ethernet port problem

[Andrew Levshenko]

seems like board can not send anything to network.

after board was received, first 2-3 test runs of nand android went completely fine - ethernet worked as expected. then something went wrong - network worked after boot but after several minutes seemed to be not functional (attempts to reinit connection failing as well). at this point i decided it was android's fault.

after that i was trying to convert the board to headless ssh server. first - tiny core linux:
- board failed obtaining dhcp configuration, after some struggling switched to static ip
- ssh connection to board failed, even though netstat displyed established connection on both client computer and the board (even though send-q was not zero at board side)

spent some time without any positive results and decided to change distro - fedora was chosen:
- dhcp failed again, static ip was used
- ssh connection failed the same way as with tiny core's dropbear (sshd was used as a server on fedora), send-q value differed though while still remaining non-zero

after that i decided to investigate a bit - client computer was connected to the board through zyxel keenetic giga router, i thought it could somehow affect traffic.

the board (fedora again) was connected directly to client computer,the whole setup being:
- client computer was configured to receive ip using dhcp
- board was configured to have static ip, dnsmasq was started to serve ip range

tcpdump on both ends reveals that:
- the board receives dhcp requests and sends dhcp replies
- client computer only sends/retransmits requests for ip address

having said all that, i tend to conclude that my board has some problem with ethernet port preventing it to actually send data to the wire.

board was intended as headless server, so this is a bit frustrating...

has anyone experienced anything like that?
any ideas on what can be done to further investigate the issue?
maybe anything can be done to resolve the problem?

thanks in advance.

[Roman Mamedov]

On Sun, 31 Mar 2013 06:57:11 -0700 (PDT)
Andrew Levshenko <sinn...@gmail.com> wrote:

> the board (fedora again) was connected directly to client computer,the whole setup being:
> - client computer was configured to receive ip using dhcp
> - board was configured to have static ip, dnsmasq was started to serve ip range
>
> tcpdump on both ends reveals that:
> - the board receives dhcp requests and sends dhcp replies
> - client computer only sends/retransmits requests for ip address

Why not just set both to static IPs, and try simple ping from one to the other?
Surely sounds less convoluted?

DHCP is not good at all for testing basic NIC h/w functionality involves
things like broadcast/multicast packets, which *can* be broken in some NIC
drivers.

If you can connect e.g. over ssh after all, but the connections lock up, try
using a smaller MTU on the Cubieboard, e.g. 1400.

Also of course try different cable, and better use a router (all LAN ports),
because I am not certain that WEMAC supports Auto-MDI/X to use non-crossed
cables for direct connection to another computer.

--
With respect,
Roman

[Tom Cubie]

We have checked one board sent back by the user saying that the board has very high rate of packet loss, around 80%. After we changed the crystal of the Ethernet. It's ok now. Our testing procedure only test if can ping the host. I think we need to improve the Ethernet testing now. Your case is more like a hardware problem. You can ask for a replacement from where you buy.

 

thanks in advance.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cubieboard" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cubieboard+...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cubieboard?hl=en.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

--
Keep simple, stay foolish.

 

[Andrew Levshenko]

tested with simple ping - results mimic that of dhcp:
- [board -> comp] board sends requests, comp sees nothing
- [comp -> board] board sees requests and sends replies, comp sees self-sent requests only

nothing seem to be leaving the board

[sinny-sama]

testing procedures would not have helped in this case probably - first several boots network was functional.

by "After we changed the crystal of the Ethernet. It's ok now." did you mean replacing RTL8201CP chip on the board?

my board came from indiegogo campaign - don't know if there are any chances of board replacement.

[Stefan Boller]

maybe the same problem like this thread:
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!category-topic/cubieboard/avEq1BW850Q

[sinny-sama]

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cubieboard" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cubieboard+...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cubieboard?hl=en.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
 
 

i've read that topic already - decided to create new one since it seemed to me that there was a mess of rather different descriptions dumped in single place (plus i beleive my description is somewhat more detailed/precise than the ones posted in that topic).
so, hard to say if my problem is described in that topic since some posts may be applicable to my case, while others are definitely not (e.g. link led is on on the board/router, network never works since no data gets sent from the board to the wire, etc)

[George Ioakimedes]

I also have a board that appears to have a non-working ethernet interface. I haven't had a chance to look further into the problem but were they able to measure something wrong with the crystal so we can use this as a quick check? For the board that this customer returned to you it obviously was not a completely dead crystal since he was getting traffic but maybe the frequency was off or it had a lot of jitter?

