Wired Ethernet Dropping

[benp...@gmail.com]

Hi,

I've had my B2 connected wirelessly for the past six months or so with no issues. I've recently moved to using it as a DNLA server to support streaming around the house, and having problems with stability when playing for more than 15-20min.

I have moved to a wired ethernet connection to overcome this, but I'm experiencing strange behaviour. Essentially if I connect the wire into the brennan's port it connects to the switch and works flawlessly, but if I then reboot the brennan it no longer connects. Unplugging the cable at the switch and reinserting doesn't help, but if I unplug the cable from the (back board removed) b2 it reconnects.

The switch is a BT Smart Hub with smart setup turned off, and I've not had any issues with other wired connections through the switch. I've tried switching the cable with the same result.

I've not encountered flakiness in wired connections before - any suggestions?

Thanks,

Ben

[JAC]

Hi  Just checking, did you remove the WiFi dongle when you went to a wired connection ?

[benp...@gmail.com]

I've tried both ways. If I keep the Wifi dongle in, I get both networks IP addresses listed in the status screen and then just Wifi. If I do not have the dongle in, I get just Ethernet and then nothing.

Ben

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

If you are using the wired Ethernet, it is best not to use the WiFi at the same time, Small Pi's like things kept simple!.

I would also suggest you do a hard reboot (ie power off) of your router to see if this helps.

Fred

[benp...@gmail.com]

I've done as you suggested, removed the dongle and power cycled the B2. "No Network".

Remove the backplate, solid orange light on the ethernet port, slow blink on the green light. "No Network" on the front display

Remove wired ethernet cable from the port, wait a few seconds, re-insert

Orange light solid, green light slow blink. "Ethernet: 192.168.1.185"

Ben

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

No Ben

I meant try power cycling the BT router.

If that has no effect try another Ethernet cable.

Fred 

[benp...@gmail.com]

Thanks Fred - misread you message. I've tried both of those, doesn't alter the results.

I'm stumped that the orange and green lights pickup the cable, but the B2 / pi doesn't detect the network and connect.

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

HMM!!

Most puzzled I am !

Can you tell us which version of the B2 software you are on? - thinking - well if its not hardware is it possibly software!

F.

[benp...@gmail.com]

Software Version B2B Jan 11 2021 08:27:24

Incidentally - plugging the wifi dongle in when the wired ethernet won't connect gives me a Wifi connection.

If I ssh into the b2 and check status with ifconfig I get the following:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr B8:27:EB:B4:0F:AB  

          inet6 addr: fe80::ba27:ebff:feb4:fab/64 Scope:Link

          inet6 addr: fdaa:bbcc:ddee:0:ba27:ebff:feb4:fab/64 Scope:Global

          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

          RX packets:2795 errors:0 dropped:8 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:21 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 

          RX bytes:466048 (455.1 KiB)  TX bytes:2602 (2.5 KiB)

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  

          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0

          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host

          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:65536  Metric:1

          RX packets:2576 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:2576 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 

          RX bytes:190624 (186.1 KiB)  TX bytes:190624 (186.1 KiB)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 70:F1:1C:42:6F:BD  

          inet addr:192.168.1.241  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0

          inet6 addr: fe80::72f1:1cff:fe42:6fbd/64 Scope:Link

          inet6 addr: fdaa:bbcc:ddee:0:72f1:1cff:fe42:6fbd/64 Scope:Global

          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

          RX packets:1710 errors:0 dropped:126 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:1186 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 

          RX bytes:284006 (277.3 KiB)  TX bytes:502474 (490.6 KiB)

The eth0 packets may be the initial working connection that has now stopped. Is there a linux command that will re-initiate that eth0 connection?

Ben

[benp...@gmail.com]

The plot thickens... I can bring the ethernet connection back up with an ifup eth0 command.

Ben

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Yes, apparently the ethernet is not getting an IP number assigned to it by DHCP at boot.

I note your B2 software version is slightly out of date (this should not be causing the problem) but it may be worth trying a "Settings > Web Upgrade" to bring the B2 to the latest version (14 Feb i believe).

How long have you had the B2 - sometimes the SD cards go bad and this can cause "funny" issues.

Fred.

[benp...@gmail.com]

Following an upgrade to the 14th Feb software the problem appears to have resolved itself. Unsure whether it's the change in version or re-flashing of the SD.

Either way - thanks for the advice! 

Ben

[fred.w....@gmail.com]

Hi Ben,

Glad your problem "has gone away" but it is annoying it was not possible to nail its cause properly. If things go funny in future, keep in mind the SD card as a possible cause.

Please do not have the WiFi dongle plugged in while you are using the Ethernet cable to connect. The Ethernet is the best possible connection to employ.

Fred