Linux* Base Driver for Intel(R) Ethernet Network Connection
===========================================================
April 14, 2011
Contents
========
- In This Release
- Identifying Your Adapter
- Upgrading
- Building and Installation
- Command Line Parameters
- Additional Configurations
- Known Issues/Troubleshooting
- Support
In This Release
===============
This file describes the e1000e Linux* Base Driver for Intel Ethernet Network
Connection. This driver supports kernel versions 2.4.x and 2.6.x. This
driver includes support for Itanium(R)2-based systems.
NOTE: The 82546GB part requires the e1000 driver, not the e1000e driver.
This driver is only supported as a loadable module at this time. Intel is
not supplying patches against the kernel source to allow for static linking
of the driver. For questions related to hardware requirements, refer to the
documentation supplied with your Intel Gigabit adapter. All hardware
requirements listed apply to use with Linux.
The following features are now available in supported kernels:
- Native VLANs
- Channel Bonding (teaming)
- SNMP
Channel Bonding documentation can be found in the Linux kernel source:
/Documentation/networking/bonding.txt
The driver information previously displayed in the /proc filesystem is not
supported in this release. Alternatively, you can use ethtool (version 1.6
or later), lspci, and ifconfig to obtain the same information.
Instructions on updating ethtool can be found in the section "Additional
Configurations" later in this document.
NOTE: The Intel(R) 82562v 10/100 Network Connection only provides 10/100
support.
Identifying Your Adapter
========================
For more information on how to identify your adapter, go to the Adapter &
Driver ID Guide at:
http://support.intel.com/support/go/network/adapter/idguide.htm
For the latest Intel network drivers for Linux, refer to the following
website. Select the link for your adapter.
http://support.intel.com/support/go/network/adapter/home.htm
Upgrading
=========
If you currently have the e1000 driver installed and need to install e1000e,
perform the following:
- If your version of e1000 is 7.6.15.5 or less, upgrade to e1000 version 8.x,
using the instructions in the e1000 README.
- Install the e1000e driver using the instructions in the Building and
Installation section below.
- Modify /etc/modprobe.conf to point your PCIe devices to use the new e1000e
driver using alias ethX e1000e, or use your distribution's specific method
for configuring network adapters like RedHat's setup/system-config-network
or SuSE's yast2.
Building and Installation
=========================
To build a binary RPM* package of this driver, run 'rpmbuild -tb
<filename.tar.gz>'. Replace <filename.tar.gz> with the specific filename
of the driver.
NOTE: For the build to work properly, the currently running kernel MUST
match the version and configuration of the installed kernel sources.
If you have just recompiled the kernel reboot the system now.
RPM functionality has only been tested in Red Hat distributions.
1. Move the base driver tar file to the directory of your choice. For
example, use /home/username/e1000e or /usr/local/src/e1000e.
2. Untar/unzip archive:
tar zxf e1000e-x.x.x.tar.gz
3. Change to the driver src directory:
cd e1000e-x.x.x/src/
4. Compile the driver module:
# make install
The binary will be installed as:
/lib/modules/<KERNEL VERSION>/kernel/drivers/net/e1000e/e1000e.[k]o
The install locations listed above are the default locations. They
might not be correct for certain Linux distributions.
5. Load the module using either the insmod or modprobe command:
modprobe e1000e
insmod e1000e
Note that for 2.6 kernels the insmod command can be used if the full
path to the driver module is specified. For example:
insmod /lib/modules/<KERNEL VERSION>/kernel/drivers/net/e1000e/e1000e.ko
With 2.6 based kernels also make sure that older e1000e drivers are
removed from the kernel, before loading the new module:
rmmod e1000e; modprobe e1000e
6. Assign an IP address to the interface by entering the following, where
x is the interface number:
ifconfig ethx <IP_address>
7. Verify that the interface works. Enter the following, where <IP_address>
is the IP address for another machine on the same subnet as the
interface that is being tested:
ping <IP_address>
TROUBLESHOOTING: Some systems have trouble supporting MSI and/or MSI-X
interrupts. If you believe your system needs to disable this style of
interrupt, the driver can be built and installed with the command:
# make CFLAGS_EXTRA=-DDISABLE_PCI_MSI install
Normally the driver will generate an interrupt every two seconds, so if
you can see that you're no longer getting interrupts in
cat /proc/interrupts for the ethX e1000e device, then this workaround
may be necessary.
