try to do ‘something’ about etded because i run server with et +set dedicated … (i think there wasnt etded in previous versions so I thought it’s not a must) …

(Nocturne) #7

maybe u can tryu finding the newest drivers for that videocard, if you have them, than its possible that the videocard isnt supported (anymore)…

(net_mike) #8

Update:

  1. ETDED did not help … still the same problem
  2. I think video drivers are up to date because now i run on new fedore core (linux) and before that i tried win2000 and this card is OLD i have it for about 8 years or more. Moreover i assume ‘etded’ server shouldnt worry about my video card especially if it (console) neither show any warnings nor shuts down.
(SCDS_reyalP) #9

If you run etded, et doesn’t do anything with your video card. You should be able to run etded on a machine that has no display at all.

cat /proc/interupts to see where your IRQs are assigned.

(gurb) #10

For all I know you may allready do this, but check:

  • That you un your server runs “dedicated” instead of “listen”, in other words use etded.x86.
  • Set your server to run at “runlevel 3” (aka “Full multiuser mode”) instead of level 5 wich is X11 (or whatever Fedora calls it).
    this way it doesn’t matter what graphics card you have.
(net_mike) #11

That’s some new things to try and some hope for me. I’ll try it tomorrow thx.

(bani) #12

mach64 -> pci
geforce4 -> agp ?

try a different pci slot. it sounds like your mach64 is grabbing resources which conflict with your network card.

(Sick Boy) #13

great minds think alike :drink:

(net_mike) #14
  1. /proc/interrupts:

0: 1491165 X-PIC timer
1: 123 X-PIC i8042
2: 0 X-PIC cascade
8: 1 X-PIC rtc
9: 0 X-PIC uhci_hcd:usb1
10: 20 X-PIC eth0
11: 5395 X-PIC ide2
12: 3438 X-PIC i8042
NMI: 0
ERR: 0

  1. I tried different pci slots … also changed slot of eth0 … no change …

  2. Not sure if it was real runlevel 3 but at least it was near to that (telinit 3) … but also no change …

  3. Now I’m trying to boot server WITHOUT video card but will have to install some other linux without those X (i dont wanna play and fight with current sys config) and connect via ssh … and i hope that IF server boots up then also ET server will work properly … any tips about running linux without video card (apart from bios settings which i already know) are also welcomed …

(gurb) #15

re:
3 - telint does the same.
4 - Tips on installing headless server - Set up your box (install & configure, don’t set up X). Then remove the video card.

(bani) #16

ifconfig eth0

and look for errors. errors,dropped,overruns,frame,carrier should be 0 or single digits at best.

also dmesg can have useful info – ethernet timeout errors, link status, etc.

try a different ethernet card?

(net_mike) #17

  1. ifconfig eth0 - no errors etc.

  2. I finally managed to start the system (debian rox) without video card and ET server finally WORKS !!!

Btw, dmesg printed some data about shared IRQ’s or sth like that, so it might be IRQ problem … but WHO CARES now :stuck_out_tongue: … i have better situation than i planned … because i have NO video card in my server :slight_smile:

Thx 4 suggestions & help.