[George Ioakimedes]

I got a chance to measure the board that I have with the network problem and the crystal is dead (no clock signal). We've had problems in the past with this SMT cylindrical package for crystals and don't use them anymore. With RoHS the reflow temperatures now reach 260 degrees and since the body of the cylinder is soldered to a pad this can transmit quite a lot of heat to the crystal. We never proved that this was the cause of the problems but it was a good educated guess.

For those able to measure, confirm that the crystal is bad, and rework the board, you'll need a 25MHz crystal, +/-50ppm, ESR of 30 ohm Max.

Although this isn't an exact match, this part from DigiKey (for those of us located in the US) should work, Epson CA-301 25.0000M-C

There are others with lower ESR ratings but the package would be harder to adjust to fit the board layout.

[halma...@gmail.com]

I surrender, nooooo , please I surrender

As i have pubished in cubieforum: 

After several recompiling and requeterererererecomiling Kernels I surrender. I have the problem with the Ethernet. No connection. Impossible. Guilty seems the driver because Android works right, but it's impossible with ubuntu.

I have downloaded the ubuntu version from CubieBoard.org. http://dl.cubieboard.org/software/ubuntu/cb-sdcard-1.1-linaro-quantal-alip-20130227-290.img.tgz, but ethernet DOESN'T WORK.

After looking tutorials from linux-sunxi and others i have compiled several kernels and update them in that ubuntu distribution but does not work. Impossible.

I tried with linux-sunxi-3.0, linux-sunxi-3.4 and linux-sunxi-cubieboard. I have updated sun4i_wemac.c, apply patches from here http://jas-hacks.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/hackberry-a10-compiling-kernel-armhfs.html, re.re.re.re.re.re.recompiling kernel but does not work. Impossible.

* Perhaps ..... only me has this problem??? This problem is not trivial.

* Anybody knows what am i doing wrong or what is the right way to compile a kernel with ethernet working?

* Why the "official" distribution of CubieBoarg.org does not work?

Regards

[George Ioakimedes]

Are you sure that you don't have a hardware problem? I can confirm that the crystal mentioned in my previous post does in fact work although the body length of the crystal is a little longer than the one originally used on the Cubie so you need to be careful not to let the body of the crystal touch the SOT-23 part near it.

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "Cubieboard" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/cubieboard/w2LPGXQYXmo/unsubscribe?hl=en.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to cubieboard+...@googlegroups.com.

[halma...@gmail.com]

Hello George Loakimedes

I don't know if your response is for me. Anyway thanks.

I would like to say that in tutorial http://linux-sunxi.org/Bootable_OS_images somebody wrote "...berryboot is not a recommended boot image for A10 devices..."

Recently I have 1GB-CubieBoard and Ethernet on BerryBoot WORKS with Ubuntu and Fedora and with Android in NAND from original. Ethernet on the "Official" ubuntu distribution on CubieBoard.org DOES NOT WORK....... Why????

Regards

[George Ioakimedes]

Yes, I just wanted to confirm that your trouble wasn't due to a hardware problem. It sounds like ethernet is working for you in different images except for the Ubuntu SD Card image which you downloaded from cubieboard.org. I'm sorry but I have not tried that image, perhaps it has a problem?

Have you performed a sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade just to be sure everything is updated and OK? I'm not a Linux expert but I'm sure you can find some basic network troubleshooting tips on the internet since this trouble is probably not related to the Cubieboard itself.

[halma...@gmail.com]

In fact, seems there is not a hardware problem. George, i can't do apt-get because i have not network.

Somebody more knows some about this problem??

[halma...@gmail.com]

I am still with the ethernet problem.

I have tested other distribution that seems works. It's a Linaro ALIP with Kernel 3.4.24 and Wemac 1.01. I'm turning crazy.

Somebody can give me some help please??

