Reproducible TX stall with Aquantia AQC113 using Linux atlantic driver

Martin Vandebosch <[email protected]> Mon, 3 Aug 2026 20:07:22 +0000
Newsgroups gmane.linux.network
Message-ID <[email protected]>
Hello,

I would like to report a reproducible network issue involving an Aquantia AQC113 controller using the Linux atlantic driver.

Hardware (affected system)
*       Board: Gigabyte B850 AI TOP
*       CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X
*       Memory: 256 GB RAM
*       NIC: Aquantia AQtion AQC113 (onboard)
*       Firmware version: 1.5.42
*       Driver: atlantic
*       Driver version: 7.0.14-8-pve
*       Kernel: Current Proxmox VE kernel at the time of testing

Symptom
Under sustained high bidirectional traffic, the transmit (TX) path eventually stops working while the receive (RX) path continues to operate normally. The Ethernet link remains up, but the server no longer transmits any packets.
The issue is reproducible with multiple different client NICs:
*       Intel 82574L
*       Intel I217-V
*       Intel 82579LM
A typical reproduction method is:
*       iperf3 -c <server-ip> -P 4 --bidir -t 1000
*       1 Gbit/s class traffic is sufficient to reproduce the issue.
*       Sustained bidirectional traffic
The failure occurs after varying runtimes, ranging from several seconds to a few minutes (typical 1-3).
Resetting the interface (bringing it down and up again) immediately restores normal operation.
Interestingly, the issue could not be reproduced when using another AQC113-based system (Windows Server 2022 on another Gigabyte B850 AI TOP motherboard) as the client, even under 10 Gbit/s bidirectional traffic.

Observed behavior
*       TX traffic stops completely.
*       RX counters continue increasing.
*       The network link remains up.
*       Resetting the interface (DOWN/UP) restores communication.
To rule out software differences, I replaced only the network adapter while keeping the server, operating system, driver version, kernel, and client machines unchanged.

Replacement NIC
*       TP-Link TX401
*       Aquantia AQtion AQC107
*       Firmware version: 3.1.121
*       Driver: atlantic
*       Driver version: 7.0.14-8-pve
Exactly the same Linux driver (atlantic 7.0.14-8-pve) is used for both adapters. Only the hardware (AQC113 onboard vs. AQC107 add-in card) and firmware version differ.
With the AQC107, I was unable to reproduce the issue.
The AQC107 successfully completed:
*       Five simultaneous clients
*       Full-speed bidirectional iperf3 traffic
*       More than 2000 seconds of continuous operation
under exactly the same test conditions.
This suggests that the issue is related to the AQC113 hardware, firmware, onboard implementation, or an AQC113-specific interaction rather than a general problem in the atlantic driver.
Additional information
Affected AQC113:
driver: atlantic
version: 7.0.14-8-pve
firmware-version: 1.5.42
bus-info: 0000:06:00.0
Working AQC107:
driver: atlantic
version: 7.0.14-8-pve
firmware-version: 3.1.121
bus-info: 0000:03:00.0

Best regards
Martin Vandebosch




DataUnlimited GmbH
Untere Weinleite 14
91245 Simmelsdorf
Nürnberg HRB 18910
Steuernr. 241/124/10585
USt-IDNr. DE220264469

