Re: [PATCH] net: mdio: force deassert MDIO reset signal

From: Lars-Peter Clausen
Date: Sun Jan 15 2023 - 17:26:46 EST


On 1/15/23 09:08, Andrew Lunn wrote:
On Sun, Jan 15, 2023 at 05:10:06PM +0100, Pierluigi Passaro wrote:
When the reset gpio is defined within the node of the device tree
describing the PHY, the reset is initialized and managed only after
calling the fwnode_mdiobus_phy_device_register function.
However, before calling it, the MDIO communication is checked by the
get_phy_device function.
When this happen and the reset GPIO was somehow previously set down,
the get_phy_device function fails, preventing the PHY detection.
These changes force the deassert of the MDIO reset signal before
checking the MDIO channel.
The PHY may require a minimum deassert time before being responsive:
use a reasonable sleep time after forcing the deassert of the MDIO
reset signal.
Once done, free the gpio descriptor to allow managing it later.
This has been discussed before. The problem is, it is not just a reset
GPIO. There could also be a clock which needs turning on, a regulator,
and/or a linux reset controller. And what order do you turn these on?

The conclusions of the discussion is you assume the device cannot be
found by enumeration, and you put the ID in the compatible. That is
enough to get the driver to load, and the driver can then turn
everything on in the correct order, with the correct delays, etc.

I've been running into this same problem again and again over the past years.

Specifying the ID as part of the compatible string works for clause 22 PHYs, but for clause 45 PHYs it does not work. The code always wants to read the ID from the PHY itself. But I do not understand things well enough to tell whether that's a fundamental restriction of C45 or just our implementation and the implementation can be changed to fix it.

Do you have some thoughts on this?