Re: [PATCH iwl-net] e1000e: fix flow control stuck off after link partner reset

From: Matt Vollrath

Date: Thu Sep 24 2026 - 14:21:58 EST


On 9/23/26 19:58, Craig I. Hagan wrote:
On an I219 (pch_spt+) copper with jumbo MTU enabled, a link partner
reset (e.g. a switch reboot) can leave the PHY's pause advertisement
bits dropped. Nothing re-asserts them on link-up, so every renegotiation
resolves flow control to none. rx_crc_errors climb and traffic stalls until
the interface is manually reset. Observed on I219-LM (8086:15b7) at
MTU 9000 behind a switch that was power-cycled.

In the watchdog, detect a completed autonegotiation that resolved
to no flow control despite pause being requested and the pause bits
missing from the advertisement, and schedule reset_task to rebuild
the advertisement (as ethtool -r does). Remediation is limited to three
attempts, 30s apart, until the next link down.

Remediate via the existing reset path rather than re-asserting the
advertisement on link-up; a root-cause rework can follow in net-next.

Fixes: 79849ebc0e06 ("e1000e: initial support for i219")
Cc: stable@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Link: https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/25925
Assisted-by: LLM
Signed-off-by: Craig I. Hagan <hagan@xxxxxxxxxx>
---
I was able to repro this on an I219-LM laptop by link cycling with MEI
runtime PM enabled while the NIC runtime PM was disabled.

At 1500 MTU flow control still doesn't end up in the right state, but
traffic otherwise flows normally. I don't think traffic is stalling
because flow control is off, I think it's stalling because
e1000_lv_jumbo_workaround_ich8lan didn't run after the PHY reset.

I didn't try your patch, but there's a four line fix. Where the watchdog
resets just the PHY when the MAC exits DMoff state, set FLAG_RESTART_NOW
instead of resetting the PHY, then goto link_up. This works for me at
both 1500 and 9000 MTU.

If runtime PM were enabled on your NIC it would reset anyway and avoid
this error.

See:

https://lore.kernel.org/netdev/20190628224932.3389-16-jeffrey.t.kirsher@xxxxxxxxx/