[gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Grant]

My laptop's "Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express
Gigabit Ethernet controller" uses the r8169 driver.  On kernel 2.6.36
it works fine, but on 2.6.38 and 2.6.39 it doesn't work and
continuously outputs "eth0: unable to apply firmware patch" to dmesg.
I found this workaround:

http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-882599-start-0.html

I'm just wondering if anyone has run into the same problem and found a
better solution.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Adam Carter]

> My laptop's "Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express
> Gigabit Ethernet controller" uses the r8169 driver.  On kernel 2.6.36
> it works fine, but on 2.6.38 and 2.6.39 it doesn't work and
> continuously outputs "eth0: unable to apply firmware patch" to dmesg.
> I found this workaround:
>
> http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-882599-start-0.html
>
> I'm just wondering if anyone has run into the same problem and found a
> better solution.

I have the same issue and it still exists with kernel 3.0.0. That
system has died so I havent been able to look at it further.

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Adam Carter]

I remembered that i also had started having a problem with my intel
wireless card, and it looks like both the intel and realtek firmwares
are now in linux-firmware so try emerging that.

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Grant]

> I remembered that i also had started having a problem with my intel
> wireless card, and it looks like both the intel and realtek firmwares
> are now in linux-firmware so try emerging that.

That fixed it.  Thank you very much.  I'm a little puzzled because I
don't get the "unable to apply firmware patch" messages on my desktop
which also uses the r8169 driver and doesn't have linux-firmware
installed.

I guess linux-firmware is a package released by the kernel folks
containing certain firmware blobs?  It looks like rt73 is in there but
not b43.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Adam Carter]

> That fixed it.  Thank you very much.  I'm a little puzzled because I
> don't get the "unable to apply firmware patch" messages on my desktop
> which also uses the r8169 driver and doesn't have linux-firmware
> installed.

Maybe you have an older firmware installed from a different package?
Run emerge -p linux-firmware on that box to see if there's a blocker.

> I guess linux-firmware is a package released by the kernel folks
> containing certain firmware blobs?  It looks like rt73 is in there but
> not b43.

Maybe these?
/lib/firmware/brcm/bcm4329-fullmac-4.bin
/lib/firmware/brcm/bcm4329-fullmac-4.txt
/lib/firmware/brcm/bcm43xx-0.fw
/lib/firmware/brcm/bcm43xx_hdr-0.fw
/lib/firmware/LICENCE.broadcom_bcm43xx

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Grant]

>> That fixed it.  Thank you very much.  I'm a little puzzled because I
>> don't get the "unable to apply firmware patch" messages on my desktop
>> which also uses the r8169 driver and doesn't have linux-firmware
>> installed.
>
> Maybe you have an older firmware installed from a different package?
> Run emerge -p linux-firmware on that box to see if there's a blocker.

linux-firmware is blocked by radeon-ucode and rt61-firmware, but now
that I look closer I realize that ifconfig doesn't show an eth0
interface at all even though lspci -v shows:

Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI
Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
...
Kernel driver in use: r8169

Shouldn't the eth0 interface appear in ifconfig once the r8169 driver
is loaded?  dmesg has no mention of eth0 or r8169.

>> I guess linux-firmware is a package released by the kernel folks
>> containing certain firmware blobs?  It looks like rt73 is in there but
>> not b43.
>
> Maybe these?
> /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm4329-fullmac-4.bin
> /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm4329-fullmac-4.txt
> /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm43xx-0.fw
> /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm43xx_hdr-0.fw
> /lib/firmware/LICENCE.broadcom_bcm43xx

Right again.  The contents of /lib/firmware/b43 and /lib/firmware/brcm
are completely different, but you think either one will work with a
b43 device?

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Adam Carter]

>> Maybe you have an older firmware installed from a different package?
>> Run emerge -p linux-firmware on that box to see if there's a blocker.
>
> linux-firmware is blocked by radeon-ucode and rt61-firmware,

I'm guessing that radeon-ucode and rt61-firmware and all the others
are being deprecated in favour of linux-firmware, but i don't recall
seeing an elog on it.

> but now
> that I look closer I realize that ifconfig doesn't show an eth0
> interface at all even though lspci -v shows:
>
> Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI
> Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
> ...
> Kernel driver in use: r8169
>
> Shouldn't the eth0 interface appear in ifconfig once the r8169 driver
> is loaded?  dmesg has no mention of eth0 or r8169.

