interface going offline with no carrier
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Hi,
I've got an interface going offline with no carrier all the time. A restart foxes it or manually setting the link speed will temporarily fix it but then it drops out again.
I've tried changing cables but nothing works.
Is there a way to bring the interface up via cli? What else can I try to fix it?
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On that interface, between pfSense and the device in front of it, place a switch. Now you've two sections, and you'll find out easily what side pull down the connection.
Interface go "down" when there is no 'physical' (electrical) connection anymore. That doesn't mean it is can be sued for traffic, tough, pfSense, when the interface is 'assigned' and has a valid IP setup (Static, DHCP-client, whatever) will 'init' the interface as soon as it goes UP.Btw : what is the interface's internal driver name ? Does is start with 're' ?
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@Gertjan said in interface going offline with no carrier:
On that interface, between pfSense and the device in front of it, place a switch. Now you've two sections, and you'll find out easily what side pull down the connection.
Interface go "down" when there is no 'physical' (electrical) connection anymore. That doesn't mean it is can be sued for traffic, tough, pfSense, when the interface is 'assigned' and has a valid IP setup (Static, DHCP-client, whatever) will 'init' the interface as soon as it goes UP.Btw : what is the interface's internal driver name ? Does is start with 're' ?
Hi,
Thanks for the reply! Sorry I should have included more information in my OP.
The nic in the server is a quad port intel 350. The interface on question is set up as;
Port 3 -> netgear unmanaged switch -> device
The link between the nic and the unmanaged switch goes down. The link between the unmanaged switch and device remains up.
I've also tried Port 3 -> device with a crossover cable and that goes down as well.
I've tried several new cat6 cables and that makes no difference.
After a reboot port 3 comes up but goes down after an hour or so.
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Try running:
ifconfig -vm igb0Or igbX whichever NIC it is.You can try forcing it to re-link using:
ifconfig igb0 down ifconfig igb0 upI would also try re-assigning the interface to a different port and see if the fault follows it.
You could also try setting a fixed speed/duplex on that NIC if it's a link negotiation issue.
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@stephenw10 said in interface going offline with no carrier:
Try running:
ifconfig -vm igb0Or igbX whichever NIC it is.You can try forcing it to re-link using:
ifconfig igb0 down ifconfig igb0 upI would also try re-assigning the interface to a different port and see if the fault follows it.
You could also try setting a fixed speed/duplex on that NIC if it's a link negotiation issue.
Hi,
Thanks! I set the speed to 1000 full duplex and it has been stable with no drop outs. I've ordered a managed switch to replace the cheap netgear so I'll see how that goes!
Thanks again for your assistance
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@mikeyjjb said in interface going offline with no carrier:
The link between the nic and the unmanaged switch goes down. The link between the unmanaged switch and device remains up.
That's 2 answers.
"Port 3" goes to an switch that's powered all the time ?
The link between the switch and the end device (LAN) doesn't go down.
But the link between the switch and pfSense does ?? Wow. change the cable then ?!
As between an always powered pfSense and always powered switch, the link can not go down, like never. -
@Gertjan said in interface going offline with no carrier:
@mikeyjjb said in interface going offline with no carrier:
The link between the nic and the unmanaged switch goes down. The link between the unmanaged switch and device remains up.
That's 2 answers.
"Port 3" goes to an switch that's powered all the time ?
The link between the switch and the end device (LAN) doesn't go down.
But the link between the switch and pfSense does ?? Wow. change the cable then ?!
As between an always powered pfSense and always powered switch, the link can not go down, like never.Sorry if I wasn't clear
The pfsense box has a 4 port nic.
Port 3 is the DMZ interface
Port 2 is unused
Port 1 is the LAN interface
Port 0 is the WAN interfaceThe setup is pfsense (nic Port 3) <- cat6 -> unmanaged switch <-cat6-> end devices
The link between pfsence (nic Port 3) and the unmanaged switch goes down with "no carrier" after about 20-30 minutes. Nothing I do can bring the link back up EXCEPT setting the interface link speed to 1000baseT full duplex. It's been rock solid since you suggested it some hours ago.
I've tried several new and old Ethernet cables, I've even tried a crossover cable to bypass the switch.
The only thing I haven't tried is using the spare port on the nic.
But the fact everything is working now that I've set the link speed at least shows to me everything is working? It just seems to be an auto negotiation problem?
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@mikeyjjb said in interface going offline with no carrier:
The only thing I haven't tried is using the spare port on the nic.
Definitely try that! If only to rule it out.
Though if it's reliably linking with a fixed speed maybe do nothing.
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Though if it's reliably linking with a fixed speed maybe do nothing.
Yes I carefully backed out of the room and closed the door very gently. So far it's still behaving
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Well that didn't work, it's back to its usual no carrier drop outs. I bought some i340 cards to see how they go. I donr want to have to try another server but I might have to if this doesn't work.
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Did you try re-assigning the interface to the spare port?
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Yes Ive tried;
- different ports
- different cables
- different switches (net gear & unifi)
- updated firmware
- disabled sr-iov and i/oat in the bios
- just this morning I wiped pfsense and restored the configuration. Maybe the install was bad somehow.
Either the nic is bad or the server is. That's the only two things left that I can think of. I just hope it's the nic!
