No timestamping capacities with Intel I210 on Ubuntu 22.04

[Vince42]

Hello,

I would like to install Linux PTP on my computer. When I check for the prerequisites with ethtool -T, it seems that my network adapter does not have the capabilities. It is very strange since it is an Intel I210 and everywhere on the internet this adapter is the reference for TSN and PTP.

I am working with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and kernel version 5.19.0-50-generic.

Here is the information on my network adapter (sudo ethtool -i enp3s0)

driver: igb
version: 5.19.0-50-generic
firmware-version: 3.20, 0x80000550
expansion-rom-version:
bus-info: 0000:03:00.0
supports-statistics: yes
supports-test: yes
supports-eeprom-access: yes
supports-register-dump: yes
supports-priv-flags: yes

Here is what I get when I use sudo ethtool -T enp3s0 :

Time stamping parameters for enp3s0 :
Capabilities:
hardware-transmit 
software-transmit 
hardware-receive 
software-receive 
software-system-clock 
hardware-raw-clock 
PTP Hardware Clock: 0
Hardware Transmit Timestamp Modes:
off 
on
Hardware Receive Filter Modes:
none
all

Thanks for your help.

Vince

[Yogaeasvaran]

Greetings Vincent,

Thank you for contacting Intel Customer Support.

Thank you for the update. For us to further check your inquiry, we still need to gather more details. Please provide the following:

1. Can you provide photos of the i210 on both sides of the card for us to validate it.
2. Please help generate the SSU of your system for us to check your hardware. Kindly download the utility here:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18895/intel-system-support-utility-for-the-linux-operating-system.html?wapkw=ssu

If you have questions, please let us know. In case we do not hear from you, we will make a follow up after 3 workings days. Thank you.

Thanks and regards,

Yogaeasvaran

Intel Customer Support

[Vince42]

Greetings Yogaeasvaran,

Here is the required information: two photos of the adapter, and one manual retranscription (if it is not sharp enough), and the ssu output.

Thanks and regards,

Vince42

[Yogaeasvaran]

Greetings Vincent,

Thanks for the details Mr. Vincent.

We will work on it and will update you the soonest.

Thanks and regards,

Yogaeasvaran

Intel Customer Support

[Yogaeasvaran]

Greetings Vincent,

Thank you for contacting Intel Customer Support.

Yes, I210 can support PTP version - Hardware (HW) timestamp option.

You would need to change the kernel version to latest. (If you haven't update the kernel version)

Please refer to this link for the Ethernet User guide.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000093196/ethernet-products.html

https://img-en.fs.com/file/user_manual/intel%C2%AE-ethernet-network-adapter-quick-start-guide.pdf

If you have questions, please let us know the feedback. In case we do not hear from you, we will make a follow up after 3 workings days. Thank you.

Thanks and regards,

Yogaeasvaran

Intel Customer Support

[Vince42]

Greetings Yogaeasvaran,

Thank for your reply. If I understand correctly, those functionnalities are not supported by kernel version 5.19.0-50-generic?

Do you recommend a particular revision? I am planning to upgrade to 6.2, will it work?

Thanks and regards,

Vince

Supported Intel Customer

[Yogaeasvaran]

Greetings Vincent,

Yes, you may try to upgrade the kernel version to latest which could resolve this issue.

Thanks and regards,

Yogaeasvaran

Intel Customer Support

[Vince42]

Greetings Yogaeasvaran

Changing the Kernel to 6.2 did not help. In fact this Kernel does not seems really mature. The default latest kernel with Ubuntu 22.04.3 is 5.19.0-50-generic (the version I was already using). Therefore, I reverted back to 5.19.0-50-generic.

What else could I do?

Thanks,

Vincent

[Yogaeasvaran]

Greetings Vincent,

Thanks for the details, Mr. Vincent.

May I know that you are using a Linux System with PTP time synchronization to FPGA connected over a local network?

Thanks and regards,

Yogaeasvaran

Intel Customer Support

[foxcad]

Hi there,

Following up here because I am also experiencing the same issue... any resolution?

[Yogaeasvaran]

Hello Vincent,

Regarding your case number 05986431, we are following up to find out if you were able to complete the actions, we previously recommended.

Please reply to this thread to confirm, so we can continue helping with a resolution. Looking forward to receiving your reply!

Thank you.

Best regards,

Yogaeasvaran

Intel® Customer Support

[Yogaeasvaran]

Hello Vincent,

Regarding your case number 05986431, we are following up to find out if you were able to complete the actions, we previously recommended.

Please reply to this thread to confirm, so we can continue helping with a resolution. Looking forward to receiving your reply!

Thank you.

Best regards,

Yogaeasvaran

Intel® Customer Support

[Vince42 · Accepted solution]

Hello Yogaeasvaran,

I finally found the solution. I'm posting it here in case anyone else has the same problem.

Most of all tutorials or examples on the internet show a result similar to the following for the ethtool -T eth0 command when a MAC supports hardware or software time stamping (eth0 is an example, the name of the adapter can be something else):

Time stamping parameters for eth0:
Capabilities:
        hardware-transmit     (SOF_TIMESTAMPING_TX_HARDWARE)
        software-transmit     (SOF_TIMESTAMPING_TX_SOFTWARE)
        hardware-receive      (SOF_TIMESTAMPING_RX_HARDWARE)
        software-receive      (SOF_TIMESTAMPING_RX_SOFTWARE)
        software-system-clock (SOF_TIMESTAMPING_SOFTWARE)
        hardware-raw-clock    (SOF_TIMESTAMPING_RAW_HARDWARE)
PTP Hardware Clock: 1
Hardware Transmit Timestamp Modes:
        off                   (HWTSTAMP_TX_OFF)
        on                    (HWTSTAMP_TX_ON)
Hardware Receive Filter Modes:
        none                  (HWTSTAMP_FILTER_NONE)
        all                   (HWTSTAMP_FILTER_ALL)

But here is what I get:

Time stamping parameters for eth0:
Capabilities:
        hardware-transmit
        software-transmit
        hardware-receive
        software-receive
        software-system-clock
        hardware-raw-clock
PTP Hardware Clock: 1
Hardware Transmit Timestamp Modes:
        off
        on
Hardware Receive Filter Modes:
        none
        all

This is a bit confusing since the absence of the flags ​​in parentheses seems to suggest that the MAC does not support hardware or software time stamping, but it is not the case. The adapter really do support timestamping.

The differences between the internet example outputs and mine comes from a newer version of ethtool. The strings with the flags in parentheses are defined in the ethtool code. In a more recent version, ethtool may ask the kernel for those strings (if netlink sockets are supported) instead of using its own. In the kernel, the same strings are defined but without the flags in parentheses.

Hope it helps someone else.

Best regards,

Vincent

[foxcad]

Thank you Vincent!

[Yogaeasvaran]

Hello Vincent,

Thank you for your feedback with solution thread provided.

I'm glad to hear that you have resolve this issue and moreover you have shared the solution notes as well.

Your issue #05986431 is now considered resolved, therefore we are proceeding to close this ticket.

If you have any more questions in the future, please don't hesitate to post a new question, as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Thank you.

Best regards,

Yogaeasvaran

Intel® Customer Support