BCM5720 Status

chodong · #1 May 2nd, 2012, 00:55

Is there an update on the driver for the BCM5720?
We just got a R720 from Dell and need to get the driver update to run FreeBSD 9.0.

Terry_Kennedy · #2 May 3rd, 2012, 05:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by chodong

Is there an update on the driver for the BCM5720?
We just got a R720 from Dell and need to get the driver update to run FreeBSD 9.0.

If you update your kernel sources with net/cvsup or csup(1), rebuld the kernel and reboot, does it work?

If not, post the output from # pciconf -l | grep 14e4. (14e4 is Broadcom's PCI vendor ID.) The bge(4) maintainer, yongari@, does seem to follow this forum and can probably help.

chodong · #3 May 3rd, 2012, 06:39

Thank you Terry for the reply.

Initially the four NIC ports were not recognized with the release of FreeBSD 9.0 so I simply got the latest copies of the bge driver and made a kernel.

This kernel was able to detect the BCM5720 NIC's four ports but I got NMI errors when I tried to ifconfig the ports.

I can certainly understand that there may be other files required.

I will update my kernel sources and try again.

linuxunix · #4 May 4th, 2012, 09:34

Chodong,

Are you successful in making the driver work? Can you share the steps you carried out for making that driver work?

chodong · #5 May 5th, 2012, 08:35

Still no luck.

All four NIC ports are detected at boot time but I am unable to ifconfig any port.

I get the following error messages:

Code:

NMI ... going to debugger[/FONT] ->repeated four times
kernel: NMI ISA 20, EISA ff

I did the following:

Code:

# svn checkout svn://svn.freebsd.org/base/stale/9/ /usr/src
# cd /usr/src
# make buildworld
# make buildkernel KERNCONF=GENERIC
# cd release
# make release

I then burnt a CD and booted/installed from it.

The following is the output of
# pciconf -l | grep 14e4

Code:

bge0@pci0:2:0:0      class=0x020000 card=0x1f5b1028 chip=0x165f14e4 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
bge1@pci0:2:0:1      class=0x020000 card=0x1f5b1028 chip=0x165f14e4 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
bge2@pci0:1:0:0      class=0x020000 card=0x1f5b1028 chip=0x165f14e4 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00
bge3@pci0:1:0:1      class=0x020000 card=0x1f5b1028 chip=0x165f14e4 rev=0x00 hdr=0x00

I don't know what I did wrong presuming the BCM5720 driver works.

If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

chodong · #6 May 6th, 2012, 04:37

I got his reply to a query on the Broadcom web site.

Quote:

Support from FreeBSD comes from the open source community. The bge(4) driver in HEAD supports the BCM5720 but does not work correctly on the Dell R720 systems due to support for iDRAC on the Dell systems. Driver changes have been submitted for HEAD for the Dell R720 but have not been added to head or back ported to 9.0. Hopefully the changes to HEAD will be available in the next few days.

Dave

Can the maintainer of this driver comment on the status of the integration of the R720 support for iDRAC?

Availability within the next few days would be really sweet.

**yongari@** · #7 May 7th, 2012, 13:00

I'm working on integrating the required change to make BCM5720 with NC-SI firmware work on FreeBSD. It needs more testing and cleanups to not introduce regressions on other controllers. I'll let you know when patch is available to testing.

chodong · #8 May 7th, 2012, 20:01

Thank you very much for the status update. I'll monitor this thread for further updates.

linuxunix · #9 May 8th, 2012, 03:10

Yongari,

I request you to help us with the driver and speed up your testing as I have no other option than Broadcom NIC. Hope you will understand and thanks a lot for the heads-up!

Sorry if I am just being curious, can I download the patch and test it from my end too?

linuxunix · #10 May 17th, 2012, 10:12

Yongari,

Any updates? We really need your quick help for this.
Please update.