That's odd. Does that box still have the failed loading firmware
error? Perhaps missing firmware stops eth0 from being created. I'd try
installing linux-fireware and trying again (assuming you havent
already).

>>> I guess linux-firmware is a package released by the kernel folks
>>> containing certain firmware blobs?  It looks like rt73 is in there but
>>> not b43.
>>
>> Maybe these?
>> /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm4329-fullmac-4.bin
>> /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm4329-fullmac-4.txt
>> /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm43xx-0.fw
>> /lib/firmware/brcm/bcm43xx_hdr-0.fw
>> /lib/firmware/LICENCE.broadcom_bcm43xx
>
> Right again.  The contents of /lib/firmware/b43 and /lib/firmware/brcm
> are completely different, but you think either one will work with a
> b43 device?

The driver will know which one it wants. You could grep the source for
the firmware file names to see which it pulls in.

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Grant]

> I'm guessing that radeon-ucode and rt61-firmware and all the others
> are being deprecated in favour of linux-firmware, but i don't recall
> seeing an elog on it.

Does anyone know if this is the case?  Doesn't seem very Gentoo-like,
although it should minimize package management for the devs which is
good.

>> but now
>> that I look closer I realize that ifconfig doesn't show an eth0
>> interface at all even though lspci -v shows:
>>
>> Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI
>> Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
>> ...
>> Kernel driver in use: r8169
>>
>> Shouldn't the eth0 interface appear in ifconfig once the r8169 driver
>> is loaded?  dmesg has no mention of eth0 or r8169.
>
> That's odd. Does that box still have the failed loading firmware
> error? Perhaps missing firmware stops eth0 from being created. I'd try
> installing linux-fireware and trying again (assuming you havent
> already).

I didn't have the firmware error on the desktop but I installed
linux-firmware and now eth0 is renamed to eth1 and appears under
iwconfig (no wireless extensions) but not under ifconfig.  My laptop's
r8169 eth0 appears under ifconfig even when there's no ethernet cable
attached.  That's the expected behavior isn't it?

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Michael Mol]

On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 2:35 PM, Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:
>> That's odd. Does that box still have the failed loading firmware
>> error? Perhaps missing firmware stops eth0 from being created. I'd try
>> installing linux-fireware and trying again (assuming you havent
>> already).
>
> I didn't have the firmware error on the desktop but I installed
> linux-firmware and now eth0 is renamed to eth1 and appears under
> iwconfig (no wireless extensions) but not under ifconfig.

I'm thinking you should set up some udev rules to help keep things
clear. (You really shouldn't see a NIC get renamed like that) On my
home router, I had eth0-eth2. I renamed them so that I had 'wan',
'wiredlan' and 'wifilan' instead. Check out udev and a
"persistent-net.rules" file under /etc/udev/rules.d. (I'd paste mine
as an example, but that machine is inaccessible to me right now)

Setting up some peristent udev rules keyed on a NIC's MAC address will
help keep things orderly for you.

>  My laptop's
> r8169 eth0 appears under ifconfig even when there's no ethernet cable
> attached.  That's the expected behavior isn't it?

Sure; ifconfig will even tell you if the link is up or down. Just
because the link is down doesn't mean the interface isn't there. :)

-- 
:wq

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Grant]

...
> Setting up some peristent udev rules keyed on a NIC's MAC address will
> help keep things orderly for you.

I deleted the persistent-net.rules file and rebooted and everything
came up properly numbered.  eth0 was being renamed to eth1 previously
because I had used that hard drive on a different motherboard.

>>  My laptop's
>> r8169 eth0 appears under ifconfig even when there's no ethernet cable
>> attached.  That's the expected behavior isn't it?
>
> Sure; ifconfig will even tell you if the link is up or down. Just
> because the link is down doesn't mean the interface isn't there. :)

I see eth0 under ifconfig on my laptop but not on my desktop.
Strangely, on my desktop eth0 does appear under iwconfig (no wireless
extensions).  dmesg pertaining to eth0 and r8169 looks normal.  lspci
-v says:

Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI
Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
...
Kernel driver in use: r8169

But no eth0 under ifconfig.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Michael Mol]

On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 3:04 PM, Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>  My laptop's
>>> r8169 eth0 appears under ifconfig even when there's no ethernet cable
>>> attached.  That's the expected behavior isn't it?
>>
>> Sure; ifconfig will even tell you if the link is up or down. Just
>> because the link is down doesn't mean the interface isn't there. :)
>
> I see eth0 under ifconfig on my laptop but not on my desktop.
> Strangely, on my desktop eth0 does appear under iwconfig (no wireless
> extensions).  dmesg pertaining to eth0 and r8169 looks normal.  lspci
> -v says:
>
> Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI
> Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
> ...
> Kernel driver in use: r8169
>
> But no eth0 under ifconfig.

