[PATCH v2] net: macb: add TX stall timeout callback to recover from lost TSTART write

[PATCH v2] net: macb: add TX stall timeout callback to recover from lost TSTART write

[Andrea della Porta]

From: Lukasz Raczylo <lukasz@raczylo.com>

The MACB found in the Raspberry Pi RP1 suffers from sporadic stalls on
the TX queue.
While the exact root cause is not yet fully understood, it is likely
related to a hardware issue where a TSTART write to the NCR register
is missed, preventing the transmission from being kicked off.

Implement a timeout callback to handle TX queue stalls, triggering the
existing restart mechanism to recover.

Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260514215459.36109-1-lukasz@raczylo.com/
Fixes: dc110d1b23564 ("net: cadence: macb: Add support for Raspberry Pi RP1 ethernet controller")
Signed-off-by: Lukasz Raczylo <lukasz@raczylo.com>
Co-developed-by: Steffen Jaeckel <sjaeckel@suse.de>
Signed-off-by: Steffen Jaeckel <sjaeckel@suse.de>
Co-developed-by: Andrea della Porta <andrea.porta@suse.com>
Signed-off-by: Andrea della Porta <andrea.porta@suse.com>
---

CHANGES IN v2:

- dropped the rate-limited log message
- avoid incrementing tx_error as this is per packet

---
 drivers/net/ethernet/cadence/macb_main.c | 8 ++++++++
 1 file changed, 8 insertions(+)

diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/cadence/macb_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/cadence/macb_main.c
index a12aa21244e83..fd282a1700fb9 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/cadence/macb_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/cadence/macb_main.c
@@ -4522,6 +4522,13 @@ static int macb_setup_tc(struct net_device *dev, enum tc_setup_type type,
 	}
 }
 
+static void macb_tx_timeout(struct net_device *dev, unsigned int q)
+{
+	struct macb *bp = netdev_priv(dev);
+
+	macb_tx_restart(&bp->queues[q]);
+}
+
 static const struct net_device_ops macb_netdev_ops = {
 	.ndo_open		= macb_open,
 	.ndo_stop		= macb_close,
@@ -4540,6 +4547,7 @@ static const struct net_device_ops macb_netdev_ops = {
 	.ndo_hwtstamp_set	= macb_hwtstamp_set,
 	.ndo_hwtstamp_get	= macb_hwtstamp_get,
 	.ndo_setup_tc		= macb_setup_tc,
+	.ndo_tx_timeout		= macb_tx_timeout,
 };
 
 /* Configure peripheral capabilities according to device tree
-- 
2.35.3

Re: [PATCH v2] net: macb: add TX stall timeout callback to recover from lost TSTART write

[Nicolai Buchwitz]

On 16.6.2026 15:23, Andrea della Porta wrote:
> From: Lukasz Raczylo <lukasz@raczylo.com>
> 
> The MACB found in the Raspberry Pi RP1 suffers from sporadic stalls on
> the TX queue.
> While the exact root cause is not yet fully understood, it is likely
> related to a hardware issue where a TSTART write to the NCR register
> is missed, preventing the transmission from being kicked off.
> 
> Implement a timeout callback to handle TX queue stalls, triggering the
> existing restart mechanism to recover.
> 
> Link: 
> https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260514215459.36109-1-lukasz@raczylo.com/
> Fixes: dc110d1b23564 ("net: cadence: macb: Add support for Raspberry Pi 
> RP1 ethernet controller")
> Signed-off-by: Lukasz Raczylo <lukasz@raczylo.com>
> Co-developed-by: Steffen Jaeckel <sjaeckel@suse.de>
> Signed-off-by: Steffen Jaeckel <sjaeckel@suse.de>
> Co-developed-by: Andrea della Porta <andrea.porta@suse.com>
> Signed-off-by: Andrea della Porta <andrea.porta@suse.com>
> ---
> 
> CHANGES IN v2:
> 
> - dropped the rate-limited log message
> - avoid incrementing tx_error as this is per packet
> 
> ---
>  drivers/net/ethernet/cadence/macb_main.c | 8 ++++++++
>  1 file changed, 8 insertions(+)
> 
> diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/cadence/macb_main.c 
> b/drivers/net/ethernet/cadence/macb_main.c
> index a12aa21244e83..fd282a1700fb9 100644
> --- a/drivers/net/ethernet/cadence/macb_main.c
> +++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/cadence/macb_main.c
> @@ -4522,6 +4522,13 @@ static int macb_setup_tc(struct net_device *dev, 
> enum tc_setup_type type,
>  	}
>  }
> 
> +static void macb_tx_timeout(struct net_device *dev, unsigned int q)
> +{
> +	struct macb *bp = netdev_priv(dev);
> +
> +	macb_tx_restart(&bp->queues[q]);
> +}
> +
>  static const struct net_device_ops macb_netdev_ops = {
>  	.ndo_open		= macb_open,
>  	.ndo_stop		= macb_close,
> @@ -4540,6 +4547,7 @@ static const struct net_device_ops 
> macb_netdev_ops = {
>  	.ndo_hwtstamp_set	= macb_hwtstamp_set,
>  	.ndo_hwtstamp_get	= macb_hwtstamp_get,
>  	.ndo_setup_tc		= macb_setup_tc,
> +	.ndo_tx_timeout		= macb_tx_timeout,
>  };
> 
>  /* Configure peripheral capabilities according to device tree

Reviewed-by: Nicolai Buchwitz <nb@tipi-net.de>

Thanks,
Nicolai

Re: [PATCH v2] net: macb: add TX stall timeout callback to recover from lost TSTART write

[Théo Lebrun]

Hello Andrea,

On Tue Jun 16, 2026 at 3:23 PM CEST, Andrea della Porta wrote:
> From: Lukasz Raczylo <lukasz@raczylo.com>
>
> The MACB found in the Raspberry Pi RP1 suffers from sporadic stalls on
> the TX queue.
> While the exact root cause is not yet fully understood, it is likely
> related to a hardware issue where a TSTART write to the NCR register
> is missed, preventing the transmission from being kicked off.
>
> Implement a timeout callback to handle TX queue stalls, triggering the
> existing restart mechanism to recover.
>
> Link: https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260514215459.36109-1-lukasz@raczylo.com/
> Fixes: dc110d1b23564 ("net: cadence: macb: Add support for Raspberry Pi RP1 ethernet controller")
> Signed-off-by: Lukasz Raczylo <lukasz@raczylo.com>
> Co-developed-by: Steffen Jaeckel <sjaeckel@suse.de>
> Signed-off-by: Steffen Jaeckel <sjaeckel@suse.de>
> Co-developed-by: Andrea della Porta <andrea.porta@suse.com>
> Signed-off-by: Andrea della Porta <andrea.porta@suse.com>

Thanks for this V2.

Reviewed-by: Théo Lebrun <theo.lebrun@bootlin.com>

Any news from the Raspberry Pi community about this bug investigation?

Thanks,

--
Théo Lebrun, Bootlin
Embedded Linux and Kernel engineering
https://bootlin.com