Command Line Parameters
=======================
If the driver is built as a module, the following optional parameters
are used by entering them on the command line with the modprobe command
using this syntax:
modprobe e1000e [<option>=<VAL1>,<VAL2>,...]
The default value for each parameter is generally the recommended setting,
unless otherwise noted.
NOTES: For more information about the InterruptThrottleRate,
RxIntDelay, TxIntDelay, RxAbsIntDelay, and TxAbsIntDelay
parameters, see the application note at:
http://www.intel.com/design/network/applnots/ap450.htm
A descriptor describes a data buffer and attributes related to
the data buffer. This information is accessed by the hardware.
InterruptThrottleRate
---------------------
Valid Range: 0,1,3,4, 100-100000 (0=off, 1=dynamic, 3=dynamic conservative,
4=simplified balancing)
Default Value: 3
The driver can limit the amount of interrupts per second that the adapter
will generate for incoming packets. It does this by writing a value to the
adapter that is based on the maximum amount of interrupts that the adapter
will generate per second.
Setting InterruptThrottleRate to a value greater or equal to 100
will program the adapter to send out a maximum of that many interrupts
per second, even if more packets have come in. This reduces interrupt
load on the system and can lower CPU utilization under heavy load,
but will increase latency as packets are not processed as quickly.
The default behaviour of the driver previously assumed a static
InterruptThrottleRate value of 8000, providing a good fallback value for
all traffic types, but lacking in small packet performance and latency.
The driver has two adaptive modes (setting 1 or 3) in which
it dynamically adjusts the InterruptThrottleRate value based on the traffic
that it receives. After determining the type of incoming traffic in the last
timeframe, it will adjust the InterruptThrottleRate to an appropriate value
for that traffic.
The algorithm classifies the incoming traffic every interval into
classes. Once the class is determined, the InterruptThrottleRate value is
adjusted to suit that traffic type the best. There are three classes defined:
"Bulk traffic", for large amounts of packets of normal size; "Low latency",
for small amounts of traffic and/or a significant percentage of small
packets; and "Lowest latency", for almost completely small packets or
minimal traffic.
In dynamic conservative mode, the InterruptThrottleRate value is set to 4000
for traffic that falls in class "Bulk traffic". If traffic falls in the "Low
latency" or "Lowest latency" class, the InterruptThrottleRate is increased
stepwise to 20000. This default mode is suitable for most applications.
For situations where low latency is vital such as cluster or
grid computing, the algorithm can reduce latency even more when
InterruptThrottleRate is set to mode 1. In this mode, which operates
the same as mode 3, the InterruptThrottleRate will be increased stepwise to
70000 for traffic in class "Lowest latency".
In simplified mode the interrupt rate is based on the ratio of tx and
rx traffic. If the bytes per second rate is approximately equal, the
interrupt rate will drop as low as 2000 interrupts per second. If the
traffic is mostly transmit or mostly receive, the interrupt rate could
be as high as 8000.
Setting InterruptThrottleRate to 0 turns off any interrupt moderation
and may improve small packet latency, but is generally not suitable
for bulk throughput traffic.
NOTE: InterruptThrottleRate takes precedence over the TxAbsIntDelay and
RxAbsIntDelay parameters. In other words, minimizing the receive
and/or transmit absolute delays does not force the controller to
generate more interrupts than what the Interrupt Throttle Rate
allows.
NOTE: When e1000e is loaded with default settings and multiple adapters
are in use simultaneously, the CPU utilization may increase non-
linearly. In order to limit the CPU utilization without impacting
the overall throughput, we recommend that you load the driver as
follows:
modprobe e1000e InterruptThrottleRate=3000,3000,3000
This sets the InterruptThrottleRate to 3000 interrupts/sec for
the first, second, and third instances of the driver. The range
of 2000 to 3000 interrupts per second works on a majority of
systems and is a good starting point, but the optimal value will
be platform-specific. If CPU utilization is not a concern, use
RX_POLLING (NAPI) and default driver settings.
RxIntDelay
----------
Valid Range: 0-65535 (0=off)
Default Value: 0
This value delays the generation of receive interrupts in units of 1.024
microseconds. Receive interrupt reduction can improve CPU efficiency if
properly tuned for specific network traffic. Increasing this value adds
extra latency to frame reception and can end up decreasing the throughput
of TCP traffic. If the system is reporting dropped receives, this value
may be set too high, causing the driver to run out of available receive
descriptors.
