TX carrier = errors x 2 -and- Tx status 1a078c80

Strange problem with ADMtek AL985 Centaur-P.
Seems to function OK, however, ifconfig numbers shows
the TX carrier value to be almost exactly twice
what the TX errors number is, and the TX packets 
count is zero.  All of the RX numbers seem reasonable.
Here is ifconfig output for eth0:

Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:04:5A:72:25:B1  
inet addr:10.0.0.40  Bcast:10.0.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
RX packets:4910 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:5774 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:11541
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100 
Interrupt:5 Base address:0x1000 

Why does this happen; is anything wrong?

Running latest driver:   tulip.c:v0.97 7/22/2003
Turning up the debug level shows what it thinks 
are errors, but I have a hard time believing 
that these are 'real' errors, as the I/O all 
seems to work just fine.  Output from dmesg:

In tulip_rx(), entry 0 00460300.
eth0: In tulip_rx(), entry 0 00460300.
eth0: exiting interrupt, csr5=0xfc664010.
eth0: interrupt  csr5=0xfc274014 new csr5=0xfc274014.
eth0: Transmit error, Tx status 1a078c80.
eth0: exiting interrupt, csr5=0xfc664010.

This repeats over and over for entry 0 thru 31.
Output from tulip-diag is this:

tulip-diag.c:v2.03 7/31/2000 Donald Becker ([email protected])
 http://www.scyld.com/diag/index.html
Index #1: Found a ADMtek AL985 Centaur-P adapter at 0xe000.
 Port selection is 100mbps-SYM/PCS 100baseTx scrambler, half-duplex.
 Transmit started, Receive started, half-duplex.
  The Rx process state is 'Waiting for packets'.
  The Tx process state is 'Idle'.
  The transmit threshold is 128.
 The Comet MAC registers are 725a0400 ffffb125 filter 0000000040000000.
EEPROM size is 8.
  Ethernet MAC Station Address 00:04:5a:72:25:b1.
  Default connection type 'Autosense'.
  PCI IDs Vendor 1317 Device 0985  Subsystem 1317 0574
  PCI min_grant 255 max_latency 255.
  CSR18 power-up setting 0xa04c****.
EEPROM contents:
  0985 0002 0000 0000 0400 725a b125 0000
  0000 0400 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0100
  0985 1317 0574 1317 ffff 0000 0000 a04c
  0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
  0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
  0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
  0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
  0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 f52c
 ID block CRC 0xe6 (vs. 00).
  Full contents CRC 0xf52c (read as 0xf52c).
 MII PHY found at address 1, status 0x786d.
 MII PHY found at address 2, status 0x786d.
 MII PHY found at address 3, status 0x786d.
 MII PHY found at address 4, status 0x786d.
 MII PHY #1 transceiver registers:
   1100 786d 001d 2411 05e1 40a1 0007 2001
   0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
   1001 0000 2060 041c 0000 01ff 7490 0f0c
   b68b 7140 2956 1125 8911 0414 0230 0000.
 Basic mode control register 0x1100: Auto-negotiation enabled.
 Basic mode status register 0x786d ... 786d.
   Link status: established.
   Capable of  100baseTx-FD 100baseTx 10baseT-FD 10baseT.
   Able to perform Auto-negotiation, negotiation complete.
 Vendor ID is 00:07:49:--:--:--, model 1 rev. 1.
   No specific information is known about this transceiver type.
 I'm advertising 05e1: Flow-control 100baseTx-FD 100baseTx 10baseT-FD
10baseT
   Advertising no additional info pages.
   IEEE 802.3 CSMA/CD protocol.
 Link partner capability is 40a1: 100baseTx 10baseT.
   Negotiation  completed.

Output from procinfo is this:

Memory:   Total     Used     Free   Shared  Buffers   Cached
Mem:     255872   249236     6636        0    36876   153516
Swap:    409536        0   409536
Bootup: Wed Mar 10 07:07:42 2004   
Load average: 1.09 1.06 1.01 2/51 28340
user  :       0:03:59.52   0.4%  page in :   106878
nice  :      14:44:12.60  99.0%  page out:   320153
system:       0:03:55.28   0.4%  swap in :        3
idle  :       0:00:58.30   0.1%  swap out:        0
uptime:      14:53:05.69         context :  1480367
irq  0:   5358570 timer         irq  5:  70699 eth0                 
irq  1:         4 keyboard      irq  6:      7                      
irq  2:         0 cascade [4]   irq  8:    302 rtc                  
irq  3:    357074 serial        irq 12:     71 PS/2 Mouse           
irq  4:         3               irq 14:  68283 ide0

which matches with what /proc/interrupts shows:

           CPU0       
  0:    5369367          XT-PIC  timer
  1:          4          XT-PIC  keyboard
  2:          0          XT-PIC  cascade
  3:     357789          XT-PIC  serial
  5:      71010          XT-PIC  eth0
  8:        303          XT-PIC  rtc
 12:         71          XT-PIC  PS/2 Mouse
 14:      68343          XT-PIC  ide0
NMI:          0 
ERR:          0

Contents of /etc/modules.conf is this:

alias eth0 tulip
options loop max_loop=32
alias parport_lowlevel parport_pc
alias sound-slot-0 emu10k1
options i810 xfreeversion=41
alias char-major-195 NVdriver
options i810 xfreeversion=41

This card is on Linux kernel 2.4.18-27.7, 
RedHat 7.1 connected to switch.  I have on a
different system a different (4-port) card which
also used the same tulip driver, but it does NOT
exhibit this same strange behavior.  

Why the strange numbers from ifconfig?
Is the card functioning correctly?
Are these real errors, or just something being
incorrectly reported and displayed by ifconfig.

I have tried all of the obvious things, running 
this driver (re-compiled) on a different kernel level,
tried different cable, tried different switch, tried
a hub, tried the stock RedHat driver, tried just about
everything I could think of except trying a different
nic card.  Do I need to do that?

And finally, ever since I re-compiled the driver
and installed it, I get these strange messages in 
/var/log/messages exactly every five minutes,
why, and how do I stop them:

mahler modprobe: modprobe: Can't locate module irlan0

Please help.  Thanks.   --greg.swift--
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