re0: 2 link states coalesced.

[Julien Gabel]

Hello Hans,

> I have a problem with my RTL8169 Gigabit NIC built into my (apparently
> very uncommon) Clevo D41EV laptop. At boot, when netif tries to set up the
> interface, I get a lot of these messages:
>
>  > re0: 2 link states coalesced
>  > re0: link state changed to DOWN
>  > re0: 2 link states coalesced
>  > re0: link state changed to DOWN
>  > re0: 2 link states coalesced
>  > re0: link state changed to DOWN
>
> At some point the interface will go UP just at the right time (?) and gets
> configured by dhclient succesfully. Once that is done it seems to works
> fine, giving me 10-11 MiB/s throughput on a 100mbit link.
>
> At first I didn't consider it a real problem, but now that I am trying to
> take my laptop into daily use I am becoming increasingly annoyed by having
> to wait 3 to 6 minutes for the NIC to go 'UP' during the boot process.
>
> Here's how the NIC is identified in pciconf -lv:
>
>  > re0 at pci0:10:0:  class=0x020000 card=0x08001558 chip=0x816910ec rev=0x10
>  > hdr=0x00
>  >     vendor   = 'Realtek Semiconductor'
>  >     device   = 'RTL8169 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter'
>  >     class    = network
>  >     subclass = ethernet
>
> This is all on a fresh installation of FreeBSD-6.0-RELEASE updated to p3.
> I have the full dmesg log and pciconf output attached (and mirrored at
> http://www.nieser.net/files/re-problem/ incase the attachments don't come
> through). Does anyone know what causes this, and possibly the solution?
> Should I file a PR for this?

I filled one a year ago, for the very same problem (encountered for two
years now).  See Problem Report kern/80005 for more information.  I think
that another user (Emmanuel Duros) tried to speak with Realtek on that
point, not sure if there is feedback on it though...

Sorry not to have better news.

-- 
-jpeg.