rt - eth0 connected and UP, eth1 connected but DOWN - without this patch, following sequence would brick NIC: ifconfig eth0 down ifconfig eth1 up ifconfig eth1 down ethtool -A eth1 autoneg off rx on tx off ifconfig eth1 up ifconfig eth1 down ethtool -A eth1 autoneg on rx on tx on ifconfig eth1 up ifconfig eth1 down ifup eth0 sleep 120 # or longer ethtool eth1 Just in case, sequence to un-brick: ifconfig eth0 down ethtool -A eth1 autoneg off rx on tx off ifconfig eth1 up ifconfig eth1 down ifup eth0 - with this patch: no TX timeout after "bricking" sequence above Details: - The following register accesses have been identified as the ones causing the NIC to freeze in "bricking" sequence above: - write NVREG_TX_PAUSEFRAME_ENABLE_V1 to eth1's register NvRegTxPauseFrame - write NVREG_MISC1_PAUSE_TX | NVREG_MISC1_FORCE to eth1's register NvRegMisc1 - write 0 to eth1's register NvRegTransmitterControl This is what this patch avoids. Signed-off-by: David Decotigny Signed-off-by: David S. Miller