Lock enabling onboard lan (Attansic L1 GbE) on 7.1-PRERELEASE

[Pyun YongHyeon]

On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 06:34:08AM +0100, Barbara wrote:
 > Hello,
 > one of my motherboards has an onboard Attansic network interface, I 
 > think an AR8121.
 > 
 > # pciconf -lcv
 > none0 at pci0:4:0:0:       class=0x020000 
 > card=0x82261043 chip=0x10481969 rev=0xb0 hdr=0x00
 >     vendor     = 'Attansic 
 > (Now owned by Atheros)'
 >     device     = 'L1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000Base-T 
 > Ethernet Controller'
 >     class      = network
 >     subclass   = ethernet
 >     cap 
 > 01[40] = powerspec 2  supports D0 D3  current D0
 >     cap 05[48] = MSI supports 
 > 1 message, 64 bit
 >     cap 10[58] = PCI-Express 1 endpoint
 >     cap 03[6c] = VPD
 > 
 > 
 > Today I decided to give it a try.
 > But if I try loading the if_age module, the 
 > system prints the following lines and then it freezes.
 > 
 > age0: <Attansic 
 > Technology Corp, L1 Gigabit Ethernet> mem 0xfbdc0000-0xfbdfffff irq 36 at 
 > device 0.0 on pci4
 > age0: PCI device revision : 0x00b0
 > age0: Chip id/revision : 
 > 0x9006
 > age0: 1280 Tx FIFO, 2364 Rx FIFO
 > age0: MSIX count : 0
 > age0: MSI count : 
 > 1
 > age0: Using 1 MSI messages.
 > age0: Read request size : 512 bytes.
 > age0: TLP 
 > payload size : 128 bytes.
 > 

I guess it could be related with VPD access code in age(4) or
automatic power-down feature of hardware. Unfortunately I have no
longer access to L1 hardware so it looks hard to write a patch for
the issue. Would you try following instructions?
 - Shutdown your box.
 - Completely remove power cord from your system and wait 5 to 10
   min.(Just turning system off is not enough.)
 - Make sure to plug UTP cable to your controller before system
   boot.
 - Plug power cord and let system boot.
 - Enter BIOS menu and search onboard PCIe LAN configuration in the
   menu. If "LAN Option ROM" was enabled, disable the option.
 - Some motherboard might have set another option for "Check
   Atheros LAN cable". If it was set, disable it. If you also have
   an option for "Asus Express Gate" try disabling it.
 - Save changes and reboot.

Does that make any difference?

-- 
Regards,
Pyun YongHyeon