Qualcomm Atheros Bigfoot Killer E2200 Ethernet working in linux

[chili555]

Jun 26 16:31:09 sibelius AptDaemon.Worker: INFO: Finished transaction /org/debian/apt/transaction/0b6a845712d54ef2854d86ddae157393
Jun 26 16:37:08 sibelius AptDaemon: INFO: Quitting due to inactivity
Jun 26 16:37:08 sibelius AptDaemon: INFO: Quitting was requested
Jun 26 16:52:29 sibelius kernel: imklog 5.8.6, log source = /proc/kmsg started.

There is a well-known bug in aptd in 12.04. I wonder if it has anything to do with anything. You might change Update Manager to NEVER check for updates for a while and see if it helps. You can always do updates the old-fashioned way:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade

I am a bit suspicious of my own advice because I have no lock-ups.

[belnac]

Prior to applying Mahler's patch I too was suffering freezes running the latest 3.2 Kernel. I never actually found out what exactly was causing the freezes as I was never able to find any information in the logs, however I'm pretty sure it was kernel related; possibly a driver.

The reason why I'm pretty certain of this is the freezes were completely gone once I built the latest kernel from git. I'm currently running kernel 3.5.0-rc4, with the ethernet nic enabled and handling pretty intense torrent traffic - several dozens of GB up/down stream every day - and I'm yet to encounter _any_ issues at all. It runs beautifully.

I would say, then, that if you have a Killer E2200 (released a few months ago, if I'm not mistaken) then chances are your hardware is probably new too. As I say, in my case upgrading to the latest kernel solved all stability issues (my setup includes i7-3720QM Ivy Bridge, HM77 chipset, Nvidia 670M GPU.) Then again, the longer I've ran my laptop was for just slightly over 22h, whereas you seem to use your machine as a server.

Hope this helps though.

[Mahler122]

I'm glad to hear that you're not having any problems. I'll try the 3.5-rc4 kernel now.

My setup is

MSI GT70
gtx 675m
i7-3610QM

I use it more as a workstation during the day, but I don't really run it over night. The internet connection is too poor where I live for it to be useful the moment.

Now all we have to wait for is the kernel and NVIDIA people to figure out what they're doing for optimus support.

[belnac]

Now all we have to wait for is the kernel and NVIDIA people to figure out what they're doing for optimus support.

I believe I've just now found a way to:

• install the latest official (and obviously proprietary) NVidia driver that fully supports my GPU (670M)
• enable full 3d hardware acceleration
• enable Optimus optmizations

HOW

Support for NVidia Optimus is provided by the open-source project Bumblebee, which can be found here [1]. Install instructions for Ubuntu at the bottom of the page here [2].

Latest proprietary NVidia drivers can be installed by first adding the x-swat repository [3].


STEPS (using sudo or as root)

# apt-get purge nvidia-current
# add-apt-repository ppa:bumblebee/stable
# add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/x-updates
# apt-get update
# apt-get install bumblebee bumblebee-nvidia

Everything seems stable so far and I now have full 3d acceleration! Still early to say anything about battery consumption as I haven't run the laptop for long yet; also optirun isn't running for some reason.


-----
[1] http://bumblebee-project.org/
[2] http://bumblebee-project.org/install.html
[3] https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-x-swat/+archive/x-updates

[chili555]

I wonder if the Nvidia and Optimus part wouldn't be better on General Help. http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=331

[Mahler122]

I too was suffering freezes running the latest 3.2 Kernel. I never actually found out what exactly was causing the freezes as I was never able to find any information in the logs, however I'm pretty sure it was kernel related; possibly a driver.

So, It's been 5 days since I switched to 3.5.0-rc{4,5}, and I've had no issues. Looks like belnac was right! And the fake NIC driver is working great!

As far as the Optimus stuff is concerned, I suspect that our situation is a bit more complicated, and I'm starting a thread here to gather information and figure out what needs to be done to get our discrete chips working.

[OrionFL79]

Its alive! I'm another one who's got an MSI GT70. I was stuck in the evil parallel universe for a few months waiting for NVidia to come out with a linux driver until Windows - being the virus bait that it is caught something then imploded on itself.

Anywho, your patch worked flawlessly on my "Killer" card - and now I'm off to figure out this whole Bumblebee thing to get my graphics working.

Thank you and good job!

**Bows to your awesomeness**

- Orion

[leenmie]

I have a MSI GE60 and the guide works very well.
However, we should install only alx module, not all compat modules. We can do that by executing "driver-select alx" (the script in scripts folder) after the patching job.
Thanks,

[belnac]

Letting everybody know that I just tried to connect the NIC to a gigabit switch but it refuses to negotiate a 1000Mb link.

I'm pretty sure it's a driver issue as I tried forcing it with the following command,

# ethtool -s eth0 speed 1000 duplex full autoneg off

but I lose the link each time, and then have to manually unload and reload the alx driver.

This is the only issue I've had since using the fake driver BTW.

--

Also, the following is found is the syslog after issuing the ethtool command:

[ 2205.379034] alx 0000:02:00.0: error when reset phy
[ 2205.379034] eth0: speed = 0x20, autoneg = 1

[chili555]

I'm pretty sure it's a driver issue as I tried forcing it

Perhaps you'll have better luck with the later alx driver outlined at post #4 here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.p...&highlight=alx