Time to go for a walk in /sys, to find out more information.

Check out /sys/bus/pci/devices

Now, with lspci, a NIC will look something like this:
01:08.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

If I look under /sys/bus/pci/devices, I'll see a corresponding
directory (compare the first column from the lspci output):
0000:01:08.0

If I run 'ls' in that directory, I see:

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:19 broken_parity_status
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    0 2011-08-01 15:19 bus -> ../../../../bus/pci
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:11 class
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  256 2011-08-01 15:11 config
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:11 device
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    0 2011-08-01 15:11 driver ->
../../../../bus/pci/drivers/8139too
-rw------- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:19 enable
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:11 irq
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:19 local_cpus
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:19 modalias
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:19 msi_bus
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    0 2011-08-01 15:19 net:eth2 ->
../../../../class/net/eth2
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root    0 2011-05-12 10:47 power
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:11 resource
-rw------- 1 root root  256 2011-08-01 15:19 resource0
-rw------- 1 root root  256 2011-08-01 15:19 resource1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    0 2011-08-01 15:19 subsystem -> ../../../../bus/pci
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:19 subsystem_device
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:19 subsystem_vendor
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:19 uevent
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:11 vendor


So, you an see a file named 'net:eth2', so I expect it would show up
as eth2, absent any udev renaming or aliasing rules.

-- 
:wq

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Grant]

>>>>  My laptop's
>>>> r8169 eth0 appears under ifconfig even when there's no ethernet cable
>>>> attached.  That's the expected behavior isn't it?
>>>
>>> Sure; ifconfig will even tell you if the link is up or down. Just
>>> because the link is down doesn't mean the interface isn't there. :)
>>
>> I see eth0 under ifconfig on my laptop but not on my desktop.
>> Strangely, on my desktop eth0 does appear under iwconfig (no wireless
>> extensions).  dmesg pertaining to eth0 and r8169 looks normal.  lspci
>> -v says:
>>
>> Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI
>> Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
>> ...
>> Kernel driver in use: r8169
>>
>> But no eth0 under ifconfig.
>
> Time to go for a walk in /sys, to find out more information.
>
> Check out /sys/bus/pci/devices
>
> Now, with lspci, a NIC will look something like this:
> 01:08.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
> RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
>
> If I look under /sys/bus/pci/devices, I'll see a corresponding
> directory (compare the first column from the lspci output):
> 0000:01:08.0

I have:

# lspci
...
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 06)

# ls /sys/bus/pci/devices
0000:00:00.0  0000:00:0a.0  0000:00:13.0  0000:00:14.3  0000:00:15.1
0000:00:18.1  0000:01:05.0  0000:04:00.0
0000:00:01.0  0000:00:11.0  0000:00:13.2  0000:00:14.4  0000:00:16.0
0000:00:18.2  0000:01:05.1
0000:00:04.0  0000:00:12.0  0000:00:14.0  0000:00:14.5  0000:00:16.2
0000:00:18.3  0000:02:00.0
0000:00:09.0  0000:00:12.2  0000:00:14.1  0000:00:15.0  0000:00:18.0
0000:00:18.4  0000:03:00.0

# ls /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:04:00.0
broken_parity_status      device         irq            msi_bus  reset
     resource2_wc  subsystem_device  vpd
class                     dma_mask_bits  local_cpulist  net
resource   resource4     subsystem_vendor
config                    driver         local_cpus     remove
resource0  resource4_wc  uevent
consistent_dma_mask_bits  enable         modalias       rescan
resource2  subsystem     vendor

So I guess I'm missing net:eth0 in that last one?

It's a nearly brand new motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128490

Maybe the r8169 driver hasn't caught up?

