To reproduce the problem the following steps must be taken: Load the b44 module during bootup, but do _not_ configure any network interfaces that rely on the b44 driver. Now observe the link status with mii-diag. I get the following result (with _and_ without a network cable plugged in) merlin:/home/dani# mii-diag --monitor Using the default interface 'eth0'. unknown 0xffff 0xffff Further information: Once an arbitrary network interface that uses the b44 driver is configured, the link status is reported correctly. Even after bringing down the interface again, unloading b44 and reloading it, the correct link status is reported. I have observed this problem 100% reproducible with 2.6.7 and 2.6.11.11. ACPI is enabled. I have not tested with ACPI disabled. I'm aware that this problem might also be due to buggy hardware.
I had the same problem, and came across: https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=151777#c21 There is a simple patch against 2.6.11, which also works against 2.6.8 or 2.6.9 (you can also find it here http://people.redhat.com/linville/kernels/fc4/patches/jwltest-b44-link-check.patch) Solved the problem for me :) Bernd, Maybe you could test it and say if it works for you as well. jens
I have tested the 2.6.13.1 kernel that obviously already includes the patch you mentioned. The mii status is still incorrect. See the original bug report for details. On a freshly rebooted system that has not configured any interfaces already (no ifup was executed), the link status is not correctly reported. My bug reported seems to differ from the bug discussed in https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=151777#c21 in so far that the link state is always incorrectly reported on my setup(with or without a cable plugged in). For the interested reader I also want to give the workaround for this bug: bing up the interface associated with the b44 with an arbitrary ip-number as is done by ifplugd when the -a option is _not_ given. After bringing up any interface (you can take it down again) link status will be reported correctly. See the discussion in https://tango.0pointer.de/pipermail/ifplugd-discuss/ June, Juli and August 2005 for details. What is mii-diag --monitor eth0 reporting for your system directly after bootup? Please assure that no interfaces have been brought up and taken down again during bootup otherwise you cannot observe the problem. Since not very many people observe this bug, maybe the Dell Inspiron 8600 bios doesn't initialize the card correctly. Bernd
Closing stale bug, please re-open if still present