# Marvell 88E1116 other driver than forcedeth possible?

## Theimon

My motherboard (Gigabyte GA-M55S-S3) has an onboard Gigabit Ethernet Controller, namely a Marvell 88E1116. 

Relevant lspci: 

```
00:08.0 Bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP55 Ethernet (rev a2)

   Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Unknown device e000

   Flags: bus master, 66MHz, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 222

   Memory at fc006000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]

   I/O ports at dc00 [size=8]

   Memory at fc007000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]

   Memory at fc008000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16]

   Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

   Capabilities: [70] MSI-X: Enable- Mask- TabSize=8

   Capabilities: [50] Message Signalled Interrupts: Mask+ 64bit+ Queue=0/3
```

Info from Gigabyte:

```
Integrated Peripherals:

   1. T.I IEEE1394 controller

   2. Marvel 88E1116 Gigabit Ethernet Controller

   3. Realtek ALC883 Audio Codec 
```

Now, it's working like a charm with the forcedeth module, but since it's a Gigabit controller the speed should be higher than 100MB/s. Forcedeth seems to support speeds higher than 100MB/s but in my case it's not happening.

Output from ethtool: 

```
 # ethtool eth0

Settings for eth0:

   Supported ports: [ MII ]

   Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 

                           100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 

                           1000baseT/Full 

   Supports auto-negotiation: Yes

   Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 

                           100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 

                           1000baseT/Full 

   Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes

   Speed: 100Mb/s

   Duplex: Full

   Port: MII

   PHYAD: 1

   Transceiver: external

   Auto-negotiation: on

   Supports Wake-on: g

   Wake-on: d

   Link detected: yes

```

I've been searching the web and wondering through the kernel configuration but it seems there's no specific driver for this ethernet chip. Therefore I won't be able to get any higher speed I reckon.

So the question is; are there any other drivers available for this chip? Or any driver that enables higher speeds?

----------

## cyrillic

The ethernet chip on your motherboard is nVidia MCP55, and forcedeth is the correct driver to use.

The Marvell chip is just the PHY part of the interface.

My GA-M59SLI-S5 motherboard has a very similar setup :

2 MCP55 gigabit ethernet ports (with Marvell PHY chips), and everything works fine at 1000 Mbits.

Are you sure your switch / router / cables are good enough to work at 1000 Mbits ?

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## Theimon

Most of the hardware is capable of 1000Mbits, I'm starting to question the router though. But since this is just a temporary setup (I'm moving to a new place in a month) I'll just let this one rest for now and check again when I get my new modem etc.

Thanks for your reply, at least I know I'm using the right driver so I won't have to tinker with kernel settings.  :Smile: 

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## phil_r

Hi, did you find your answer to this?  I'm having exactly the same issue with my new mobo.  My older one though had a gig nvidia port on it, using the same switch and cables, and it ran at 1g.  I'm thinking there may be something on the mcp55 hardware the driver can't cope with, but I'm interested to know how you made out.

Phil.

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## Theimon

I'm 100% sure all network hardware is capable of Gbit speed. Ethtool still shows me 100Mbit though. I have been going through the kernel settings hundreds of times from top to bottom now, but I'm unable to find anything related to this situation. So to answer your question: I haven't solved it (yet)  :Sad: 

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## phil_r

Not sure what or why, but I came to my PC a few days ago and it was powered off.  I powered it on and the CMOS had reset itself to defaults.  Interestingly when Linux booted up, my port had gone to 1Gb:

undertaker ~ # ethtool eth0

Settings for eth0:

        Supported ports: [ MII ]

        Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full

                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full

                                1000baseT/Full

        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes

        Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full

                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full

                                1000baseT/Full

        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes

        Speed: 1000Mb/s

        Duplex: Full

        Port: MII

        PHYAD: 1

        Transceiver: external

        Auto-negotiation: on

        Supports Wake-on: g

        Wake-on: d

        Link detected: yes

undertaker ~ #

I can't tell you what changed, why the machine turned itself off or why the CMOS defaulted.  I just know it works now - and I hadn't changed a thing in the kernel.  Try resetting your CMOS or go into your BIOS and play with the network/integrated peripherals options.

Phil.

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## Theimon

That's odd....

I went through the BIOS a couple of times already and didn't find anything, but I'll just check it again. Maybe I'm missing something. Fingers crossed.

----------

