cable modem lockup

Hi,

I've got this extremely annoying problem that causes my cable modem to
lock up quite regularly. Let me first give some relevant info about my
configuration:

  Debian GNU/Linux (testing), 2.4.20 kernel
  Stand-alone workstation, configured by DHCP
  driver:  3c59x Vers LK1.1.16  (compiled into the kernel)
  3Com 3c900B-TPO [Etherlink XL TPO] (rev 04)
  Terayon Terapro cable modem
   (connected with straight UTP-45 cable, no crossover)
  ISP: UPC/Chello, 128/1500 kbps up/down

Here's the rather vague problem:
Booting up linux + networking is no problem at all, and when i run the
diagnostic "mii-tool -vv eth0" everything seems fine:

eth0: autonegotiation failed, link ok
  registers for MII PHY 24:
    1100 182d 0000 0000 0041 0020 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
  product info: vendor 00:00:00, model 0 rev 0
  basic mode:   autonegotiation enabled
  basic status: autonegotiation complete, link ok
  capabilities: 10baseT-FD 10baseT-HD
  advertising:  10baseT-FD
  link partner: 10baseT-HD

But after a seemingly random period connectivity drops to zero and can
only be restored by physically resetting the cable modem! The diagnostics
don't seem to give any useful info.. actually it seems to be exactly the
same as before the lockup. Also, i *never* have this problem under windows
(98,2k,xp), on the same machine. I've tried forcing the NIC to
half-duplex, but still no luck.

Lately i'm observing an even weirder behaviour.. it seems to crash most
often during checking/reading my email on www.hotmail.com; could be
coincidence but maybe it has something to do with too many connections, or
too fast subsequential connections, confusing the modem??

I suppose that technically speaking it's not a driver problem, but
Terayon's, but the fact that the windows driver does seem to work
correctly, means that there must be something that can be done to fix the
problem. Ideas anyone?

Thanks in advance,

        Tim de Wit

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