AX88179 Gigabit Ethernet won't use ax88179_178a

[WGH]

The ATTR{bConfigurationValue}="1" udev trick does make it use the ax88179 driver, but it seems completely broken. It prints "Failed to read reg index 0x0040: -32" and spams "ax88179 - Link status is: 0" in dmesg and nothing works.

cdc_ncm seems to work okay, except it sometimes doesn't notice the link until I run networkctl without arguments (still investigating wtf is this).

The actual device is UGREEN 6 in 1 USB-C dongle. The kernel version is 6.17.7-gentoo.

Code: Select all

Settings for enp6s0f4u1u2c2:
	Supported ports: [  ]
	Supported link modes:   Not reported
	Supported pause frame use: No
	Supports auto-negotiation: No
	Supported FEC modes: Not reported
	Advertised link modes:  Not reported
	Advertised pause frame use: No
	Advertised auto-negotiation: No
	Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
	Speed: 1000Mb/s
	Duplex: Unknown! (255)
	Auto-negotiation: off
	Port: Twisted Pair
	PHYAD: 0
	Transceiver: internal
	MDI-X: Unknown
        Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)
                               drv probe link
	Link detected: yes

[WGH]

Another observation: bConfigurationValue=3 selects cdc_ether driver, which on the first glance seems to work better than cdc_ncm: sub-ms pings to the gateway (0.5 ms avg) as opposed to cdc_ncm's 2 ms avg.

[fictitiousexistence]

I don't know if ax88179_178a is better than cdc_ncm or not.
My ethernet port in my dock used to work and then stopped at some point, not sure when.
For me, eth0 would appear but refuse to come up or get an ip.
I just found that adding the id from lsusb to "USB_DENYLIST=" inside "/etc/tlp.conf" made things start working again even without ax88179_178a loaded.
I had to reboot after.