Subject: Re: r8169 doesn't report link state correctly.

From: Ben Greear <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Apr 2011 14:56:46 -0700

On 04/20/2011 12:14 PM, Francois Romieu wrote:
> François Romieu<[email-masked]>  :
>> 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 <[email-masked]>
Candela Technologies Inc  http://www.candelatech.com