**yongari@** · #11 May 18th, 2012, 09:24

I've encountered a couple of issues during testing. Had been busy for $DAYJOB and couldn't find spare time to address it for a while. You can download experimental code if you can't wait for stable driver. The experimental driver may or may not work on your box.
http://people.freebsd.org/~yongari/bge/if_bge.c
http://people.freebsd.org/~yongari/bge/if_bgereg.h
Note, you need latest stable/9 to build the experimental driver.

linuxunix · #12 May 18th, 2012, 11:10

Thanks for sharing the experimental driver even when you are busy with your job.
May I know the expected time you gonna finish up with stable driver?

I always enjoy playing around FreeBSD but unable to get my NIC work and this has really made me stuck.
Please help me with the fix soon.I have been watching this space everyday since a week.

**yongari@** · #13 May 21st, 2012, 07:10

I uploaded updated driver. It still has some issues but appear to work better than previous one.
http://people.freebsd.org/~yongari/bge/if_bge.c
http://people.freebsd.org/~yongari/bge/if_bgereg.h
http://people.freebsd.org/~yongari/bge/brgphy.c

You need latest stable/9 to try this driver.

Copy downloaded if_bge.c and if_bgereg.h to /usr/src/sys/dev/bge directory.
Copy downloaded brgphy.c to /usr/src/sys/dev/mii directory.
Rebuild kernel and reboot to take changes effect.

linuxunix · #14 May 21st, 2012, 08:01

Thanks Yongari...I will test it.

linuxunix · #15 May 21st, 2012, 09:30

Yongari,

I am using the RELEASE version of FreeBSD (I wonder if that will matter?).

Code:

freebsd9_0# uname -arn
FreeBSD freebsd9_0 9.0-RELEASE FreeBSD 9.0-RELEASE #0: Tue Jan  3 07:46:30 UTC 2012     
root@farrell.cse.buffalo.edu:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC  amd64

Where can I download stable version?

I tried replacing if_bge.c and if_bgereg.h to the /usr/src/sys/dev/bge directory. Also, I replaced the downloaded brgphy under the mii directory with this new one. When I tried running:

Code:

#cd /usr/src
#make buildkernel KERNCONF=GENERIC

It threw these errors:

Code:

/usr/src/sys/dev/mii/brgphy.c:147: error: 'MII_MODEL_BROADCOM3_BCM5720C' undeclared here (not in a function)
/usr/src/sys/dev/mii/brgphy.c:147: error: 'MII_STR_BROADCOM3_BCM5720C' undeclared here (not in a function)
/usr/src/sys/dev/mii/brgphy.c:149: error: 'MII_MODEL_BROADCOM3_BCM57780' undeclared here (not in a function)
/usr/src/sys/dev/mii/brgphy.c:149: error: 'MII_STR_BROADCOM3_BCM57780' undeclared here (not in a function)
*** Error code 1

Stop in /usr/obj/usr/src/sys/GENERIC.
*** Error code 1

Stop in /usr/src.
*** Error code 1

Stop in /usr/src.

Any idea what could be the issue?

**yongari@** · #16 May 21st, 2012, 09:56

You're using 9.0-RELEASE. As I said, you need latest 9-stable or CURRENT to build the driver. There were lots of mii(4) changes.

linuxunix · #17 May 21st, 2012, 10:18

Yongari,

Oh..I was little late to respond to you. I have understood that I need to make it to RELENG_9 (STABLE) through my CVSUP. I have started with the upgrading. Will let you know the result.

FreeBee · #18 June 12th, 2012, 21:40

Hi Yongari,

My company just purchased some Dell R720's with built-in BCM5720 NICs. Do you have any update on the development of the drivers?

Thanks!

linuxunix · #19 June 13th, 2012, 12:33

I created a CVSRepo for RELENG_9 and included your driver. It's working like a charm.
Thanks a lot.

