[BPI-R4] 2.5GbE interface, firmware handling issue

[mkowalski]

Hi folks, I am using BPI-R4 with the 2.5GbE interface and there seems to be something fishy with the driver/firmware.

What happens is that the device is visible from the OS, but plugging the cable never brings the link up.

A quick thread in the banana-pi forum directs the investigation in the order of firmware loading during the boot process, for simplicity below the quoted reply

The device is very similar to the en8811h. This device needs to load the firmware very early in the bootstage. Booting linux, it needs to be added to initramfs, so it is available when it is needed. So only adding to /lib/firmware/ is not enough on linux, for the en8811h.

I think the mt7988-2p5g-phy will have the same problem, and needs an openwrt specific solution to have the firmware avaiable in early boot…

Sadly, I do not use openwrt.

Edit:

Perhaps you can see how the firmware is handled for the R3mini and/or OpenWrt-One in openwrt

What I do see myself from the device is the following

root@BPI-R4:~# ethtool eth1
Settings for eth1:
	Supported ports: [ ]
	Supported link modes:   100baseT/Full
	                        1000baseT/Full
	                        2500baseT/Full
	Supported pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
	Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
	Supported FEC modes: Not reported
	Advertised link modes:  100baseT/Full
	                        1000baseT/Full
	                        2500baseT/Full
	Advertised pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
	Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
	Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
	Speed: Unknown!
	Duplex: Unknown! (255)
	Port: Twisted Pair
	PHYAD: 15
	Transceiver: external
	Auto-negotiation: on
	MDI-X: Unknown
	Current message level: 0x000000ff (255)
			       drv probe link timer ifdown ifup rx_err tx_err
	Link detected: no

root@BPI-R4:~# dmesg
[...]
[    0.000000] Linux version 6.6.52 (builder@buildhost) (aarch64-openwrt-linux-musl-gcc (OpenWrt GCC 13.3.0 r27608-3f98f68573) 13.3.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils) 2.42) #0 SMP Sun Sep 29 22:04:34 2024
[    0.000000] Machine model: Bananapi BPI-R4 2.5GE PoE
[...]
[    3.807402] FIT: Detected U-Boot 2024.07-OpenWrt-r27466-f368e2d5ec
[    3.813580] FIT: Selected configuration: "config-mt7988a-bananapi-bpi-r4-poe" (OpenWrt bananapi_bpi-r4-poe)
[    3.823317] FIT:           kernel sub-image 0x00001000..0x005a3441 "kernel-1" (ARM64 OpenWrt Linux-6.6.52)
[    3.833052] FIT:          flat_dt sub-image 0x005a4000..0x005ae9ae "fdt-1" (ARM64 OpenWrt bananapi_bpi-r4-poe device tree blob)
[    3.844610] FIT:          flat_dt sub-image 0x005af000..0x005af609 "fdt-mt7988a-bananapi-bpi-r4-emmc" (ARM64 OpenWrt bananapi_bpi-r4-poe device tree overlay mt7988a-bananapi-bpi-r4-emmc)
[    3.861289] FIT:          flat_dt sub-image 0x005b0000..0x005b011c "fdt-mt7988a-bananapi-bpi-r4-rtc" (ARM64 OpenWrt bananapi_bpi-r4-poe device tree overlay mt7988a-bananapi-bpi-r4-rtc)
[    3.877792] FIT:          flat_dt sub-image 0x005b1000..0x005b15c1 "fdt-mt7988a-bananapi-bpi-r4-sd" (ARM64 OpenWrt bananapi_bpi-r4-poe device tree overlay mt7988a-bananapi-bpi-r4-sd)
[    3.894120] FIT:          flat_dt sub-image 0x005b2000..0x005b28f0 "fdt-mt7988a-bananapi-bpi-r4-wifi-mt7996a" (ARM64 OpenWrt bananapi_bpi-r4-poe device tree overlay mt7988a-bananapi-bpi-r4-wifi-mt7996a)
[    3.912182] FIT:       filesystem sub-image 0x005b3000..0x00efbfff "rootfs-1" (ARM64 OpenWrt bananapi_bpi-r4-poe rootfs)
[    3.923393] block mmcblk0p7: mapped 1 uImage.FIT filesystem sub-image as /dev/fit0
[    3.931131] block mmcblk0p7: mapped remaining space as /dev/fitrw
[    4.062656] mtk_soc_eth 15100000.ethernet: generated random MAC address 65:74:68:25:64:00
[    4.075235] mtk_soc_eth 15100000.ethernet eth0: mediatek frame engine at 0xffffffc082880000, irq 103
[    4.084923] mtk_soc_eth 15100000.ethernet eth1: mediatek frame engine at 0xffffffc082880000, irq 103
[    4.094604] mtk_soc_eth 15100000.ethernet eth2: mediatek frame engine at 0xffffffc082880000, irq 103
[    4.186789] mt7530-mmio 15020000.switch: configuring for fixed/internal link mode
[    4.194301] mt7530-mmio 15020000.switch: Link is Up - 10Gbps/Full - flow control rx/tx
[    4.221076] mt7530-mmio 15020000.switch wan (uninitialized): PHY [mt7530-0:00] driver [MediaTek MT7988 PHY] (irq=112)
[    4.258805] mt7530-mmio 15020000.switch lan1 (uninitialized): PHY [mt7530-0:01] driver [MediaTek MT7988 PHY] (irq=113)
[    4.296498] mt7530-mmio 15020000.switch lan2 (uninitialized): PHY [mt7530-0:02] driver [MediaTek MT7988 PHY] (irq=114)
[    4.334518] mt7530-mmio 15020000.switch lan3 (uninitialized): PHY [mt7530-0:03] driver [MediaTek MT7988 PHY] (irq=115)
[...]
[   13.851327] MediaTek MT7988 2.5GbE PHY mdio-bus:0f: Firmware date code: 0/0/0, version: 0.0
[   13.867769] MediaTek MT7988 2.5GbE PHY mdio-bus:0f: Firmware loading/trigger ok.
[   13.876094] mtk_soc_eth 15100000.ethernet eth1: PHY [mdio-bus:0f] driver [MediaTek MT7988 2.5GbE PHY] (irq=POLL)
[   13.886346] mtk_soc_eth 15100000.ethernet eth1: configuring for phy/internal link mode
[   13.895657] br-lan: port 1(eth1) entered blocking state
[   13.900895] br-lan: port 1(eth1) entered disabled state
[   13.906155] mtk_soc_eth 15100000.ethernet eth1: entered allmulticast mode
[   13.913048] mtk_soc_eth 15100000.ethernet eth1: entered promiscuous mode
[...]

So initially the suspicion was

[ 13.851327] MediaTek MT7988 2.5GbE PHY mdio-bus:0f: Firmware date code: 0/0/0, version: 0.0

but I do have mt7988-2p5g-phy-firmware installed.

Any ideas?