CAUTION: When setting RxIntDelay to a value other than 0, adapters may
hang (stop transmitting) under certain network conditions. If
this occurs a NETDEV WATCHDOG message is logged in the system
event log. In addition, the controller is automatically reset,
restoring the network connection. To eliminate the potential
for the hang ensure that RxIntDelay is set to 0.
RxAbsIntDelay
-------------
Valid Range: 0-65535 (0=off)
Default Value: 8
This value, in units of 1.024 microseconds, limits the delay in which a
receive interrupt is generated. Useful only if RxIntDelay is non-zero,
this value ensures that an interrupt is generated after the initial
packet is received within the set amount of time. Proper tuning,
along with RxIntDelay, may improve traffic throughput in specific network
conditions.
TxIntDelay
----------
Valid Range: 0-65535 (0=off)
Default Value: 8
This value delays the generation of transmit interrupts in units of
1.024 microseconds. Transmit interrupt reduction can improve CPU
efficiency if properly tuned for specific network traffic. If the
system is reporting dropped transmits, this value may be set too high
causing the driver to run out of available transmit descriptors.
TxAbsIntDelay
-------------
Valid Range: 0-65535 (0=off)
Default Value: 32
This value, in units of 1.024 microseconds, limits the delay in which a
transmit interrupt is generated. Useful only if TxIntDelay is non-zero,
this value ensures that an interrupt is generated after the initial
packet is sent on the wire within the set amount of time. Proper tuning,
along with TxIntDelay, may improve traffic throughput in specific
network conditions.
copybreak
---------
Valid Range: 0-xxxxxxx (0=off)
Default Value: 256
Usage: insmod e1000e.ko copybreak=128
Driver copies all packets below or equaling this size to a fresh rx
buffer before handing it up the stack.
This parameter is different than other parameters, in that it is a
single (not 1,1,1 etc.) parameter applied to all driver instances and
it is also available during runtime at
/sys/module/e1000e/parameters/copybreak
SmartPowerDownEnable
--------------------
Valid Range: 0-1
Default Value: 0 (disabled)
Allows Phy to turn off in lower power states. The user can turn off
this parameter in supported chipsets.
KumeranLockLoss
---------------
Valid Range: 0-1
Default Value: 1 (enabled)
This workaround skips resetting the Phy at shutdown for the initial
silicon releases of ICH8 systems.
IntMode
-------
Valid Range: 0-2 (0=legacy, 1=MSI, 2=MSI-X)
Default Value: 2
Allows changing the interrupt mode at module load time, without requiring a
recompile. If the driver load fails to enable a specific interrupt mode, the
driver will try other interrupt modes, from least to most compatible. The
interrupt order is MSI-X, MSI, Legacy. If specifying MSI (IntMode=1)
interrupts, only MSI and Legacy will be attempted.
CrcStripping
------------
Valid Range: 0-1
Default Value: 1 (enabled)
Strip the CRC from received packets before sending up the network stack. If
you have a machine with a BMC enabled but cannot receive IPMI traffic after
loading or enabling the driver, try disabling this feature.
EEE
---
Valid Range: 0-1
Default Value: 1 (enabled for parts supporting EEE)
This option allows for the ability of IEEE802.3az (a.k.a. Energy Efficient
Ethernet or EEE) to be advertised to the link partner on parts supporting EEE.
EEE saves energy by putting the device into a low-power state when the link is
idle, but only when the link partner also supports EEE and after the feature
has been enabled during link negotiation. It is not necessary to disable the
advertisement of EEE when connected with a link partner that does not support EEE.
Node
----
Valid Range: 0-n
Default Value: -1 (off)
0 - n: where n is the number of the NUMA node that should be used to allocate
memory for this adapter port.
-1: uses the driver default of allocating memory on whichever processor is
running insmod/modprobe.
The Node parameter will allow you to pick which NUMA node you want to have
the adapter allocate memory from. All driver structures, in-memory queues,
and receive buffers will be allocated on the node specified. This parameter
is only useful when interrupt affinity is specified, otherwise some portion
of the time the interrupt could run on a different core than the memory is
allocated on, causing slower memory access and impacting throughput, CPU, or
both.
Additional Configurations
=========================
Configuring the Driver on Different Distributions
-------------------------------------------------
Configuring a network driver to load properly when the system is started
is distribution dependent. Typically, the configuration process involves
adding an alias line to /etc/modules.conf or /etc/modprobe.conf as well
as editing other system startup scripts and/or configuration files. Many
popular Linux distributions ship with tools to make these changes for you.