- Grant


> If I run 'ls' in that directory, I see:
>
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:19 broken_parity_status
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    0 2011-08-01 15:19 bus -> ../../../../bus/pci
> -r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:11 class
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root  256 2011-08-01 15:11 config
> -r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:11 device
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    0 2011-08-01 15:11 driver ->
> ../../../../bus/pci/drivers/8139too
> -rw------- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:19 enable
> -r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:11 irq
> -r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:19 local_cpus
> -r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:19 modalias
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:19 msi_bus
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    0 2011-08-01 15:19 net:eth2 ->
> ../../../../class/net/eth2
> drwxr-xr-x 2 root root    0 2011-05-12 10:47 power
> -r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:11 resource
> -rw------- 1 root root  256 2011-08-01 15:19 resource0
> -rw------- 1 root root  256 2011-08-01 15:19 resource1
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root    0 2011-08-01 15:19 subsystem -> ../../../../bus/pci
> -r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:19 subsystem_device
> -r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:19 subsystem_vendor
> -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:19 uevent
> -r--r--r-- 1 root root 4096 2011-08-01 15:11 vendor
>
>
> So, you an see a file named 'net:eth2', so I expect it would show up
> as eth2, absent any udev renaming or aliasing rules.
>
> --
> :wq

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Michael Mol]

On Mon, Aug 1, 2011 at 4:13 PM, Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:
> # ls /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:04:00.0
> broken_parity_status      device         irq            msi_bus  reset
>     resource2_wc  subsystem_device  vpd
> class                     dma_mask_bits  local_cpulist  net
> resource   resource4     subsystem_vendor
> config                    driver         local_cpus     remove
> resource0  resource4_wc  uevent
> consistent_dma_mask_bits  enable         modalias       rescan
> resource2  subsystem     vendor
>
> So I guess I'm missing net:eth0 in that last one?

Looks that way.

>
> It's a nearly brand new motherboard:
>
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128490
>
> Maybe the r8169 driver hasn't caught up?

I dunno; you said it worked in 2.6.36, but not in 2.6.38 and 2.6.39,
so that sounds like a regression. I don't know where you'd go from
here. Possibly contact the group that maintains the driver.

If you do that, then they'd probably find it helpful if you checked to
see if 2.6.37 worked; that'd let them narow things down a bit. Also,
they'd likely find the relevant lines from "lspci -vv" useful.

-- 
:wq

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Adam Carter]

IIRC
'ifconfig -a' will show interfaces that are physically present, and
the driver available.
'ifconfig' will only show those interfaces that are also activated or
"up", which means configured up - nothing to do with link.

I'm not sure what RUNNING means... perhaps that indicates link (for
ethernet at least)?

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Grant]

> IIRC
> 'ifconfig -a' will show interfaces that are physically present, and
> the driver available.
> 'ifconfig' will only show those interfaces that are also activated or
> "up", which means configured up - nothing to do with link.

OK, with net.eth0 stopped and the cable unplugged, eth0 does appear
under ifconfig -a and not under ifconfig on my desktop.  It sounds
like this is normal behavior so the question becomes why does eth0
appear under ifconfig on my laptop with net.eth0 stopped and the cable
unplugged?

I thought it could be wicd on my laptop but I shut down the daemon
with no change.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Adam Carter]

> so the question becomes why does eth0
> appear under ifconfig on my laptop with net.eth0 stopped and the cable
> unplugged?
>
> I thought it could be wicd on my laptop but I shut down the daemon
> with no change.

Try disabling the daemon from starting at boot 'rc-update delete wicd'
and reboot, then see if the interface is up.

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Grant]

>> so the question becomes why does eth0
>> appear under ifconfig on my laptop with net.eth0 stopped and the cable
>> unplugged?
>>
>> I thought it could be wicd on my laptop but I shut down the daemon
>> with no change.
>
> Try disabling the daemon from starting at boot 'rc-update delete wicd'
> and reboot, then see if the interface is up.

You nailed it.  eth0 was being brought up on my laptop by wicd.
Thanks a lot.  Both systems have functioning NIC's now.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Mick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: Text/Plain, Size: 774 bytes --]

On Wednesday 03 Aug 2011 17:39:50 Grant wrote:
> >> so the question becomes why does eth0
> >> appear under ifconfig on my laptop with net.eth0 stopped and the cable
> >> unplugged?
> >> 
> >> I thought it could be wicd on my laptop but I shut down the daemon
> >> with no change.
> > 
> > Try disabling the daemon from starting at boot 'rc-update delete wicd'
> > and reboot, then see if the interface is up.
> 
> You nailed it.  eth0 was being brought up on my laptop by wicd.
> Thanks a lot.  Both systems have functioning NIC's now.

