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RTL8139C work, RTL8169 not work, why?

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First post, by Herman BRULE

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Hi,
On P3 SIS620 platform, I have: RTL8139C work, RTL8169 not work, why?
I have tested multiple RTL8169, each RTL8169 work on other platform. I don't see it into lspci from modern Linux.
RTL8139C work right on same PCI port.
Cheers,

Reply 1 of 23, by weedeewee

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100Mbit card vs 1Gbit card...

maybe 100Mbit card is 5v, 1Gbit card is 3v3 and you mainboard doesn't give 3v3 on pci bus ?
maybe something to do with RTL8169 being PCI 2.2 device ?
maybe ...
maybe .
maybe SIS620 bios doesn't like RTL8169 card ?
so many maybe.

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Reply 2 of 23, by Herman BRULE

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I detect 3.3v on PCI. Maybe it's due to 66Mhz, RTL8169 don't support 33MHz?
What I can do?

Reply 3 of 23, by Grzyb

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Herman BRULE wrote on 2025-09-19, 14:01:

Maybe it's due to 66Mhz, RTL8169 don't support 33MHz?

No - I've used RTL8169 with the regular 32-bit 33-MHz PCI.

What I can do?

Try another slot?

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Reply 4 of 23, by Herman BRULE

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I try another slot same.
lspci -M | less
lspci -H 1
bios updated, ... I see lspci on internet with 66Mhz flag.

Reply 5 of 23, by Herman BRULE

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RTL8169, how force it in 5V?

Reply 6 of 23, by Tiido

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You install the missing 3.3V regulator on the network card PCB and it'll start working on boards that do not provide it from the PCI slots. I have had to do it with several RTL8169 cards I have.

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Reply 7 of 23, by Herman BRULE

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Have you a link to do this modification?

Reply 8 of 23, by Tiido

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No and it is card dependent. What kind of card do you have (photo please) ?

EDIT: On my particular card I had to add a regulator to U10 position, and also do something with D1. Ideally there is a diode there but if it is only ever used on a board that never outputs 3.3V from PCI, a short is fine. D4 has a 0ohm resistor on it but I don't remember if it was so from start or I put it there. This was done 10+ years ago...

T-04YBSC, a new YMF71x based sound card & Official VOGONS thread about it
Newly made 4MB 60ns 30pin SIMMs ~
mida sa loed ? nagunii aru ei saa 😜

Reply 9 of 23, by Herman BRULE

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My dodel is TP-link tg-3269
2D4OXY0.png
Seam have 3.3V regulator, and most of the componant is here

Reply 10 of 23, by Grzyb

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PCI slots and cards have keys to prevent installation of a 3.3V card in a 5V slot...

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Reply 11 of 23, by Herman BRULE

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TP-link tg-3269 is universal, then I should be able to force into one or other mode without problem.

Reply 12 of 23, by Tiido

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Grzyb wrote on 2025-09-20, 13:26:

PCI slots and cards have keys to prevent installation of a 3.3V card in a 5V slot...

The key is only for signalling voltage, and not at all about supply voltages.

But looks liket hat card should work as is, so there may be some actual incompatibility with the chipset you have. I do have a card like that somewhere but I am not going to be able to test it on anything.

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Reply 13 of 23, by hyoenmadan

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The card doesn't implement properly Legacy Interrupt support, or the support is bugged.
Similar problem happens with VIAUSB2/Firewire PCI cards for example. Them only can work with MSI/MSI-X style interrupts, and the legacy interrupt support is optional, it is poorly implemented, or it doesn't exist at all. This means these "PCI" cards will only work properly on Pentium 4 era chipsets and onwards, which have MSI/MSIX interrupt support properly implemented (firmware/chipset/APIC levels complete and full working).

You would like to test your card in P4+ era logic board if you have one. To discard it being a dud.
If it does indeed work, then you have one of these P4+ PCI cards.

EDIT: Datasheet says chip offers both Legacy and MSI interrupts (has a dedicated INTAB pin for legacy interrupt support). So at least signal support is there in the chip.

Last edited by hyoenmadan on 2025-09-21, 05:53. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 14 of 23, by weedeewee

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hyoenmadan wrote on 2025-09-20, 15:03:
The card doesn't implement properly Legacy Interrupt support, or the support is bugged. Similar problem happens with VIAUSB2/Fir […]
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The card doesn't implement properly Legacy Interrupt support, or the support is bugged.
Similar problem happens with VIAUSB2/Firewire PCI cards for example. Them only can work with MSI/MSI-X style interrupts, and the legacy interrupt support is optional, it is poorly implemented, or it doesn't exist at all. This means these "PCI" cards will only work properly on Pentium 4 era chipsets and onwards, which have MSI/MSIX interrupt support properly implemented (firmware/chipset/APIC levels complete and full working).

You would like to test your card in P4+ era logic board if you have one. To discard it being a dud.
If it does indeed work, then you have one of these P4+ PCI cards.

fyi, if you read the first post again, you'll notice that the card is stated as working in other systems.

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Reply 15 of 23, by Herman BRULE

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Ok, then what 1000Mbps network card support Legacy Interrupt?

Reply 16 of 23, by Herman BRULE

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Herman BRULE wrote on 2025-09-20, 16:06:

Ok, then what 1000Mbps network card support Legacy Interrupt?

And how differentiate the PCI card with need of modern MSI/MSI-X interrupt and Legacy Interrupt?
I see nothing into the datasheet.

Reply 17 of 23, by weedeewee

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No idea if the interrupt reasoning is the problem or not.

I've got a P2/3, intel 440BX (i guess), system, which uses a PCI card with an RTL8169S-32 chip, which I know works on that mainboard.

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Reply 18 of 23, by Herman BRULE

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resuming, we don't know the problem.
The network card seam not powered, when network card is connected, the LED is not enabled. The card is not detected by Linux (and BIOS).

Reply 19 of 23, by Grzyb

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For what it's worth, I've installed this:

The attachment rtl8169.jpg is no longer available

...in a regular Slot 1 mobo - ATC-6150, based on 82440LX/EX, with PCI 2.1.
And it works fine!

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