PPC Debian: eth0: switching to forced 10bt / 100bt

Question

I recently installed debian on an old G4 iMac, and everything is working fine except that the console is constantly spammed with alternating

eth0: switching to forced 10bt
eth0: switching to forced 100bt

messages. eth0 isn't configured at all in /etc/network/interfaces; I'm using the wireless interface on eth1 (which works fine). sudo ifconfig eth0 down doesn't give any message; the alternating messages just keep coming. Is there any way to get rid of them?

Answer 1

Try unloading the sungem kernel module (after ifconfig eth0 down to release the interface).

If that works you can blacklist it to avoid it being loaded on next reboot.

Answer 2

If you're on a system with more than one ethernet port (say, a server such as a Netra), and unloading the sungem module is inappropriate, I found that I could silence the debug messages by forcing eth1 into 100mbps full duplex by running

ethtool -s eth0 speed 100 duplex full

and then plugging in a loopback adaptor into the spare ethernet port. The results? Driver thinks theres a cable plugged in, then shuts up.