Geschäftsführer Martin Vandebosch
Tel.: 09155 / 927 697
Mobil: 0174 / 328 57 98
lspci_vv.txt (text/plain, 161.8 KB) - not displayed
ethtool_k_AQC113.txt (text/plain, 1.8 KB)
Features for enp4s0:
rx-checksumming: on
tx-checksumming: on
	tx-checksum-ipv4: off [fixed]
	tx-checksum-ip-generic: on
	tx-checksum-ipv6: off [fixed]
	tx-checksum-fcoe-crc: off [fixed]
	tx-checksum-sctp: off [fixed]
scatter-gather: on
	tx-scatter-gather: on
	tx-scatter-gather-fraglist: off [fixed]
tcp-segmentation-offload: on
	tx-tcp-segmentation: on
	tx-tcp-ecn-segmentation: off [fixed]
	tx-tcp-mangleid-segmentation: off
	tx-tcp6-segmentation: on
	tx-tcp-accecn-segmentation: off [fixed]
generic-segmentation-offload: on
generic-receive-offload: on
large-receive-offload: on
rx-vlan-offload: on
tx-vlan-offload: on
ntuple-filters: on
receive-hashing: on
highdma: off [fixed]
rx-vlan-filter: on
vlan-challenged: off [fixed]
tx-gso-robust: off [fixed]
tx-fcoe-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-gre-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-gre-csum-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-ipxip4-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-ipxip6-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-udp_tnl-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-udp_tnl-csum-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-gso-partial: on
tx-tunnel-remcsum-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-sctp-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-esp-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-udp-segmentation: on
tx-gso-list: off [fixed]
tx-nocache-copy: off
loopback: off [fixed]
rx-fcs: off [fixed]
rx-all: off [fixed]
tx-vlan-stag-hw-insert: off [fixed]
rx-vlan-stag-hw-parse: off [fixed]
rx-vlan-stag-filter: off [fixed]
l2-fwd-offload: off [fixed]
hw-tc-offload: on
esp-hw-offload: off [fixed]
esp-tx-csum-hw-offload: off [fixed]
rx-udp_tunnel-port-offload: off [fixed]
tls-hw-tx-offload: off [fixed]
tls-hw-rx-offload: off [fixed]
rx-gro-hw: off [fixed]
tls-hw-record: off [fixed]
rx-gro-list: off
macsec-hw-offload: off [fixed]
rx-udp-gro-forwarding: off
hsr-tag-ins-offload: off [fixed]
hsr-tag-rm-offload: off [fixed]
hsr-fwd-offload: off [fixed]
hsr-dup-offload: off [fixed]
ethtool_k_AQC107.txt (text/plain, 1.8 KB)
Features for enp3s0:
rx-checksumming: on
tx-checksumming: on
	tx-checksum-ipv4: off [fixed]
	tx-checksum-ip-generic: on
	tx-checksum-ipv6: off [fixed]
	tx-checksum-fcoe-crc: off [fixed]
	tx-checksum-sctp: off [fixed]
scatter-gather: on
	tx-scatter-gather: on
	tx-scatter-gather-fraglist: off [fixed]
tcp-segmentation-offload: on
	tx-tcp-segmentation: on
	tx-tcp-ecn-segmentation: off [fixed]
	tx-tcp-mangleid-segmentation: off
	tx-tcp6-segmentation: on
	tx-tcp-accecn-segmentation: off [fixed]
generic-segmentation-offload: on
generic-receive-offload: on
large-receive-offload: off
rx-vlan-offload: on
tx-vlan-offload: on
ntuple-filters: on
receive-hashing: on
highdma: off [fixed]
rx-vlan-filter: on
vlan-challenged: off [fixed]
tx-gso-robust: off [fixed]
tx-fcoe-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-gre-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-gre-csum-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-ipxip4-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-ipxip6-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-udp_tnl-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-udp_tnl-csum-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-gso-partial: on
tx-tunnel-remcsum-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-sctp-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-esp-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-udp-segmentation: on
tx-gso-list: off [fixed]
tx-nocache-copy: off
loopback: off [fixed]
rx-fcs: off [fixed]
rx-all: off [fixed]
tx-vlan-stag-hw-insert: off [fixed]
rx-vlan-stag-hw-parse: off [fixed]
rx-vlan-stag-filter: off [fixed]
l2-fwd-offload: off [fixed]
hw-tc-offload: on
esp-hw-offload: off [fixed]
esp-tx-csum-hw-offload: off [fixed]
rx-udp_tunnel-port-offload: off [fixed]
tls-hw-tx-offload: off [fixed]
tls-hw-rx-offload: off [fixed]
rx-gro-hw: off [fixed]
tls-hw-record: off [fixed]
rx-gro-list: off
macsec-hw-offload: on [fixed]
rx-udp-gro-forwarding: off
hsr-tag-ins-offload: off [fixed]
hsr-tag-rm-offload: off [fixed]
hsr-fwd-offload: off [fixed]
hsr-dup-offload: off [fixed]