The 8168evl (RTL_GIGA_MAC_VER_34) based Gigabyte GA-990FXA motherboards
are very prone to NETDEV watchdog problems without this change. See
https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=42899 for instance.
I don't know why it *works*. It's depressingly effective though.
For the record:
- the problem may go along IOMMU (AMD-Vi) errors but it really looks
like a red herring.
- the patch sets the RX_MULTI_EN bit. If the 8168c doc is any guide,
the chipset now fetches several Rx descriptors at a time.
- long ago the driver ignored the RX_MULTI_EN bit.
e542a2269f changed the RxConfig
settings. Whatever the problem it's now labeled a regression.
- Realtek's own driver can identify two different 8168evl devices
(CFG_METHOD_16 and CFG_METHOD_17) where the r8169 driver only
sees one. It sucks.
Signed-off-by: Francois Romieu <romieu@fr.zoreil.com>
Signed-off-by: David S. Miller <davem@davemloft.net>
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