Thank you for the answer Brian. Actually: we are not experiencing any freeze or hag. The node is there, alive. But it refuses connection if a link up is not present on the interconnect network interface.
You are right: we are using a crosscable since we do not have a gigabit ethernet switch (and management is not eager to spend thousands of euros for one *sigh*). However even unplugging it with 9.2.0.4 didn't give us problem: we got a normal node eviction but the second node went on giving service.=20 Not so from sunday, when we upgraded.
However the problem would still be there with a switch: what if that network device is switched off? it would be identical to unplugging a cable...
RAC used to work even with a cross cable. To check for a working interface is not a bad thing... but this is not a hardware HA solution anymore. Only a logical one.
I would use a switch for some testing but I don't have one (maybe I should revert to 10/100 NIC and using a normal switch).=20
