I would like to know if anyone has had better luck than me setting up an onboard Marvell 88e1116 PHY gigabit ethernet nic and a PCI realtek RTL8169 S-32 card. I can't seem to make these two work neither under KNOPPIX nor GENTOO.

Here's what I did in Gentoo:

I have a Biostar TForce 550 motherboard with an onboard Marvell 88e1116 PHY gigabit ethernet nic and a PCI realtek RTL8169 S-32 card.

While older 3com network cards work fine on the same motherboard, the above-mentioned nics don't.

Some info:

uname -a:

Linux inf-fw 2.6.17-gentoo-r7 #1 SMP Sun Sep 3 03:06:13 CEST 2006 x86_64 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+ GNU/Linux

lsmod:

Module Size Used by
3c59x 49972 0
aacraid 65216 0
sx8 20368 0
DAC960 75952 0
cciss 38920 0
cpqarray 26312 0
3w_9xxx 36996 0
3w_xxxx 30496 0
atp870u 34752 0
dc395x 38096 0
qla1280 120848 0
imm 14664 0
dmx3191d 14592 0
sym53c8xx 79908 0
fdomain 16364 1
BusLogic 26752 0
aic7xxx 140664 0
aic79xx 185308 0
scsi_transport_spi 27520 4 dmx3191d,sym53c8xx,aic7xxx,aic79xx
ata_piix 14404 0
sata_vsc 10308 0
sata_sis 9860 0
sata_sx4 15876 0
sata_nv 12228 6
sata_via 10500 0
sata_svw 9732 0
sata_sil 12296 0
sata_promise 14532 0
libata 77016 9 ata_piix,sata_vsc,sata_sis,sata_sx4,sata_nv,sata_via,sata_svw,sata_sil,sata_promise
sbp2 26376 0
ohci1394 36616 0
ieee1394 109240 2 sbp2,ohci1394
ohci_hcd 22404 0
uhci_hcd 25680 0

lspci -v:

00:00.0 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Memory Controller (rev a1)
Subsystem: nVidia Corporation Unknown device cb84
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: [44] HyperTransport: Slave or Primary Interface
Capabilities: [e0] #00 [fee0]

00:01.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 LPC Bridge (rev a2)
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Unknown device 3405
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0

00:01.1 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SMBus (rev a2)
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Unknown device 3405
Flags: 66MHz, fast devsel, IRQ 11
I/O ports at 1c00 [size=64]
I/O ports at 1c40 [size=64]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

00:01.2 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Memory Controller (rev a2)
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Unknown device 3405
Flags: 66MHz, fast devsel

00:02.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP55 USB Controller (rev a1) (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Unknown device 3405
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 5
Memory at fe02f000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

00:02.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP55 USB Controller (rev a2) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Unknown device 3405
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 10
Memory at fe02e000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Capabilities: [44] Debug port
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

00:04.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 IDE (rev a1) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Unknown device 3405
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0
I/O ports at f400 [size=16]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

00:05.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SATA Controller (rev a2) (prog-if 85 [Master SecO PriO])
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Unknown device 5403
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
I/O ports at 09f0 [size=8]
I/O ports at 0bf0 [size=4]
I/O ports at 0970 [size=8]
I/O ports at 0b70 [size=4]
I/O ports at e000 [size=16]
Memory at fe02d000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [b0] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/2 Enable-
Capabilities: [cc] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping

00:05.1 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP55 SATA Controller (rev a2) (prog-if 85 [Master SecO PriO])
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Unknown device 5403
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 10
I/O ports at 09e0 [size=8]
I/O ports at 0be0 [size=4]
I/O ports at 0960 [size=8]
I/O ports at 0b60 [size=4]
I/O ports at cc00 [size=16]
Memory at fe02c000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [b0] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/2 Enable-
Capabilities: [cc] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping

00:06.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI bridge (rev a2) (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode])
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=32
I/O behind bridge: 0000b000-0000bfff
Memory behind bridge: fde00000-fdefffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: fdd00000-fddfffff
Capabilities: [b8] #0d [0000]
Capabilities: [8c] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping

00:06.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP55 High Definition Audio (rev a2)
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Unknown device 820a
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 10
Memory at fe024000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
Capabilities: [6c] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping

