r8169 doesn't report link state correctly.

r8169 doesn't report link state correctly.

[Ben Greear]

I notice that in kernel 2.6.38-wl, the realtek 8169 NIC doesn't
report link down when in fact there is no cable connected.  Instead,
it shows 10Mbps half-duplex.  I have no idea if this previously worked
or not.

[root@lec2010-ath9k-1 lanforge]# ethtool -i eth1
driver: r8169
version: 2.3LK-NAPI
firmware-version:
bus-info: 0000:02:00.0
[root@lec2010-ath9k-1 lanforge]# ethtool eth1
Settings for eth1:
	Supported ports: [ TP MII ]
	Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
	                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
	                        1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
	Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
	Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
	                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
	                        1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
	Advertised pause frame use: No
	Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
	Speed: 10Mb/s
	Duplex: Half
	Port: MII
	PHYAD: 0
	Transceiver: internal
	Auto-negotiation: on
	Supports Wake-on: pumbg
	Wake-on: g
	Current message level: 0x00000033 (51)
			       drv probe ifdown ifup
	Link detected: yes

Thanks,
Ben

-- 
Ben Greear <greearb@candelatech.com>
Candela Technologies Inc  http://www.candelatech.com

Re: r8169 doesn't report link state correctly.

[François Romieu]

On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 01:09:19PM -0700, Ben Greear wrote:
> I notice that in kernel 2.6.38-wl, the realtek 8169 NIC doesn't
> report link down when in fact there is no cable connected.  Instead,
> it shows 10Mbps half-duplex.  I have no idea if this previously worked
> or not.

Thanks for the report. I'll try it tomorrow or friday.

-- 
Ueimor

Re: r8169 doesn't report link state correctly.

[Francois Romieu]

François Romieu <romieu@fr.zoreil.com> :
> On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 01:09:19PM -0700, Ben Greear wrote:
> > I notice that in kernel 2.6.38-wl, the realtek 8169 NIC doesn't
> > report link down when in fact there is no cable connected.  Instead,
[...]
> Thanks for the report. I'll try it tomorrow or friday.

I have not been able to notice it with a current kernel.

I'd welcome the XID of the 8169 NIC (see dmesg) and a short explanation
(no cable from boot ? cable removed after ifconfig up ? brand / ability
of the switch / hub ?).

Thanks.

-- 
Ueimor

Re: r8169 doesn't report link state correctly.

[Ben Greear]

On 04/20/2011 12:14 PM, Francois Romieu wrote:
> François Romieu<romieu@fr.zoreil.com>  :
>> On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 01:09:19PM -0700, Ben Greear wrote:
>>> I notice that in kernel 2.6.38-wl, the realtek 8169 NIC doesn't
>>> report link down when in fact there is no cable connected.  Instead,
> [...]
>> Thanks for the report. I'll try it tomorrow or friday.
>
> I have not been able to notice it with a current kernel.
>
> I'd welcome the XID of the 8169 NIC (see dmesg) and a short explanation
> (no cable from boot ? cable removed after ifconfig up ? brand / ability
> of the switch / hub ?).

Well, as luck would have it, my system will boot today's upstream
kernel (39-rc4+).  And, I no longer see the problem in that release,
so it seems it is fixed (or harder to reproduce that I thought).

Basically, I was seeing it claim to have link in 'ethtool' output
when there was no cable connected.  It did go to 10Mbps/half duplex
link speed when un-plugged.  It showed full 1Gbps link when plugged
in.

I'll let you know if I see this again.

Thanks,
Ben

>
> Thanks.
>


-- 
Ben Greear <greearb@candelatech.com>
Candela Technologies Inc  http://www.candelatech.com

Re: r8169 doesn't report link state correctly.

[Dan Williams]

On Wed, 2011-04-20 at 14:56 -0700, Ben Greear wrote:
> On 04/20/2011 12:14 PM, Francois Romieu wrote:
> > François Romieu<romieu@fr.zoreil.com>  :
> >> On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 01:09:19PM -0700, Ben Greear wrote:
> >>> I notice that in kernel 2.6.38-wl, the realtek 8169 NIC doesn't
> >>> report link down when in fact there is no cable connected.  Instead,
> > [...]
> >> Thanks for the report. I'll try it tomorrow or friday.
> >
> > I have not been able to notice it with a current kernel.
> >
> > I'd welcome the XID of the 8169 NIC (see dmesg) and a short explanation
> > (no cable from boot ? cable removed after ifconfig up ? brand / ability
> > of the switch / hub ?).
> 
> Well, as luck would have it, my system will boot today's upstream
> kernel (39-rc4+).  And, I no longer see the problem in that release,
> so it seems it is fixed (or harder to reproduce that I thought).
> 
> Basically, I was seeing it claim to have link in 'ethtool' output
> when there was no cable connected.  It did go to 10Mbps/half duplex
> link speed when un-plugged.  It showed full 1Gbps link when plugged
> in.
> 
> I'll let you know if I see this again.

I just had a user run into this bug yesterday on 2.6.38.3 and he
described the exact symptoms in
https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=33782 .  Essentially:

- cable plugged in
- ifconfig eth0 down
- wait a few seconds
- ifconfig eth0 up
- ifconfig eth0 (no LOWER_UP is shown)

If the cable is plugged in, and the device is UP, then we should expect
LOWER_UP indicating the device has a carrier.  But that's not happening.
If there's any way to isolate a fix and push that fix to stable@ that
would be great...

Dan