NAME    [Toc]    [Back]

     re - Realtek 8169/8169S/8110S PCI Ethernet adapter driver

SYNOPSIS    [Toc]    [Back]

     re* at pci? dev ? function ?

DESCRIPTION    [Toc]    [Back]

     The re driver provides support for various NICs based on the
RTL8169,
     RTL8169S,  and  RTL8110S PCI Ethernet controllers, including
the following:

     +o   Gigabyte 7N400 Pro2 Integrated Gigabit Ethernet (8110S)
     +o   PLANEX COMMUNICATIONS Inc. GN-1200TC (8169S)
     +o   Xterasys XN-152 10/100/1000 NIC (8169)

     The 8169 is a 10/100/1000 MAC only, requiring a GMII or  TBI
external PHY.
     The  8169S and 8110S are single-chip devices containing both
a 10/100/1000
     MAC and  10/100/1000  copper  PHY.   Standalone  10/100/1000
cards are available
 in both 32-bit PCI and 64-bit PCI models.  The 8110S is
designed for
     embedded LAN-on-motherboard applications.

     The re driver supports the following media types:

     autoselect   Enable autoselection of the media type and  options.  The user
  can manually override the autoselected mode
by adding media
 options to the  appropriate  hostname.if(5)
file.

     10baseT/UTP  Set 10Mbps operation.  The ifconfig(8) mediaopt
option can
                  also be used to select  either  full-duplex  or
half-duplex
                  modes.

     100baseTX    Set 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet) operation.  The ifconfig(8)
                  mediaopt option can also be used to select  either full-
                  duplex or half-duplex modes.

     1000baseTX    Set  1000baseTX  operation  over twisted pair.
The RealTek
                  gigE chips support 1000Mbps in full-duplex mode
only.

     The re driver supports the following media options:

     full-duplex  Force full duplex operation.

     half-duplex  Force half duplex operation.

     For  more information on configuring this device, see ifconfig(8).

DIAGNOSTICS    [Toc]    [Back]

     re%d: can't map mem space  A fatal initialization error  has
occurred.

     re%d:  can't map i/o space  A fatal initialization error has
occurred.

     re%d: couldn't map interrupt  A fatal  initialization  error
has occurred.

     re%d: watchdog timeout  The device has stopped responding to
the network,
     or there is a problem with the network connection (cable).

SEE ALSO    [Toc]    [Back]

     arp(4),  ifmedia(4),  intro(4),  netintro(4),  pci(4),  rgephy(4), vlan(4),
     hostname.if(5), ifconfig(8)

     RealTek   Semiconductor  RTL8139C+,  RTL8169,  RTL8169S  and
RTL8110S
     datasheets, http://www.realtek.com.tw.

HISTORY    [Toc]    [Back]

     The re device driver first appeared in OpenBSD 3.6.

AUTHORS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The re driver was written by Bill Paul <[email protected]>
and ported
     to OpenBSD by
     Peter Valchev <[email protected]>.

BUGS    [Toc]    [Back]

     The  Xterasys  XN-152 32-bit PCI NIC, which uses the RTL8169
MAC and Marvell
 88E1000 PHY, has a defect that causes DMA corruption if
the board is
     plugged  into  a  64-bit  PCI  slot.  The defect lies in the
board design, not
     the chip itself: the PCI REQ64# and ACK64# lines  should  be
pulled high,
     but  they  are  not.   The  result  is that the 8169 chip is
tricked into performing
 64-bit DMA transfers even though a 64-bit data  path
between the
     NIC and the bus does not actually exist.

     Unfortunately, it is not possible to correct this problem in
software,
     however it is possible to detect it.  When the re driver  is
loaded, it
     will run a diagnostic routine designed to validate DMA operation by placing
 the chip in digital loopback mode and initiating a packet transmission.
   If the card functions properly, the transmitted data
will be
     echoed back unmodified.  If the echoed data is corrupt,  the
driver will
     print  an  error message on the console and abort the device
attach.  The
     user should ensure the NIC is installed in a 32-bit PCI slot
to avoid
     this problem.

     The  RealTek  8169,  8169S and 8110S chips appear to only be
capable of
     transmitting jumbo frames up to 7.5K in size.

OpenBSD     3.6                        September     4,      2003