00:08.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Ethernet (rev a2)
Subsystem: Biostar Microtech Int'l Corp Unknown device 2503
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 5
Memory at fe02b000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
I/O ports at c800 [size=8]
Memory at fe02a000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
Memory at fe029000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [70] MSI-X: Enable- Mask- TabSize=8
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/3 Enable-
Capabilities: [6c] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping

00:0b.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=02, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 0000a000-0000afff
Memory behind bridge: fdc00000-fdcfffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000fdb00000-00000000fdb00000
Capabilities: [40] #0d [0000]
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/1 Enable+
Capabilities: [60] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping
Capabilities: [80] Express Root Port (Slot+) IRQ 0
Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel

00:0c.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00009000-00009fff
Memory behind bridge: fda00000-fdafffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000fd900000-00000000fd900000
Capabilities: [40] #0d [0000]
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/1 Enable+
Capabilities: [60] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping
Capabilities: [80] Express Root Port (Slot+) IRQ 0
Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel

00:0d.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=04, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00008000-00008fff
Memory behind bridge: fd800000-fd8fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000fd700000-00000000fd700000
Capabilities: [40] #0d [0000]
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/1 Enable+
Capabilities: [60] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping
Capabilities: [80] Express Root Port (Slot+) IRQ 0
Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel

00:0e.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=05, subordinate=05, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00007000-00007fff
Memory behind bridge: fd600000-fd6fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000fd500000-00000000fd500000
Capabilities: [40] #0d [0000]
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/1 Enable+
Capabilities: [60] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping
Capabilities: [80] Express Root Port (Slot+) IRQ 0
Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel

00:0f.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 PCI Express bridge (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=06, subordinate=06, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00006000-00006fff
Memory behind bridge: fd400000-fd4fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000e8000000-00000000eff00000
Capabilities: [40] #0d [0000]
Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/1 Enable+
Capabilities: [60] HyperTransport: MSI Mapping
Capabilities: [80] Express Root Port (Slot+) IRQ 0
Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel

00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
Flags: fast devsel
Capabilities: [80] HyperTransport: Host or Secondary Interface

00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
Flags: fast devsel

00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
Flags: fast devsel

00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
Flags: fast devsel
Capabilities: [f0] #0f [0010]

01:07.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905C-TX/TX-M [Tornado] (rev 74)
Subsystem: 3Com Corporation 3C905C-TX Fast Etherlink for PC Management NIC
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 10
I/O ports at bc00 [size=128]
Memory at fdeff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at fdd00000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2

01:08.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905 100BaseTX [Boomerang]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11
I/O ports at b800 [size=64]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at fdd40000 [disabled] [size=64K]

01:09.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c905 100BaseTX [Boomerang]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 5
I/O ports at b400 [size=64]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at fdd50000 [disabled] [size=64K]

01:0a.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8169 Gigabit Ethernet (rev 10)
Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8169 Gigabit Ethernet
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 5
I/O ports at b000 [size=256]
Memory at fdefe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at fdd20000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 2

06:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV370 5B60 [Radeon X300 (PCIE)] (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: Info-Tek Corp. Unknown device 0401
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11
Memory at e8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
I/O ports at 6c00 [size=256]
Memory at fd4f0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at fd400000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [58] Express Endpoint IRQ 0
Capabilities: [80] Message Signalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable-
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting

06:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV370 [Radeon X300SE]
Subsystem: Info-Tek Corp. Unknown device 0400
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Memory at fd4e0000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [58] Express Endpoint IRQ 0

Grub kernel line:
kernel /kernel-genkernel-x86_64-2.6.17-gentoo-r7 root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk=8192 doscsi vga=0 real_root=/dev/evms/root udev doevms2 noapic

/usr/src/linux/.config:

CONFIG_MARVELL_PHY=y
CONFIG_FORCEDETH=y
CONFIG_R8169=y
CONFIG_R8169_NAPI=y
CONFIG_R8169_VLAN=y

ifconfig eth1:

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:40:F4:ED:7BA
inet addr:10.215.145.240 Bcast:10.215.147.255 Mask:255.255.252.0
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:5 Base address:0xa000

ping 10.215.145.240:

PING 10.215.145.240 (10.215.145.240) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 10.215.145.240: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.059 ms
64 bytes from 10.215.145.240: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.020 ms

--- 10.215.145.240 ping statistics ---
2 packets transmitted, 2 received, 0% packet loss, time 1000ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.020/0.039/0.059/0.020 ms

ping 10.215.144.91:

PING 10.215.144.91 (10.215.144.91) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 10.215.145.240 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 10.215.145.240 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable

--- 10.215.144.91 ping statistics ---
2 packets transmitted, 0 received, +2 errors, 100% packet loss, time 1001ms
, pipe 2

The above pings and ifconfig are identical whether I try using the RTL8169 or the Marvell nic. Of course, if I use the older 3com PCI cards, all pings (including LAN pings) work fine.

