From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Ben Hutchings Subject: Re: r8169 misleading firmware error messages Date: Sat, 16 Apr 2011 16:34:23 +0100 Message-ID: <1302968063.5282.859.camel@localhost> References: <4DA952D5.7030805@joco.name> <20110416110454.GC17833@electric-eye.fr.zoreil.com> <4DA9864E.2070405@joco.name> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg="pgp-sha512"; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="=-5q6hYAK208z1SYwGyDPT" Cc: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Fran=E7ois?= Romieu , netdev@vger.kernel.org To: Fejes =?ISO-8859-1?Q?J=F3zsef?= Return-path: Received: from shadbolt.e.decadent.org.uk ([88.96.1.126]:51034 "EHLO shadbolt.e.decadent.org.uk" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751811Ab1DPPe2 (ORCPT ); Sat, 16 Apr 2011 11:34:28 -0400 In-Reply-To: <4DA9864E.2070405@joco.name> Sender: netdev-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: --=-5q6hYAK208z1SYwGyDPT Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On Sat, 2011-04-16 at 14:06 +0200, Fejes J=C3=B3zsef wrote: [...] > I took a deeper look. It seems to me that the firmware files are not the= =20 > usual microcode type that the device can't function without, it just=20 > sets up some registers, which supposedly already contain some sensible= =20 > values, so it's more like patching. Some of the R8169 variants have a microcontroller in the PHY running firmware that is initially loaded from non-volatile memory (maybe eFuse?). These blobs contain bug fixes for the original PHY firmware. > That explains why this device still=20 > works without the firmware. So my actual question is this: what do I=20 > gain if I use the firmware, what do I lose if I don't? [...] The original firmware apparently is unable to establish a stable link against some link partners. This warning: > W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168d-2.fw for=20 > module r8169 > W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168d-1.fw for=20 > module r8169 is purely based on the MODULE_FIRMWARE annotations, which do not distinguish which devices might require which files. Ben. --=20 Ben Hutchings Once a job is fouled up, anything done to improve it makes it worse. --=-5q6hYAK208z1SYwGyDPT Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" Content-Description: This is a digitally signed message part -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.11 (GNU/Linux) iQIVAwUATam28+e/yOyVhhEJAQqJhRAAmUM7R9XQOacTqgltbIo8uZGQjnL7ZZYm 4NnFylaX6IhnbfzDyVM15LZk7AbE6nHmnSgz7qO2qUVT8VJUgSi791VDwg78UnWR hWr+wt1q2ptkd5rraB+8w1E37rb1zeglYV53xmyNNWbu0e0hwMeQX9QR3N315IGv alw9Je1o5/AW95Mn7o+V+S/pSLum3ZDC/q38pZhZW3cGrjNJyLokkdx1ueLFeDVQ LsV6+tMucazzXbNRwiHe9cZc5PLD53MLmVmbVB0aiHIssOmOt+W/x3wZroWNRpqx NkBHp61nrKWT5TzF4pfoEX8Gm7jCDUWSJQG7mCBSyNzTu+MSlQatAje3l682DwXy FyS9hN7isqSeJFFN2qkeyW0qTz6IAGnqwTwcqUCke+3zp/FVfUpXcV1E4tuRJPJh Lfe0ejevEs6da+5sU5ulWgBxajzpNwLCQeGrFTak3B/ii/lfAPXFPgfPQ6fhBGWU iIFE0BbIQXxN+9DTOxlUN/b2rJfGYj5+a2cneVu7qNx0WTLROEsCff+A69jjasEC ssNB0TuTwm5g140Z8JYwv3VMpMz/OlhLpgE8yBsLjhC+WCjOpWzCBt0kuIY8F1JB AT5dfaWASifs27+DiFzlox+czwHw7sX8euLz1c02Lj5JuuVr6qA7FkP/pzRAO+j1 cUMaROZgtf0= =5x1p -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --=-5q6hYAK208z1SYwGyDPT--