# Marvell 88E8056 NIC not supported?

## cdmuhlb

Hello, I am building a new computer with the Gigabyte GA-965P-S3 motherboard, and the LiveCD does not detect the onboard Marvell 88E8056 network adapter.  I have tried modprobing skge, sky2, and sk98lin, all to no avail.  Through some mostly unsuccessful googling, I saw it mentioned that it should work with sky2 (which supports the 8E8055), but that the driver does not recognize its PCI ID.  Unfortunately, I have no experience with hardware drivers, so I do not know what I might do to get around this.

Could someone please tell me how I can get this network adapter working from the LiveCD so that I can install Gentoo on this system?  I am currently using the Conrad LiveCD (2.6.17-gentoo-r2).  If for some reason it can't be supported by a LiveCD but can be supported once the OS is installed, then I do have a spare NIC that it could use temporarily.  I have reproduced some hopefully helpful output from lspci below:

```

Conrad-LiveCD root # lspci -v

...

04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Unknown device 4364 (rev 12)

        Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Unknown device e000

        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 11

        Memory at f800000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]

        I/O ports at 9000 [size=256]

        [virtual] Expansion ROM at 88000000 [disabled] [size=128K]

        Capabilities: [48] Power Management version 3

        Capabilities: [50] Vital Product Data

        Capabilities: [5c] Message SIgnalled Interrupts: 64bit+ Queue=0/0 Enable_

        Capabilities: [e0] Express Legacy Endpoint IRQ 0

Conrad-LiveCD root # lspci -n

...

04:00.0 0200: 11ab:4364 (rev12)

```

Thank you very much for your help!

----------

## beandog

Try running lsmod from the livecd.  It might actually be using forcedeth.

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## scari

I got a same problem.

I have tried to install amd64-2006.0 on my new desktop (E6300 + GA-965P-S3).

No modules work with Marvel 88E8056 gigabit ethernet which on-boarded.

I use fujitsu notebook which has Marvell 88E8055 ethernet controller at work.

Of course, the notebook was powered by gentoo 2006.0 and ethernet controller works well with sky2.ko.

I guess there are no big difference with 88E8056 and 88E8055. am I wrong?

----------

## dsd

here is a sky2 patch you can try

http://dev.gentoo.org/~dsd/kernel/88E8056.patch

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## dsd

erm, that patch is actually included in recent gentoo-sources-2.6.17 releases. sky2 does support your hardware.

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## cdmuhlb

Thank you very much - I'm glad to hear that!  Does anyone know of a 64-bit LiveCD posessing that patch, or else instructions on burning a custom LiveCD?

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## cdmuhlb

Well, I installed 32-bit Gentoo 2006.0 using a spare NIC and the Conrad LiveCD and updated the kernel to 2.6.17-gentoo-r4, which appears to contain the sky2 patch.  However, the card is still not usable.  When I bring up the interface using DHCP, it hangs for 30 seconds, then eventually gets its IP.  The network is usable for about 90 seconds, then it fails and the link light goes out, though the interface is still seen as "up" in Linux.

The whole time this is going on, the sky2 driver has been spewing output to the logs at a rate of 20 lines/second, both when the interface is up and down.  The only way to stop it is to rmmod sky2.  Log output is shown below

Interface is Down

```

Aug 24 10:17:35 hostname sky2 eth0: phy read timeout

Aug 24 10:17:35 hostname sky2 eth0: phy read timeout

Aug 24 10:17:35 hostname sky2 eth0: phy read timeout

...

```

Bringing Up Interface via DHCP

```

Aug 24 10:17:36 hostname sky2 eth0: enabling interface

Aug 24 10:17:36 hostname rc-scripts: COnfiguration not set for eth0 - assuming DHCP

Aug 24 10:17:36 hostname dhcpcd[5750]: MAC address = ##:##:##:##:##:##

Aug 24 10:17:39 hostname sky2 eth0: Link is up at 1000 Mbps, full duplex, flow control both

Aug 24 10:18:04 hostname dhcpcd[5750]: verified 192.168.1.109 address is not in use

Aug 24 10:18:04 hostname dhcpcd[5750]: your IP address = 192.168.1.109

```

Connectivity Lost

```

Aug 24 10:19:34 hostname sky2 eth0: transmit descriptor error (hardware problem)

Aug 24 10:19:34 hostname sky2 eth0: Link is down.

Aug 24 10:19:34 hostname sky2 eth0: transmit descriptor error (hardware problem)

Aug 24 10:19:34 hostname sky2 eth0: Link is down.

Aug 24 10:19:34 hostname sky2 eth0: transmit descriptor error (hardware problem)

Aug 24 10:19:34 hostname sky2 eth0: Link is down.

...

