fxp floods network on panic

I have an up to date SMP machine with an Intel 10/100
card and fxp driver. The machine has started to
panic during running make release, and when it does, the
intel card floods the network and pretty much wipes it out.
ie no machines on the same switch can even ping each other.
The switch is lit up like a christmas tree, and rebooting
the box immediately brings the network to life.

The machine is hung solid, so even though I have serial 
access to it, I cant reboot it to clear the condition.

I seem to remember that the Intel card can go into some sort
of "test" mode on a panic. Is there any way of preventing
this? Or did I just imagine that?

Lawrence Farr
EPC Direct Limited