e1000e_release_hw_control(9)

🌸 NAME 🌸

okay so welcome to the Kernel API Manual, bestie — the page we're on is e1000e_release_hw_control, and its whole personality is: release control of the h/w to f/w. that's it, that's the vibe 💅

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

void e1000e_release_hw_control (struct e1000_adapter *adapter );

like, literally one function call, no cap 🫶

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🎀 ARGUMENTS 🎀

• adapter — the address of the board private structure. that's the lil' bundle of board secrets you're handing over 🦋

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💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

okay so here's the tea ☕ — e1000e_release_hw_control resets the {CTRL_EXT|SWSM}:DRV_LOAD bit. yes, that whole curly-brace-bitor situation. iconic.

what that means depends on which f/w you're dealing with:

• for ASF and Pass Through versions of f/w, it means the driver is no longer loaded. bye bestie 👋
• for the AMT version (only with 82573) i of the f/w, it means the network i/f is closed. (yes the page really does say i there — we keep it exactly as written, typos are part of the lore 🙈)

⭐ key takeaway: this is the "i'm done, the firmware can have the hardware back" moment. very main character handoff energy.

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

first up, the home base — the kernel file this whole thing lives in:

./drivers/net/ethernet/intel/e1000e/netdev.c

and now the whole friend group, in order, no one left behind 🫶

• __ew32_prepare(9), e1000_regdump(9), e1000e_dump(9), e1000_desc_unused(9), e1000e_systim_to_hwtstamp(9), e1000e_rx_hwtstamp(9), e1000_receive_skb(9), e1000_rx_checksum(9)
• e1000_alloc_rx_buffers(9), e1000_alloc_rx_buffers_ps(9), e1000_alloc_jumbo_rx_buffers(9), e1000_clean_rx_irq(9), e1000e_tx_hwtstamp_work(9), e1000_clean_tx_irq(9), e1000_clean_rx_irq_ps(9), e1000_clean_jumbo_rx_irq(9), e1000_clean_rx_ring(9)
• e1000_intr_msi(9), e1000_intr(9), e1000_configure_msix(9), e1000e_set_interrupt_capability(9), e1000_request_msix(9), e1000_request_irq(9), e1000_irq_disable(9), e1000_irq_enable(9)
• e1000e_get_hw_control(9), e1000_alloc_ring_dma(9), e1000e_setup_tx_resources(9), e1000e_setup_rx_resources(9), e1000_clean_tx_ring(9), e1000e_free_tx_resources(9), e1000e_free_rx_resources(9)
• e1000_update_itr(9), e1000e_write_itr(9), e1000_alloc_queues(9), e1000e_poll(9), e1000e_vlan_filter_disable(9), e1000e_vlan_filter_enable(9), e1000e_vlan_strip_disable(9), e1000e_vlan_strip_enable(9)
• e1000_configure_tx(9), e1000_setup_rctl(9), e1000_configure_rx(9), e1000e_write_mc_addr_list(9), e1000e_write_uc_addr_list(9), e1000e_set_rx_mode(9)
• e1000e_get_base_timinca(9), e1000e_config_hwtstamp(9), e1000_configure(9), e1000e_power_up_phy(9), e1000_power_down_phy(9)
• e1000_flush_tx_ring(9), e1000_flush_rx_ring(9), e1000_flush_desc_rings(9), e1000e_systim_reset(9), e1000e_reset(9), e1000e_trigger_lsc(9), e1000e_down(9), e1000e_sanitize_systim(9), e1000e_read_systim(9), e1000e_cyclecounter_read(9)
• e1000_sw_init(9), e1000_intr_msi_test(9), e1000_test_msi_interrupt(9), e1000_test_msi(9), e1000e_open(9), e1000e_close(9), e1000_set_mac(9)
• e1000e_update_phy_task(9), e1000_update_phy_info(9), e1000e_update_phy_stats(9), e1000e_update_stats(9), e1000_phy_read_status(9), e1000_watchdog(9), e1000_tx_timeout(9), e1000e_get_stats64(9), e1000_change_mtu(9), e1000e_hwtstamp_set(9)
• __e1000e_disable_aspm(9), e1000e_disable_aspm(9), e1000e_disable_aspm_locked(9), e1000_netpoll(9), e1000_io_error_detected(9), e1000_io_slot_reset(9), e1000_io_resume(9), e1000_probe(9), e1000_remove(9), e1000_init_module(9), e1000_exit_module(9)

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and that's the whole page, bestie — go forth and hand that hardware back to the firmware, slay 💅✨

source/version + date tea: this one's from ./drivers/net/ethernet/intel/e... (that's the truncation the footer shows, we're not editing it), dated October 2026, and it's page e1000e_release_hw_control(9) — mwah, bye 🎀🦋