To learn the proper way to configure a network device for your system,
refer to your distribution documentation. If during this process you are
asked for the driver or module name, the name for the Linux Base Driver
for the Gigabit Family of Adapters is e1000e.
As an example, if you install the e1000e driver for two Gigabit adapters
(eth0 and eth1) and want to set the interrupt mode to MSI-X and MSI
respectively, add the following to modules.conf or /etc/modprobe.conf:
alias eth0 e1000e
alias eth1 e1000e
options e1000e IntMode=2,1
Viewing Link Messages
---------------------
Link messages will not be displayed to the console if the distribution is
restricting system messages. In order to see network driver link messages
on your console, set dmesg to eight by entering the following:
dmesg -n 8
NOTE: This setting is not saved across reboots.
Jumbo Frames
------------
Jumbo Frames support is enabled by changing the MTU to a value larger than
the default of 1500. Use the ifconfig command to increase the MTU size.
For example:
ifconfig eth<x> mtu 9000 up
This setting is not saved across reboots. It can be made permanent if
you add:
MTU=9000
to the file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth<x>. This example
applies to the Red Hat distributions; other distributions may store this
setting in a different location.
Notes:
- To enable Jumbo Frames, increase the MTU size on the interface beyond
1500.
- The maximum MTU setting for Jumbo Frames is 9216. This value coincides
with the maximum Jumbo Frames size of 9234 bytes.
- Using Jumbo Frames at 10 or 100 Mbps may result in poor performance or
loss of link.
- The following adapters limit Jumbo Frames sized packets to a maximum of
4088 bytes:
Intel(R) 82578DM Gigabit Network Connection
Intel(R) 82577LM Gigabit Network Connection
- The following adapters do not support Jumbo Frames:
Intel(R) PRO/1000 Gigabit Server Adapter
Intel(R) PRO/1000 PM Network Connection
Intel(R) 82562V 10/100 Network Connection
Intel(R) 82566DM Gigabit Network Connection
Intel(R) 82566DC Gigabit Network Connection
Intel(R) 82566MM Gigabit Network Connection
Intel(R) 82566MC Gigabit Network Connection
Intel(R) 82562GT 10/100 Network Connection
Intel(R) 82562G 10/100 Network Connection
Intel(r) 82566DC-2 Gigabit Network Connection
Intel(R) 82562V-2 10/100 Network Connection
Intel(R) 82562G-2 10/100 Network Connection
Intel(R) 82562GT-2 10/100 Network Connection
Intel(R) 82578DC Gigabit Network Connection
Intel(R) 82567V-3 Gigabit Network Connection
- Jumbo Frames cannot be configured on an 82579-based Network device, if
MACSec is enabled on the system.
ethtool
-------
The driver utilizes the ethtool interface for driver configuration and
diagnostics, as well as displaying statistical information. ethtool
version 3 or later is required for this functionality, although we
strongly recommend downloading the latest version at:
http://ftp.kernel.org/pub/software/network/ethtool/.
NOTE: When validating enable/disable tests on some parts (82578, for example)
you need to add a few seconds between tests when working with ethtool.
Speed and Duplex
----------------
Speed and Duplex are configured through the ethtool* utility. ethtool is
included with all versions of Red Hat after Red Hat 7.2. For other Linux
distributions, download and install ethtool from the following website:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gkernel.
Enabling Wake on LAN* (WoL)
---------------------------
WoL is configured through the ethtool* utility. ethtool is included with
all versions of Red Hat after Red Hat 7.2. For other Linux distributions,
download and install ethtool from the following website:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gkernel.
For instructions on enabling WoL with ethtool, refer to the website listed
above.
WoL will be enabled on the system during the next shut down or reboot.
For this driver version, in order to enable WoL, the e1000e driver must be
loaded when shutting down or rebooting the system.
Wake On LAN is only supported on port A for the following devices:
Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Dual Port Network Connection
Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Dual Port Server Connection
Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Dual Port Server Adapter
Intel(R) PRO/1000 PF Dual Port Server Adapter
Intel(R) PRO/1000 PT Quad Port Server Adapter
Intel(R) Gigabit PT Quad Port Server ExpressModule
NAPI
----
NAPI (Rx polling mode) is supported in the e1000e driver. NAPI is enabled
by default.
To disable NAPI, compile the driver module, passing in a configuration option:
# make CFLAGS_EXTRA=-DE1000E_NO_NAPI install
See www.cyberus.ca/~hadi/usenix-paper.tgz for more information on NAPI.