DrBaud · #20 June 25th, 2012, 17:39

Does RELENG_9 contain any updates from the files uploaded by yongari? If I do anything other than a ping bge reports a

Code:

watchdog timeout -- resetting

error.

chodong · #21 July 9th, 2012, 05:08

The new driver does not work.

It is only successful at ping 90% of the time and then the error "network is unreachable" occurs.

Please provide an update and an ETA for the complete driver.

Terry_Kennedy · #22 July 9th, 2012, 06:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by chodong

The new driver does not work.

It is only successful at ping 90% of the time and then the error "network is unreachable" occurs.

Please provide an update and an ETA for the complete driver.

I realize this is causing problems for you. However, as far as I know, yongari@ is a volunteer (as are most FreeBSD developers) and not a Broadcom or Dell employee. I've found him to be quite responsive to problem reports. Of course, the more information that's provided, the easier it is to track down the underlying problem.

As a user-to-user suggestion, you might want to re-word your message to something like "I'm still having issues with the BCM5720 card. I'm seeing about a 10% packet loss rate, accompanied by 'network is unreachable' messages. What information should I collect to help you troubleshoot this issue?"

Some things I might try while waiting for a response are:

Is there a pattern to the 10% loss?
Does varying the packet size change the loss rate?
Do ierrs or oerrs show up in # netstat -iIf so, one per dropped packet, or more?
Does the BCM5720 work successfully under some other operating system? (Boot from a LiveCD or the Broadcom diagnostic to rule out defective hardware.)

If it is critical to get this system into production and you have an open slot, you might want to consider adding a network card with known driver support (I'm using both Intel em(4) and Broadcom bce(4)/bge(4) cards with success). If the BCM5720 you're having the issue with is on an add-in card, you might just try swapping the card. But I'm guessing it is built onto the R720 mainboard.

chodong · #23 July 9th, 2012, 08:01

Terry,

Thank you for your input. I understand the situation quite well.

That the card won't ping is not a complex bug that is difficult to track. We are talking basics here.

I appreciate very much Yongari's volunteering of his time and if I were a network driver developer I would jump in
to help.

I hope there are others that might do so as the R720 is a popular platform and the BCM720 is the default LOM NIC.

I am currently running on dual-port NICs but this configuration cannot be delivered as a beta platform.

Please appreciate that I have project commitments to meet as well and that the cost of purchasing a dozen enterprise class quad-port NICs is not insignificant.

Having committed to FreeBSD I am in a difficult situation when a NIC driver is blocking my progress and the customer delivery looms ever closer.

**yongari@** · #24 August 8th, 2012, 06:36

Sorry for late reply. I didn't forget this issue and I didn't give up either.
The experimental driver posted in above URL shows mixed results. It does not seem to work on Dell R720/R620 but I was told the driver works on Dell R420/R320(newer Dell model).
It seems there is some hardware differences on R720/R620 so it would be more helpful to know what is happening on these boxes. If one of R720/R620 owners can setup a remote debugging environments for me it would help a lot to find root cause.
See the following URL for possible remote debugging setup. If you have resources for remote debugging, please send private mail to yongari@FreeBSD.org
http://people.freebsd.org/~yongari/remote_debugging.txt

linuxunix · #25 August 12th, 2012, 16:11

I built a new FreeBSD 9.0 with the experimental driver submitted by you. I installed on R720 and things are working fine for me. I have not testing it yet.

I have those servers(R720/R620) in labs but it is not open to outside world.
We need some volunteer to provide access to Yongari so that he can perform the testing.

I am keen on seeing matured product in this aspect, rather than experimental.

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The Following User Says Thank You to Terry_Kennedy For This Useful Post:
chodong (May 4th, 2012)

The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to yongari@ For This Useful Post:
chodong (May 7th, 2012), freecbc3 (August 6th, 2012), KZorro (July 20th, 2012), linuxunix (May 8th, 2012), sharkys (Yesterday)

The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to yongari@ For This Useful Post:
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