Bug in RTL8169 driver?

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Gregor
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Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:44 am

Bug in RTL8169 driver?

Post by Gregor »

I'm testing a TP-link TG-3468 ethernet board (v. 15) in my X5000. It has a RTL 8161 chip (https://wiki.osdev.org/RTL8169), and it works without issues both with Linux (RTL 8169 driver) and MOS (RTL 8168 driver). So, in principle it should work also with AmigaOS, but the RTL8169.device does not seem to recognize the board. Roadshow gives the same error message as with any other active ethernet driver for which there is no respective hardware present.

Is there a bug in the AmigaOS RTL8169 driver which prevents it from seeing and activating the board? Is there a way to 'force' it to use the board/RTL 8161 chip? Ranger sees the board and lists the correct vendorid and devceid (see below), though.

I did already try to create a settings file 'unit0' into ENVARCHIVE/rtl8169.device" drawer (as adviced in the Sys:Documentation/rtl8169_dev/), with these lines:

VENDORID=0x10EC
DEVICEID=0x8161

Unfortunately that did not solve the issue. Any advice...?
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sailorMH
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Re: Bug in RTL8169 driver?

Post by sailorMH »

Hi,
I am using PCI RTL 8169 card in my AmigaOne X1000 with no errors. It means, that driver is OK at least with certain cards.
But if I tried this card with Sam440ep-flex and Micro A1-C and it doesn't work. Card is visible, but no network traffic. I didn't test the ENVARC parameters.

My card have Device ID = 0x8169 and Vendor ID = 0x10EC. Try to change Device ID to 0x8169 in ENVARC settings, maybe it helps.
Micro A1-C (G3/1.2 GHz), AmigaOne XE (G4/1.4 GHz), Pegasos II (G4/1.33 GHz), Sam440ep, Sam440ep-flex, AmigaOne X1000
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Gregor
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Re: Bug in RTL8169 driver?

Post by Gregor »

Hi Sailor! Nice to see you also on this forum...:-)
I am using PCI RTL 8169 card in my AmigaOne X1000 with no errors. It means, that driver is OK at least with certain cards.
But if I tried this card with Sam440ep-flex and Micro A1-C and it doesn't work. Card is visible, but no network traffic. I didn't test the ENVARC parameters.
I also had a PCI RTL 8169 card in my machine, and it worked ok with AmigaOS but not at all with MOS. The earlier version of Tg-3468 with a RTL 8168 work with all the three OS branches but it may be tricky to find one.
My card have Device ID = 0x8169 and Vendor ID = 0x10EC. Try to change Device ID to 0x8169 in ENVARC settings, maybe it helps.
I already tested that (as well as 0x8168) but unfortunately it did not solve the problem.

I wish the Core developers present here could suggest some fix to this issue,,,?
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sailorMH
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Re: Bug in RTL8169 driver?

Post by sailorMH »

When I will have time, I can test again my 8169 card in Sam+Micro and debug serial output.

And if your 8168 card works in both systems, we can try card with Realtek 8110SC ( similar to 8168 )mentioned here:https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/v ... wonepost=1
I ordered one and can test it in both systems when arrives.
But AmigaOS have no native RLT 8168 driver, I wonder if it works with AmigaOS + 8169 driver.
Micro A1-C (G3/1.2 GHz), AmigaOne XE (G4/1.4 GHz), Pegasos II (G4/1.33 GHz), Sam440ep, Sam440ep-flex, AmigaOne X1000
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Gregor
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Re: Bug in RTL8169 driver?

Post by Gregor »

sailorMH wrote: Sun Jun 19, 2022 12:40 pm When I will have time, I can test again my 8169 card in Sam+Micro and debug serial output.
Ok, please let us know what info you get!-) But what do have you to do to get the debug info concerning RTL cards and their initiation with Roadshow? When I checked the output from the debug kernel, I did not see any useful information. I used debuglevel 7.
And if your 8168 card works in both systems, we can try card with Realtek 8110SC ( similar to 8168 )mentioned here:https://morph.zone/modules/newbb_plus/v ... wonepost=1
I ordered one and can test it in both systems when arrives.
But AmigaOS have no native RLT 8168 driver, I wonder if it works with AmigaOS + 8169 driver.
One problem is how to know what RTL chip is really in used on these boards... On my TG-3468 card the RTL chip is labelled 'RTL8168H', but the diagnostic programs (AmigaOS and Linux) recognize it as RTL8161. Maybe Realtek could clarify their naming logic... (if there is any).
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Raziel
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Re: Bug in RTL8169 driver?

Post by Raziel »

I don't think it's a bug, rather a chip variation which hasn't been tested during development and thus is not supported.

It also says in the readme
- Currently the driver looks for cards with the following PCI IDs. If
your card has different PCI IDs, but actually *is* a RTL8169 compatible
card
, please try with VENDORID/DEVICEID environment variable settings
(see below) and report back if it works for you.
I guess yours don't qualify unfortuntely.
Also keep in mind that with every new LAN card developed and released there are changes to the hardware which are not covered by the development-halted driver(s) we have.

I too have a 8169 card which is working in my X1000 (but the chip does read 8169, so you may stick to those instead of some derivates)
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sailorMH
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Re: Bug in RTL8169 driver?

Post by sailorMH »

I think that Gregor looking for card working both with AmigaOS and MorphOS, se he is even more limited. MorphOS have no official 1 GbE NIC support, only unofficial - like 8110SC or 8168 which recommends me bigfoot.
Micro A1-C (G3/1.2 GHz), AmigaOne XE (G4/1.4 GHz), Pegasos II (G4/1.33 GHz), Sam440ep, Sam440ep-flex, AmigaOne X1000
Efika 5200b, Pegasos I, Powerbook, Mac Mini (1.83 GHz), iMac, Powermac Quad

AmigaOS, MorphOS, linux, MacOS X
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