To Enable a Separate Vector for TX
----------------------------------
# make CFLAGS_EXTRA=-DCONFIG_E1000E_SEPARATE_TX_HANDLER
This will allocate a separate handler for tx cleanups. This might be useful
if you have a lot of CPU cores under heavy load and want to spread the
processing load around.
With this option, you would get three MSI-X vectors: one for TX, one for RX,
and one for link.
Known Issues/Troubleshooting
============================
For known hardware and troubleshooting issues, refer to the following website.
http://support.intel.com/support/go/network/adapter/home.htm
Either select the link for your adapter or perform a search for the adapter
number. The adapter's page lists many issues. For a complete list of hardware
issues download your adapter's user guide and read the Release Notes.
NOTE: After installing the driver, if your Intel Ethernet Network Connection
is not working, verify in the "In This Release" section of the readme that
you have installed the correct driver.
Intel(R) Active Management Technology 2.0, 2.1, 2.5 not supported in
conjunction with Linux driver
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Detected Tx Unit Hang in Quad Port Adapters
-------------------------------------------
In some cases ports 3 and 4 don't pass traffic and report 'Detected Tx Unit
Hang' followed by 'NETDEV WATCHDOG: ethX: transmit timed out' errors. Ports
1 and 2 don't show any errors and will pass traffic.
This issue MAY be resolved by updating to the latest kernel and BIOS. The
user is encouraged to run an OS that fully supports MSI interrupts. You can
check your system's BIOS by downloading the Linux Firmware Developer Kit
that can be obtained at http://www.linuxfirmwarekit.org/
Adapters with 4 ports behind a PCIe bridge
------------------------------------------
Adapters that have 4 ports behind a PCIe bridge may be incompatible with
some systems. The user should run the Linux firmware kit from 2686434
http://www.linuxfirmwarekit.org to test their BIOS, if they have interrupt or
"missing interface" problems, especially with older kernels.
82573(V/L/E) TX Unit Hang Messages
----------------------------------
Several adapters with the 82573 chipset display "TX unit hang" messages
during normal operation with the e1000e driver. The issue appears both with
TSO enabled and disabled, and is caused by a power management function that
is enabled in the EEPROM. Early releases of the chipsets to vendors had the
EEPROM bit that enabled the feature. After the issue was discovered newer
adapters were released with the feature disabled in the EEPROM.
If you encounter the problem in an adapter, and the chipset is an 82573-based
one, you can verify that your adapter needs the fix by using ethtool:
# ethtool -e eth0
Offset Values
------ ------
0x0000 00 12 34 56 fe dc 30 0d 46 f7 f4 00 ff ff ff ff
0x0010 ff ff ff ff 6b 02 8c 10 d9 15 8c 10 86 80 de 83
^^
The value at offset 0x001e (de) has bit 0 unset. This enables the problematic
power saving feature. In this case, the EEPROM needs to read "df" at offset
0x001e.
A one-time EEPROM fix is available as a shell script. This script will verify
that the adapter is applicable to the fix and if the fix is needed or not. If
the fix is required, it applies the change to the EEPROM and updates the
checksum. The user must reboot the system after applying the fix if changes
were made to the EEPROM.
Example output of the script:
# bash fixeep-82573-dspd.sh eth0
eth0: is a "82573E Gigabit Ethernet Controller"
This fixup is applicable to your hardware
executing command: ethtool -E eth0 magic 0x109a8086 offset 0x1e value 0xdf
Change made. You *MUST* reboot your machine before changes take effect!
The script can be downloaded at
http://e1000.sourceforge.net/files/fixeep-82573-dspd.sh
Dropped Receive Packets on Half-duplex 10/100 Networks
------------------------------------------------------
If you have an Intel PCI Express adapter running at 10mbps or 100mbps, half-
duplex, you may observe occasional dropped receive packets. There are no
workarounds for this problem in this network configuration. The network must
be updated to operate in full-duplex, and/or 1000mbps only.
Driver Compilation
------------------
When trying to compile the driver by running make install, the following
error may occur:
"Linux kernel source not configured - missing version.h"
To solve this issue, create the version.h file by going to the Linux source
tree and entering:
# make include/linux/version.h.
Performance Degradation with Jumbo Frames
-----------------------------------------
Degradation in throughput performance may be observed in some Jumbo frames
environments. If this is observed, increasing the application's socket
buffer size and/or increasing the /proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_*mem entry values
may help. See the specific application manual and
/usr/src/linux*/Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt for more details.