[jean-marc Harang]

hi 

You should verify the quality of the solders of the RJ45 plug on the board. On the board I own, some solders were poor quality and i prefered to remake these ones cleaner maner. I noticed this little problem for the usb and the rj45 plugs of the cubieboard. Looked clearly like potentially dry solder joints : these solders looked like a ball and not like a proper conical form :(

perhaps something must be done to improve quality of the manual solders of the differents connectors of the board... 

-- 

jean-marc Harang, from France

ps : sorry for my poor english

2013/4/13 <halma...@gmail.com>

I am still with the ethernet problem.

I have tested other distribution that seems works. It's a Linaro ALIP with Kernel 3.4.24 and Wemac 1.01. I'm turning crazy.

Somebody can give me some help please??

--

You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Cubieboard" group.

To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to cubieboard+...@googlegroups.com.

Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cubieboard?hl=en.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
 
 

--
Jean-marc

[halma...@gmail.com]

Thank you batou:

Seems that all is right. I don't see nothong starnge in the connector.

I wolud like to know if somebody hav tested the ubuntu version http://dl.cubieboard.org/software/ubuntu/cb-sdcard-1.1-linaro-quantal-alip-20130227-290.img.tgz and if this works please.

No body have been problems with ethernet ?

[halma...@gmail.com]

Hi

I hav not the same problem. ReadThis http://www.cubieforums.com/index.php/topic,170.msg915.html#msg915

and such as sems http://www.cubieforums.com/index.php/topic,225.msg914.html#msg914

George Ioakimedes was in the right way

It's a shame :( :( :( 

[halma...@gmail.com]

Batou,perhaps you are in a little right way

Best Reagards friend

[Jacek Ślimok]

I've used it myself and didn't have any problems with ehternet there. The only problem related to networking in that image for me was that the /etc/resolv.conf had some wrong ip in it, resulting in my cubieboard not resolving addresses properly.

I've also ran into problems with ethernet in my cubieboard lately. For some reason, it only worked if I powered it from my USB port (into DC port), didn't work when powered from PSP power supply (voltage diffference between the two was only 0.05V). I was unable to ping anything as ethernet was down completly (eth0 link down). Problem disappeared when i used USB OTG port to power the board (now it works when powered from any power supply or computer USB).

[halma...@gmail.com]

Jacek:

And these issues .... are not rare problems?. They have not sense ..... the problems appears and disappears themselves ?

I have started the replacement of my Cubie. Seems that is a common problem. I'm not the one with this issue.

Regards

[Jacek Ślimok]

As I said, for me ethernet started working after I used the USB OTG port to power the board, instead of the DC. I don't know if this is because of the fuse on the DC port, that wasnt added to the USB OTG port. Afaik some early revision of Rasperry also had problems with fuses on its USB ports and therefore some current-heavy devices plugged into those were unable to run. Those, as far as I've heard were removed in some later revision of the board.

[Ryan Press]

Thanks George.  My Cubieboard I got from you had really flaky Ethernet.  I was getting some parts from DigiKey anyway and bought the crystal you linked.  Working good so far!

This was the only niggle, otherwise the Cubieboard has been handling everything great!

Thanks,

Ryan

[Egon Mueller]

I seems, I have the same problem. May be a hardware bug?

I get an internet connection while I use android and berryboot. I 'm able to download the linux images contained in berryboot. After installing the downloaded linux versions, there is no network connection, no ping to the router ("network unreachable").

But, if it is a network bug, why does it work with android in why not with the installed linux? Is there an other frequence or something differently?

I do it not understand.

My cubieboard has the number 2012-09-09, the same like an other guy with the same problem.

regards

[Bushmills]

> "network unreachable"

> May be a hardware bug?

typically the result of a missing route in the routing table. hardly a
hardware bug.

[Egon Mueller]

"typically the result of a missing route in the routing table. hardly a

hardware bug. ."

May be,
but in an other forum do they describe the same problem with working android and not working linux and with succes after changing the cubieboard. My cubieboard has the same product number 2012-09-09.

I did check the router (=Fritzbox), it shows some connections, but I could't differ if it was from android or from linux. I did check the linux with static ip address and with dhcp. Always: network unreachable.