strange message from kernel for ethernet in system logs

[Alex]

Hi all,

I'm getting spurious messages from the kernel in system logs concerning
my ethernet module. It seems to happen all the time.

Dec 22 21:49:52 Koursk kernel: eth0: -- ERROR --
Dec 22 21:49:52 Koursk kernel:         Class:  internal Software error
Dec 22 21:49:52 Koursk kernel:         Nr:  0x19e
Dec 22 21:49:52 Koursk kernel:         Msg:  Vpd: Cannot read VPD keys
Dec 22 21:50:00 Koursk kernel: eth0: -- ERROR --
Dec 22 21:50:00 Koursk kernel:         Class:  internal Software error
Dec 22 21:50:00 Koursk kernel:         Nr:  0x19e
Dec 22 21:50:00 Koursk kernel:         Msg:  Vpd: Cannot read VPD keys
Dec 22 21:50:00 Koursk kernel: eth0: -- ERROR --
Dec 22 21:50:00 Koursk kernel:         Class:  internal Software error
Dec 22 21:50:00 Koursk kernel:         Nr:  0x19e
Dec 22 21:50:00 Koursk kernel:         Msg:  Vpd: Cannot read VPD keys
Dec 22 21:57:17 Koursk kernel: eth0: -- ERROR --
Dec 22 21:57:17 Koursk kernel:         Class:  internal Software error
Dec 22 21:57:17 Koursk kernel:         Nr:  0x19e
Dec 22 21:57:17 Koursk kernel:         Msg:  Vpd: Cannot read VPD keys
Dec 22 21:57:17 Koursk kernel: eth0: -- ERROR --
Dec 22 21:57:17 Koursk kernel:         Class:  internal Software error
Dec 22 21:57:17 Koursk kernel:         Nr:  0x19e
Dec 22 21:57:17 Koursk kernel:         Msg:  Vpd: Cannot read VPD keys
Dec 22 21:57:17 Koursk kernel: eth0: -- ERROR --
Dec 22 21:57:17 Koursk kernel:         Class:  internal Software error
Dec 22 21:57:17 Koursk kernel:         Nr:  0x19e
Dec 22 21:57:17 Koursk kernel:         Msg:  Vpd: Cannot read VPD keys
Dec 22 21:57:17 Koursk kernel: eth0: -- ERROR --
Dec 22 21:57:17 Koursk kernel:         Class:  internal Software error
Dec 22 21:57:17 Koursk kernel:         Nr:  0x19e
Dec 22 21:57:17 Koursk kernel:         Msg:  Vpd: Cannot read VPD keys
Dec 22 22:00:00 Koursk kernel: eth0: -- ERROR --
Dec 22 22:00:00 Koursk kernel:         Class:  internal Software error
Dec 22 22:00:00 Koursk kernel:         Nr:  0x19e
Dec 22 22:00:00 Koursk kernel:         Msg:  Vpd: Cannot read VPD keys
Dec 22 22:00:00 Koursk kernel: eth0: -- ERROR --
Dec 22 22:00:00 Koursk kernel:         Class:  internal Software error
Dec 22 22:00:00 Koursk kernel:         Nr:  0x19e
Dec 22 22:00:00 Koursk kernel:         Msg:  Vpd: Cannot read VPD keys

The hardware is a SN95G5 Shuttle barebone with a Marvell Yukon 32-bit
PCI Gigabit Ethernet controller. The software driver is the sk98lin
module downloaded from Marvell website (version 7.07) used with Fedora 2
x86_64 (kernel 2.6.5-1.358). As a reference here is the output from
"ifconfig -a " command :


eth0      Lien encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:30:1B:B5:4E:C5
          inet adr:192.168.0.3  Bcast:192.168.0.255 
Masque:255.255.255.0
          adr inet6: fe80::230:1bff:feb5:4ec5/64 Scope:Lien
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 lg file transmission:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Interruption:10 Mémoire:ea020000-0
 
lo        Lien encap:Boucle locale
          inet adr:127.0.0.1  Masque:255.0.0.0
          adr inet6: ::1/128 Scope:Hôte
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:173 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:173 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 lg file transmission:0
          RX bytes:12278 (11.9 Kb)  TX bytes:12278 (11.9 Kb)
 
sit0      Lien encap:IPv6-dans-IPv4
          NOARP  MTU:1480  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 lg file transmission:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

The original sk98lin shipped with Fedora exhibited the same behavior
(the spurious messages) and the upgrade to the version from Marvell
website was part of the effort to get rid of them. Unfortunately I only
got more of them. 
My intriguing questions are : in your opinion what do those messages
mean and what do they want ? 
Bye,