Glad you got this sorted.

Is there a conclusion if we should be planning to move away from x11-
drivers/radeon-ucode, net-wireless/b43-fwcutter, et al and use sys-
kernel/linux-firmware instead?
-- 
Regards,
Mick

[-- Attachment #2: This is a digitally signed message part. --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 198 bytes --]

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Grant]

>> >> so the question becomes why does eth0
>> >> appear under ifconfig on my laptop with net.eth0 stopped and the cable
>> >> unplugged?
>> >>
>> >> I thought it could be wicd on my laptop but I shut down the daemon
>> >> with no change.
>> >
>> > Try disabling the daemon from starting at boot 'rc-update delete wicd'
>> > and reboot, then see if the interface is up.
>>
>> You nailed it.  eth0 was being brought up on my laptop by wicd.
>> Thanks a lot.  Both systems have functioning NIC's now.
>
> Glad you got this sorted.
>
> Is there a conclusion if we should be planning to move away from x11-
> drivers/radeon-ucode, net-wireless/b43-fwcutter, et al and use sys-
> kernel/linux-firmware instead?
> --
> Regards,
> Mick

I'm not the right guy to make the call but I think the fact that the
r8169 firmware exists only in linux-firmware (as far as Portage
packages) says something.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Grant]

>> # ls /sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:04:00.0
>> broken_parity_status      device         irq            msi_bus  reset
>>     resource2_wc  subsystem_device  vpd
>> class                     dma_mask_bits  local_cpulist  net
>> resource   resource4     subsystem_vendor
>> config                    driver         local_cpus     remove
>> resource0  resource4_wc  uevent
>> consistent_dma_mask_bits  enable         modalias       rescan
>> resource2  subsystem     vendor
>>
>> So I guess I'm missing net:eth0 in that last one?
>
> Looks that way.
>
>>
>> It's a nearly brand new motherboard:
>>
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128490
>>
>> Maybe the r8169 driver hasn't caught up?
>
> I dunno; you said it worked in 2.6.36, but not in 2.6.38 and 2.6.39,
> so that sounds like a regression. I don't know where you'd go from
> here. Possibly contact the group that maintains the driver.

Well, I'm getting different behavior from the device on my laptop and
on my desktop so I guess the devices are a bit different even though
they look the same with lspci.  On my laptop, everything is good under
2.6.36 without linux-firmware, on 2.6.39 everything is good as long as
I install linux-firmware.  On my desktop with linux-firmware, I get
eth0 under ifconfig -a and iwconfig, but not ifconfig.  On my laptop,
it appears under all three.

> If you do that, then they'd probably find it helpful if you checked to
> see if 2.6.37 worked; that'd let them narow things down a bit. Also,
> they'd likely find the relevant lines from "lspci -vv" useful.

OK, thanks.

- Grant

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[pk]

On 2011-08-01 20:35, Grant wrote:

> Does anyone know if this is the case?  Doesn't seem very Gentoo-like,
> although it should minimize package management for the devs which is
> good.

I assume they're just following kernel.org; since the kernel devs (at
least the ones that have to deal with firmware drivers) use the firmware
to build in I assume they are interested in having one, "official",
source from where to take them from...

http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/dwmw2/firmware/

HTH

Best regards

Peter K

Re: [gentoo-user] r8169 unable to apply firmware patch

[Paul Hartman]

On Sat, Jul 30, 2011 at 7:05 PM, Grant <emailgrant@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I remembered that i also had started having a problem with my intel
>> wireless card, and it looks like both the intel and realtek firmwares
>> are now in linux-firmware so try emerging that.
>
> That fixed it.  Thank you very much.  I'm a little puzzled because I
> don't get the "unable to apply firmware patch" messages on my desktop
> which also uses the r8169 driver and doesn't have linux-firmware
> installed.

AFAIR the r8169 driver supports multiple chipsets, and they don't all
need the firmware file. So perhaps your two systems are not using
exactly the same chipset in the ethernet card...

On my desktop, I would get that warning, but it would work perfectly
fine anyway even without it being present.

According to Google results, the general opinion is that r8169 sucks
and seems like almost everybody has problems with it. :)