Re: [RFC PATCH net v2 0/3] Fix OdroidC2 Gigabit Tx link issue

[Martin Blumenstingl <martin.blumenstingl@googlemail.com>]

Hi Jerome,

On Mon, Nov 21, 2016 at 4:35 PM, Jerome Brunet <jbrunet@baylibre.com> wrote:
> This patchset fixes an issue with the OdroidC2 board (DWMAC + RTL8211F).
> Initially reported as a low Tx throughput issue at gigabit speed, the
> platform enters LPI too often. This eventually break the link (both Tx
> and Rx), and require to bring the interface down and up again to get the
> Rx path working again.
>
> The root cause of this issue is not fully understood yet but disabling EEE
> advertisement on the PHY prevent this feature to be negotiated.
> With this change, the link is stable and reliable, with the expected
> throughput performance.
I have just sent a series which allows configuring the TX delay on the
MAC (dwmac-meson8b glue) side: [0]
Disabling the TX delay generated by the MAC fixes TX throughput for
me, even when leaving EEE enabled in the RTL8211F PHY driver!

Unfortunately the RTL8211F PHY is a black-box for the community
because there is no public datasheeet available.
*maybe* (pure speculation!) they're enabling the TX delay based on
some internal magic only when EEE is enabled.

Jerome, could you please re-test the behavior on your Odroid-C2 when
you have EEE still enabled but the TX-delay disabled?
In my case throughput is fine, and "$ ethtool -S eth0 | grep lpi" gives:
    irq_tx_path_in_lpi_mode_n: 0
    irq_tx_path_exit_lpi_mode_n: 0
    irq_rx_path_in_lpi_mode_n: 0
    irq_rx_path_exit_lpi_mode_n: 0


Regards,
Martin


[0] http://lists.infradead.org/pipermail/linux-amlogic/2016-November/001674.html