[PATCH net v1 1/1] r8169: disable EEE on RTL8168h/8111h

[PATCH net v1 1/1] r8169: disable EEE on RTL8168h/8111h

[Oleksij Rempel]

Force EEE off on the RTL8168h/8111h (RTL_GIGA_MAC_VER_46) at PHY connect
with phy_disable_eee().

Commit 202fef9bbbf5 ("net: phy: realtek: fix EEE advertisement write on
the internal PHY MMD path") made EEE actually advertise on the generic
Realtek PHY; the write had been a no-op before. On the RTL8168h that
un-masks a latent defect: once EEE negotiates, RX silently stalls after
~7-20 minutes. The carrier stays up, no counter or dmesg moves, and only
"ip link set down/up" recovers it; disabling EEE keeps the link stable.

Root-causing the RTL8168h LPI/RX path needs hardware not available now, so
disable EEE for this version. Use phy_disable_eee() rather than dropping
the version from rtl_supports_eee(): the latter also skips
rtl_enable_tx_lpi(), whose disable branch clears the MAC TX-LPI bits (ERI
0x1b0[1:0]) on link up. rtl_hw_start_8168h_1() does not clear them (the
RTL8402/RTL8106e init does), so a warm reboot from an EEE-active state
could otherwise leave TX-LPI asserted while the PHY no longer negotiates
EEE. Keeping the version EEE-capable preserves that clear path. This also
covers the RTL8168M, which shares RTL_GIGA_MAC_VER_46.

Reported-by: Dennis Piecha <d.piecha@ymail.com>
Closes: https://lore.kernel.org/all/353419280.954808.1790290283530@mail.yahoo.com/
Fixes: 202fef9bbbf5 ("net: phy: realtek: fix EEE advertisement write on the internal PHY MMD path")
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Oleksij Rempel <o.rempel@pengutronix.de>
---
 drivers/net/ethernet/realtek/r8169_main.c | 6 ++++++
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+)

diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/realtek/r8169_main.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/realtek/r8169_main.c
index ec4fc21fa21f..ee1bc9bd0447 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/realtek/r8169_main.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/realtek/r8169_main.c
@@ -5484,6 +5484,12 @@ static int r8169_mdio_register(struct rtl8169_private *tp)
 		phy_disable_eee_mode(tp->phydev,
 				     ETHTOOL_LINK_MODE_2500baseT_Full_BIT);
 
+	/* Keep EEE off but the version stays EEE-capable so that link-up
+	 * still clears the MAC TX-LPI bits.
+	 */
+	if (tp->mac_version == RTL_GIGA_MAC_VER_46)
+		phy_disable_eee(tp->phydev);
+
 	/* PHY will be woken up in rtl_open() */
 	phy_suspend(tp->phydev);
 
-- 
2.47.3

Re: [PATCH net v1 1/1] r8169: disable EEE on RTL8168h/8111h

[patchwork-bot+netdevbpf]

Hello:

This patch was applied to netdev/net.git (main)
by Jakub Kicinski <kuba@kernel.org>:

On Fri, 25 Sep 2026 09:10:40 +0200 you wrote:
> Force EEE off on the RTL8168h/8111h (RTL_GIGA_MAC_VER_46) at PHY connect
> with phy_disable_eee().
> 
> Commit 202fef9bbbf5 ("net: phy: realtek: fix EEE advertisement write on
> the internal PHY MMD path") made EEE actually advertise on the generic
> Realtek PHY; the write had been a no-op before. On the RTL8168h that
> un-masks a latent defect: once EEE negotiates, RX silently stalls after
> ~7-20 minutes. The carrier stays up, no counter or dmesg moves, and only
> "ip link set down/up" recovers it; disabling EEE keeps the link stable.
> 
> [...]

Here is the summary with links:
  - [net,v1,1/1] r8169: disable EEE on RTL8168h/8111h
    https://git.kernel.org/netdev/net/c/3cdeaef1754a

You are awesome, thank you!
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