As far as the RTL8169 is concerned I also downloaded the latest r1000 driver and insmodded it (also appeared in lsmod) but with no luck (same results).

Any suggestions?

[EDIT]
dmesg shows:

Ethernet Channel Bonding Driver: v3.0.3 (March 23, 2006)
bonding: Warning: either miimon or arp_interval and arp_ip_target module parameters must be specified, otherwise bonding will not detect link failures! see bonding.txt for details.
NET3 PLIP version 2.4-parport gniibe@mri.co.jp
plip0: Parallel port at 0x378, using IRQ 7.
Marvell 88E1101: Registered new driver
forcedeth.c: Reverse Engineered nForce ethernet driver. Version 0.54.
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LMAC] enabled at IRQ 5
PCI: setting IRQ 5 as level-triggered
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:00:08.0[A] -> Link [LMAC] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:00:08.0 to 64
forcedeth: using HIGHDMA
input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /class/input/input0
eth0: forcedeth.c: subsystem: 01565:2503 bound to 0000:00:08.0
PPP generic driver version 2.4.2
PPP Deflate Compression module registered
PPP BSD Compression module registered
PPP MPPE Compression module registered
NET: Registered protocol family 24
SLIP: version 0.8.4-NET3.019-NEWTTY (dynamic channels, max=256) (6 bit encapsulation enabled).
CSLIP: code copyright 1989 Regents of the University of California.
SLIP linefill/keepalive option.
Equalizer2002: Simon Janes (simon@ncm.com) and David S. Miller (davem@redhat.com)
tun: Universal TUN/TAP device driver, 1.6
tun: (C) 1999-2004 Max Krasnyansky <maxk@qualcomm.com>
r8169 Gigabit Ethernet driver 2.2LK-NAPI loaded
ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [LNK3] enabled at IRQ 5
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:01:0a.0[A] -> Link [LNK3] -> GSI 5 (level, low) -> IRQ 5
eth1: Identified chip type is 'RTL8169s/8110s'.
eth1: RTL8169 at 0xffffc2000003a000, 00:40:f4:ed:7b:da, IRQ 5


Any help is greatly appreciated.

I have a combo card that contains USB 2.0/IEEE-1394/1 Gb NIC and it is connected behind a PCI to PCI bridge chip. The NIC on the card uses Realtek 8169 that works in Linux using module r8169. It is better to use modules for NICs and many other devices instead as built-in. I never use genkernel because I never have any good results. When I configure and compile the kernel myself, I get better results.

Probably Linux detect all NICs but some card is set as eth0 which is normally the default NIC to access the network.

What does '/sbin/ifconfig' display?
What does '/sbin/route -e' display?

I'm used to setting up nics and I paid special attention to that. But just for the sake of clarity, I took off all PCIs so only the onboard NIC is present. I saw that the nic's leds kept being switched off until I changed a setting in the BIOS that set the access type (or something similar - I lack the knowledge) to MII.

So whether I boot Knoppix or Gentoo, ifconfig shows eth0 and lo as expected. eth0 has the correct MAC address and a static IP I set. The mask is also ok. In RX and TX packets I only have "errors", 0 for everything else.
Interrupt:9 Base address:0x2000

route -e is also correct:
Dest gw mask flags mss window irtt iface
10.215.144.0 * 255.255.252.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
default 10.215.144.91 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0

Also, if I add the r8169 nic to the first PCI slot (so that it's eth1), the kernel "sees" the chip but I get RX/TX packet error like above. Also, I notice that the card doesn't have any led lit. For testing purposes, I inserted the r8169 nic on another motherboard with gentoo and it did light up and worked fine (r8169 built into the kernel with genkernel).

At this point I'm convinced there must be something in the BIOS but just don't know where to look (I tried just about every possible combination, I think :-( ).