[RFC net v4 3/4] bnxt_en: stop DMA before releasing rings the firmware did not free

From: Joe Damato

Date: Fri Sep 25 2026 - 13:44:48 EST


When HWRM_RING_FREE is not answered, bnxt_hwrm_ring_free() clears
fw_ring_id and __bnxt_close_nic() goes on to call bnxt_free_mem(), which
unmaps the ring memory and the RX buffers that the FW may still be
using.

This is reachable in production. On a BCM57504 the first sign is the TX
watchdog; the close that follows times out a subset of its RING_FREEs and
the driver releases those rings anyway:

05:30:12 NETDEV WATCHDOG: transmit queue 0 timed out 6073 ms
05:30:12 Resp cmpl intr err msg: 0x51 x20
05:30:12 hwrm_ring_free type 1 failed x12
05:30:12 hwrm_ring_free type 2 failed x8
05:30:12 AMD-Vi: IO_PAGE_FAULT x3

Count the rings the firmware did not free and report that to the caller
so it can decide what to do. bnxt_hwrm_resource_free() still frees the
remaining firmware resources before returning the error, so the shutdown
can send every message it needs to before the device is stopped.

The device stays unusable until the driver is rebound.

Fixes: 74608fc98d28 ("bnxt_en: Ring free response from close path should use completion ring")
Signed-off-by: Joe Damato <joe@xxxxxxx>
---
drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt.c | 48 +++++++++++++++++------
1 file changed, 35 insertions(+), 13 deletions(-)

diff --git a/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt.c b/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt.c
index a7f6facca7b4..33e9ce8eb449 100644
--- a/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt.c
+++ b/drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/bnxt/bnxt.c
@@ -7754,21 +7754,25 @@ static void bnxt_clear_one_cp_ring(struct bnxt *bp, struct bnxt_cp_ring_info *cp
memset(cpr->cp_desc_ring[i], 0, size);
}

-static void bnxt_hwrm_ring_free(struct bnxt *bp, bool close_path)
+static int bnxt_hwrm_ring_free(struct bnxt *bp, bool close_path)
{
+ int stuck = 0;
u32 type;
int i;

if (!bp->bnapi)
- return;
+ return 0;

for (i = 0; i < bp->tx_nr_rings; i++)
- bnxt_hwrm_tx_ring_free(bp, &bp->tx_ring[i], close_path);
+ if (bnxt_hwrm_tx_ring_free(bp, &bp->tx_ring[i], close_path))
+ stuck++;

bnxt_cancel_dim(bp);
for (i = 0; i < bp->rx_nr_rings; i++) {
- bnxt_hwrm_rx_ring_free(bp, &bp->rx_ring[i], close_path);
- bnxt_hwrm_rx_agg_ring_free(bp, &bp->rx_ring[i], close_path);
+ if (bnxt_hwrm_rx_ring_free(bp, &bp->rx_ring[i], close_path))
+ stuck++;
+ if (bnxt_hwrm_rx_agg_ring_free(bp, &bp->rx_ring[i], close_path))
+ stuck++;
}

/* The completion rings are about to be freed. After that the
@@ -7798,6 +7802,19 @@ static void bnxt_hwrm_ring_free(struct bnxt *bp, bool close_path)
bp->grp_info[i].cp_fw_ring_id = INVALID_HW_RING_ID;
}
}
+
+ if (!stuck)
+ return 0;
+
+ netdev_err(bp->dev, "Firmware did not free %d ring(s)\n", stuck);
+ return -EIO;
+}
+
+static void bnxt_stop_dma(struct bnxt *bp)
+{
+ netdev_err(bp->dev,
+ "Disabling DMA before releasing ring memory, the driver must be rebound to recover\n");
+ pci_clear_master(bp->pdev);
}

static int __bnxt_trim_rings(struct bnxt *bp, int *rx, int *tx, int max,
@@ -10832,16 +10849,19 @@ static void bnxt_clear_vnic(struct bnxt *bp)
bnxt_hwrm_vnic_ctx_free(bp);
}

-static void bnxt_hwrm_resource_free(struct bnxt *bp, bool close_path,
- bool irq_re_init)
+static int bnxt_hwrm_resource_free(struct bnxt *bp, bool close_path,
+ bool irq_re_init)
{
+ int rc;
+
bnxt_clear_vnic(bp);
- bnxt_hwrm_ring_free(bp, close_path);
+ rc = bnxt_hwrm_ring_free(bp, close_path);
bnxt_hwrm_ring_grp_free(bp);
if (irq_re_init) {
bnxt_hwrm_stat_ctx_free(bp);
bnxt_hwrm_free_tunnel_ports(bp);
}
+ return rc;
}

static int bnxt_hwrm_set_br_mode(struct bnxt *bp, u16 br_mode)
@@ -11363,15 +11383,15 @@ static int bnxt_init_chip(struct bnxt *bp, bool irq_re_init)
return 0;

err_out:
- bnxt_hwrm_resource_free(bp, 0, true);
+ if (bnxt_hwrm_resource_free(bp, 0, true))
+ bnxt_stop_dma(bp);

return rc;
}

static int bnxt_shutdown_nic(struct bnxt *bp, bool irq_re_init)
{
- bnxt_hwrm_resource_free(bp, 1, irq_re_init);
- return 0;
+ return bnxt_hwrm_resource_free(bp, 1, irq_re_init);
}

static int bnxt_init_nic(struct bnxt *bp, bool irq_re_init)
@@ -13422,7 +13442,8 @@ int bnxt_half_open_nic(struct bnxt *bp)
*/
void bnxt_half_close_nic(struct bnxt *bp)
{
- bnxt_hwrm_resource_free(bp, false, true);
+ if (bnxt_hwrm_resource_free(bp, false, true))
+ bnxt_stop_dma(bp);
bnxt_del_napi(bp);
bnxt_free_skbs(bp);
bnxt_free_mem(bp, true);
@@ -13501,7 +13522,8 @@ static void __bnxt_close_nic(struct bnxt *bp, bool irq_re_init,
if (BNXT_SUPPORTS_MULTI_RSS_CTX(bp))
bnxt_clear_rss_ctxs(bp);
/* Flush rings and disable interrupts */
- bnxt_shutdown_nic(bp, irq_re_init);
+ if (bnxt_shutdown_nic(bp, irq_re_init))
+ bnxt_stop_dma(bp);

/* TODO CHIMP_FW: Link/PHY related cleanup if (link_re_init) */

--
2.53.0-Meta