---
name: "if_axe"
section: "4"
platform: "linux"
package: "freebsd-manpages"
version: "6.0-5"
release: "Debian 4.0 (Etch)"
platforms: ["linux", "freebsd"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/if_axe"
---

# if\_axe(4)

ASIX Electronics AX88172 USB Ethernet driver

## NAME

**axe** – ASIX Electronics AX88172 USB Ethernet driver

## SYNOPSIS

To compile support for the

**axe** driver into your kernel, place the following lines in your kernel configuration file:

**device ehci** **device uhci** **device ohci** **device usb** **device miibus** **device axe**

Alternatively, to load the

**axe** driver at boot time, place the following line in [loader.conf(5)](/loader.conf/5.md):

```
if_axe_load="YES"
```

## DESCRIPTION

The **axe** driver provides support for USB Ethernet adapters based on the ASIX Electronics AX88172 USB 2.0 chipset.

The AX88172 is a USB 2.0 device which contains a 10/100 Ethernet MAC with MII interface and is designed to work with both Ethernet and HomePNA transceivers. The AX88172 will operate with both USB 1.x and USB 2.0 controllers, however performance with 1.x controllers will be limited since the USB 1.x standard specifies a maximum transfer speed of 12Mbps. Users with USB 1.x controllers should therefore not expect to actually achieve 100Mbps speeds with these devices.

The AX88172 supports a 64-bit multicast hash table, single perfect filter entry for the station address, all-multicast mode and promiscuous mode. Packets are received and transmitted over separate USB bulk transfer endpoints.

The **axe** driver supports the following media types:

- **autoselect**

  Enable autoselection of the media type and options. The user can manually override the autoselected mode by adding media options to the */etc/rc.conf* file.

- **10baseT/UTP**

  Set 10Mbps operation. The **mediaopt** option can also be used to enable **full-duplex** operation. Not specifying **full-duplex** implies **half-duplex** mode.

- **100baseTX**

  Set 100Mbps (Fast Ethernet) operation. The **mediaopt** option can also be used to enable **full-duplex** operation. Not specifying **full-duplex** implies **half-duplex** mode.

The **axe** driver supports the following media options:

- **full-duplex**

  Force full duplex operation. The interface will operate in half duplex mode if this media option is not specified.

For more information on configuring this device, see [ifconfig(8)](/ifconfig/8.md).

## HARDWARE

The **axe** driver supports ASIX Electronics AX88172 based USB Ethernet adapters including:

- Buffalo (Melco Inc.) LUA-U2-KTX

- D-Link DUBE100

- LinkSys USB200M

- Netgear FA120

- Sitecom LN-029

- System TALKS Inc. SGC-X2UL

## DIAGNOSTICS

- axe%d: watchdog timeout

  A packet was queued for transmission and a transmit command was issued, however the device failed to acknowledge the transmission before a timeout expired.

- axe%d: no memory for rx list

  The driver failed to allocate an mbuf for the receiver ring.

## SEE ALSO

[arp(4)](/arp/4.md), [miibus(4)](/miibus/4.md), [netintro(4)](/netintro/4.md), [ng\_ether(4)](/ng_ether/4.md), [ifconfig(8)](/ifconfig/8.md) *ASIX AX88172 data sheet*, http://www.asix.com.tw.

## HISTORY

The **axe** device driver first appeared in FreeBSD 5.0.

## AUTHORS

The **axe** driver was written by Bill Paul ⟨wpaul@windriver.com⟩.