```

Bringing Down Interface

```

Aug 24 10:26:28 hostname dhcpcd[5752]: terminating on signal 15

Aug 24 10:26:28 hostname sky2 eth0: transmit descriptor error (hardware problem)

Aug 24 10:26:28 hostname sky2 eth0: Link is down.

Aug 24 10:26:28 hostname sky2 eth0: disabling interface

Aug 24 10:26:28 hostname sky2 eth0: phy read timeout

Aug 24 10:26:28 hostname sky2 eth0: phy read timeout

Aug 24 10:26:28 hostname sky2 eth0: phy read timeout

...

```

I know the driver is labeled as "EXPERIMENTAL", but I am not sure what kind of performance that implies.  Should I be expecting 90 seconds of connectivity using this device, or is this behavior out-of-the-ordinary (as I would hope)?  Can anyone suggest something to try next?  An alternate driver, perhaps, or a different kernel version, or even just confirmation that sky2 is this unstable?  Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you!

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## zxy

try enabling marvel PHY in kernel. In your logz phy is mentioned often.

I think it is in device drivers somewhere if I remember corectly.

At least it is in no-sources. I don't know about gentoo-sources. But it could be there.

I have Marvel too. Driver usualy cracks under heavy load (aMule, torrent ...), but is capable to die even when browsing with opera. Sometimes it is still better than nothing. As my experiences go, it is better to use it for local network, use something else for internet. I hope you have two network NICes.

Good luck

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## mikepolniak

I have the Marvell 8053 GB ethernet on a Gigabyte P965-DS3 board. To get it working you need to d/l the Yukon Linux Driver from the Marvell web site. This driver is dated from July 2006 and supports the Yukon 88E805X Gigabit Ethernet Controllers so it should support the 8056 on your board.

You can create a patch with the d/l files that applies against kernel-2.6.16 driver sk98lin. This patched driver works without any errors for me.

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## zxy

Did you use 

```
 Yukon Linux Driver      Linux Kernel 2.4.13 and up       7/3/06      8.35.2.3 
```

So, this works directly with  2.6.16 kernel?

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## zxy

I just tried to use this driver.

I downloaded driver from marvell site and I used the patch for kernel option.

It patched ok, but when making, it did't work.

Here is the output

```
  CC      drivers/net/sk98lin/skge.o

In file included from drivers/net/sk98lin/skge.c:76:

drivers/net/sk98lin/h/skdrv2nd.h:64:7: warning: "CONFIG_NET_POLL_CONTROLLER" is not defined

drivers/net/sk98lin/skge.c:320: warning: initialization from incompatible pointer type

drivers/net/sk98lin/skge.c: In function 'XmitFrame':

drivers/net/sk98lin/skge.c:2757: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer without a cast

drivers/net/sk98lin/skge.c:2791: error: 'CHECKSUM_HW' undeclared (first use in this function)

drivers/net/sk98lin/skge.c:2791: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once

drivers/net/sk98lin/skge.c:2791: error: for each function it appears in.)

drivers/net/sk98lin/skge.c: In function 'XmitFrameSG':

drivers/net/sk98lin/skge.c:2915: error: 'CHECKSUM_HW' undeclared (first use in this function)

make[3]: *** [drivers/net/sk98lin/skge.o] Error 1

make[2]: *** [drivers/net/sk98lin] Error 2

make[1]: *** [drivers/net] Error 2

make: *** [drivers] Error 2

```

I used 2.6.18-rc4-no2 no-sources kernel on my amd64.

--- EDIT ---

Tried with Linux Kernel v2.6.18-rc4-viper....   the same error

--- EDIT 2---

Doesn't work with Linux Kernel v2.6.17-beyond3 either...

I don't really want to use 2.6.16-gentoo-sources.    <--- too slow

----------

## zxy

I just found this https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-487018-start-0-postdays-0-postorder-asc-highlight-.html. 

Look at the post of funkmankey

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## xanas3712

How are you even getting past the cd-rom detection?  My cdrom comes in on channel 4 so the livecd can't even mount root?

Are you using only the ide port maybe?

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## zxy

Kernel 2.6.19 has sky2 driver repaired. Works for me (2.6.19-rc6-mm2) a whole day without changing the network card even under heavy load. Gentoo-sources-2.6.19 is out, too.

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