yes, it is irq related.
Note, the interrupt vector (ie, exception vector) should be in uClinux program memory, ie sdram. Note in Linux, irq 0 used to be auto-detected and that is not supported in Nios II, so you should not use irq 0 for your devices. Only timer_0 may use irq 0.
so you have to update in sopc builder, change exception vector to sdram.
and assign irq of smc91111 to non-zero value. Then regenerate the new sof.
see,
http://nioswiki.jot.com/wikihome/operating...ms/%c2%b5clinux (
http://nioswiki.jot.com/wikihome/operatingsystems/%c2%b5clinux)