# ale0: defaults to 10baseT



## rigoletto@ (Jul 24, 2016)

I have a *Atheros* (AR8121?) onboard NIC which is a Gigabit one but it defaults at 10baseT whenever I do.
I tried to manually fix it at 1000baseT but it stop working if anything but 10baseT.

I am indeed ignoring that NIC and using another one, but would be useful have it properly working here.


```
ale0@pci0:2:0:0:        class=0x020000 card=0x82261043 chip=0x10261969 rev=0xb0 hdr=0x00
```


```
ale0: flags=8802<BROADCAST,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
        options=c319a<TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,TSO4,WOL_MCAST,WOL_MAGIC,VLAN_HWTSO,LINKSTATE>
        ether 90:e6:ba:1d:cd:8a
        nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
        media: Ethernet autoselect
```


```
ale0: <Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 PCIe Ethernet> port 0xdc00-0xdc7f mem 0xfeac0000-0xfeafffff irq 17 at device 0.0 on pci2
ale0: 960 Tx FIFO, 1024 Rx FIFO
ale0: Using 1 MSI messages.
miibus0: <MII bus> on ale0
ale0: Using defaults for TSO: 65518/35/2048
ale0: Ethernet address: 90:e6:ba:1d:cd:8a
ale0: link state changed to DOWN
ale0: <Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 PCIe Ethernet> port 0xdc00-0xdc7f mem 0xfeac0000-0xfeafffff irq 17 at device 0.0 on pci2
ale0: 960 Tx FIFO, 1024 Rx FIFO
ale0: Using 1 MSI messages.
miibus0: <MII bus> on ale0
ale0: Using defaults for TSO: 65518/35/2048
ale0: Ethernet address: 90:e6:ba:1d:cd:8a
```

PS. Same happens on Linux by the way.
PS2. A similar case, same motherboard (Asus P5Q).


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## RedShift1 (Jul 24, 2016)

Get a cheap Intel NIC from ebay. They have really cool dual port ones.


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## rigoletto@ (Jul 24, 2016)

I am willing to do that but these things cost a lot of more in my country, sometimes x2 or x3 more. Any Intel NIC does not cost less than about US$300 here.

I need to wait a bit. 

Thanks!


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## Murph (Jul 24, 2016)

lebarondemerde said:


> I tried to manually fix it at 1000baseT but it stop working if anything but 10baseT.



If you are manually configuring the speed of a port (which shouldn't normally be necessary, and is generally not recommended), it is important to manually configure both ends of the cable.  I.e. you must configure both the NIC in your system and the (switch / hub / bridge / router / etc) that it is connected to.  Clearly something is failing with auto negotiation, so both ends of the link will default to 10 base T (that behaviour is part of the Ethernet standards, on the principle of fallback to lowest common standard).

As far as a replacement NIC goes, server-grade cards are more expensive, but only necessary if you actually need that level of performance / features.  A basic Intel Pro/1000 desktop adapter should generally cost less than US$50 pretty much anywhere in the world, certainly less than US$100, unless your government is really screwing you over on import or sales taxes.  Even if your system is being used as a server, a well supported and working desktop-grade NIC is far superior to any grade of dysfunctional NIC.  You could also consider a RealTek 81xx card.  See the following for details of what the standard drivers support (these are just two of the many NIC drivers):


igb(4) — Intel(R) PRO/1000 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet adapter driver
re(4) — RealTek 8139C+/8169/816xS/811xS/8168/810xE/8111 PCI/PCIe Ethernet adapter driver

Lastly, if you tell us which country you are in, someone might have a suggestion for a good supplier (at a sane price), as the forum membership is quite global / international.  You could also check out the FreeBSD User Groups pages, and make contact with people in the same country / region who may have some suggestions for suppliers.


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## rigoletto@ (Jul 24, 2016)

Murph

Thanks! I am in Brazil.

Intel(R) PRO/1000 is exactly the model I had in mind.

The suppliers here make their price on this way:

*(Amazon/Newegg Price + Delivery) + 50% Import duties.*

In practice they buy it wholesale from China for a lot of less money than the Amazon price what is retail price of course, pay import duties that are much less than 50% (this is for express delivery) - _sometimes ZERO for IT products_. And I am just talking about some _side_ stores who sell _cheap_, you do not want to know how things cost on official retailers, where the enterprises *need* to buy...

Also, if you want to buy a (i.e.) Supermicro board that cost US$250 it will cost a lot of more money than a Asus that cost US$350 because the Supermicro is a server board. Same happens with Intel.

I a waiting the point, I believe early next year, I will change all my machines because I can import everything directly from China, and pay very little.

EDIT: just to point out, a Alienware Laptop (any model) here cost the same of a small car. I think just cars do not cost like a car here, because they cost a lot of more...


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## RedShift1 (Jul 24, 2016)

Why not just get on eBay and get a second hand one?


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## rigoletto@ (Jul 24, 2016)

RedShift1 

Good idea!
I will look on ebay, I never bought anything there.

Thanks!


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## rigoletto@ (Jul 24, 2016)

I found some *"Intel 82546 PRO/1000 MT" *costing about US$12, new from China.

I will buy it! I just hope I will not receive a brick.


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