Jumbo Frames on Foundry BigIron 8000 switch
-------------------------------------------
There is a known issue using Jumbo frames when connected to a Foundry
BigIron 8000 switch. This is a 3rd party limitation. If you experience
loss of packets, lower the MTU size.
Allocating Rx Buffers when Using Jumbo Frames
---------------------------------------------
Allocating Rx buffers when using Jumbo Frames on 2.6.x kernels may fail if
the available memory is heavily fragmented. This issue may be seen with PCI-X
adapters or with packet split disabled. This can be reduced or eliminated
by changing the amount of available memory for receive buffer allocation, by
increasing /proc/sys/vm/min_free_kbytes.
Multiple Interfaces on Same Ethernet Broadcast Network
------------------------------------------------------
Due to the default ARP behavior on Linux, it is not possible to have
one system on two IP networks in the same Ethernet broadcast domain
(non-partitioned switch) behave as expected. All Ethernet interfaces
will respond to IP traffic for any IP address assigned to the system.
This results in unbalanced receive traffic.
If you have multiple interfaces in a server, either turn on ARP
filtering by entering:
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/conf/all/arp_filter
(this only works if your kernel's version is higher than 2.4.5),
NOTE: This setting is not saved across reboots. The configuration
change can be made permanent by adding the line:
net.ipv4.conf.all.arp_filter = 1
to the file /etc/sysctl.conf
or,
install the interfaces in separate broadcast domains (either in
different switches or in a switch partitioned to VLANs).
Disable rx flow control with ethtool
------------------------------------
In order to disable receive flow control using ethtool, you must turn
off auto-negotiation on the same command line.
For example:
ethtool -A eth? autoneg off rx off
Unplugging network cable while ethtool -p is running
----------------------------------------------------
In kernel versions 2.5.50 and later (including 2.6 kernel), unplugging
the network cable while ethtool -p is running will cause the system to
become unresponsive to keyboard commands, except for control-alt-delete.
Restarting the system appears to be the only remedy.
MSI-X Issues with Kernels between 2.6.19 - 2.6.21 (inclusive)
-------------------------------------------------------------
Kernel panics and instability may be observed on any MSI-X hardware if you
use irqbalance with kernels between 2.6.19 and 2.6.21. If such problems are
encountered, you may disable the irqbalance daemon or upgrade to a newer
kernel.
Rx Page Allocation Errors
-------------------------
Page allocation failure. order:0 errors may occur under stress with kernels
2.6.25 and above. This is caused by the way the Linux kernel reports this
stressed condition.
Network throughput degradation observed with Onboard video versus add-in
Video Card on 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection when used with some older
kernels.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This issue can be worked around by specifying "pci=nommconf" in the kernel
boot parameter or by using another kernel boot parameter
"memmap=128M$0x100000000" which marks 128 MB region at 4GB as reserved and
therefore OS won't use these RAM pages.
This issue is fixed in kernel version 2.6.21, where the kernel tries to
dynamically find out the mmconfig size by looking at the number of buses
that the mmconfig segment maps to.
This issue won't be seen on 32bit version of EL5, as in that case, the kernel
sees that RAM is located around the 256MB window and avoids using the
mmconfig space.
Activity LED blinks unexpectedly
--------------------------------
If a system based on the 82577, 82578, or 82579 controller is connected
to a hub, the Activity LED will blink for all network traffic present on
the hub. Connecting the system to a switch or router will filter out most
traffic not addressed to the local port.
Link may take longer than expected
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
With some Phy and switch combinations, link can take longer than expected.
This can be an issue on Linux distributions that timeout when checking for
link prior to acquiring a DHCP address; however there is usually a way to
work around this (e.g. set LINKDELAY in the interface configuration on RHEL).
Support
=======
For general information, go to the Intel support website at:
www.intel.com/support/
or the Intel Wired Networking project hosted by Sourceforge at:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/e1000
If an issue is identified with the released source code on the supported
kernel with a supported adapter, email the specific information related
to the issue to e1000-devel@lists.sf.net
License
=======
Intel Gigabit Linux driver.
Copyright(c) 1999 - 2011 Intel Corporation.
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License,
version 2, as published by the Free Software Foundation.
This program is distributed in the hope it will be useful, but WITHOUT
ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for
more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
51 Franklin St - Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
The full GNU General Public License is included in this distribution in
the file called "COPYING".
Trademarks
==========
Intel, Itanium, and Pentium are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other
countries.
* Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.