Method and system for identifying an error condition due to a faulty cable connection in an ethernet network

Abstract

A method for identifying an error condition due to a faulty cable connection in a network comprising a plurality of computer systems, at least one of the computer systems including a network adapter with the network adapter including a media access control (MAC) unit, includes initializing a plurality of mechanisms for tracking a plurality of conditions in the MAC of the network adapter. The method further includes receiving a transmit demand request in the network adapter and updating the plurality of mechanisms according to a current status of each of the plurality of conditions. In addition, the method includes determining whether a predetermined threshold has been reached in one or more of the plurality of mechanisms, wherein when one or more of the plurality of mechanisms has reached the predetermined threshold, a faulty cable connection is identified. In a system aspect, the system includes a plurality of counting mechanism for tracking each of a plurality of error conditions. The system further includes a media access control (MAC) unit for differentiating each of the plurality of error conditions. In addition, the system includes an error identification mechanism for determining when any of the plurality of counting mechanisms has reached a predetermined threshold.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.