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    Weird setup issue

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Problems Installing or Upgrading pfSense Software
    36 Posts 3 Posters 5.9k Views
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    • C
      Cyber-Wizard
      last edited by

      @kejianshi:

      I'll read back.  Did the Win7 machine grab an IP with DHCP or was that connection manually configured?

      The connection requires static IP's so the Win7 machine was manually configured with the ISP supplied info as it was entered into pfSense.

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      • K
        kejianshi
        last edited by

        I'd wipe the box, reinstall  and reload configuration and try again - assuming this hasn't also been tried.

        But yeah - Seems like everyone knows exactly what they are doing.

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        • K
          kejianshi
          last edited by

          Ethernet autoselect (100baseTX <full-duplex>)

          Its not Gigabit huh?

          Its probably nothing, but I'm sure the laptop was auto-negotiating a gigabit connection with the modem.

          You already tried inserting a VLAN switch in between the modem and the pfsense and using 2 untagged VLAN ports?

          1 plugged into the modem and 1 into the pfsense?

          Its unlikely, but I've seen in the past where some gigibit equipment didn't play well with some 100base equipment (I've seen it here only once)

          Anyway - I'm sure the super expert paid support guys will fix it.  They are pretty good.</full-duplex>

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          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            Nope the Netgate m1n1wall is an Alix board with vr(4) 10/100 NICs. Otherwise auto-negotiating to 1000Mbps but the cable not being up to it would high on my list of suspects.
            Definitely check that it's negotiating the speed/duplex correctly with the EoC box, ifconfig or Status: Interfaces: will show that.
            I have seen some odd connection issues where the negotiation fails or the interface refuses to come up unless the remote end is already up. That can be a problem with two boxes directly connected which is why I suggested the switch.

            Is the Win7 box using a Gigabit NIC?

            Steve

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            • C
              Cyber-Wizard
              last edited by

              Given that the Netgate and the modem were both willing to autonegotiate I'm certain that they agreed on an acceptable speed. I've run into fiber media convertors that insist upon Gigabit, but that's because they won't autonegotiate. I would be impressed if that modem was Gigabit capable given that EoC's capabilities end around 1/10th of that. The ALIX board definitely isn't Gigabit.

              Yeah, I've plunked a switch inbetween the two but that didn't solve it either. (thankfully!)

              Yes, the Win7 box is Gigabit capable.

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              • K
                kejianshi
                last edited by

                OK - This is one for the experts I guess.

                I do have a small stash of this stuff.  If you need, I can FEDEX overnight some to you.  For a price.

                http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nbEeU2dRBg

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                • C
                  Cyber-Wizard
                  last edited by

                  @kejianshi:

                  I've set one of these up with on cable before.  What version of pfsense are you running and is it 64 or 32 bit?

                  I just got word from my guy onsite, that Netgate is running 32bit.

                  Status: dashboard - version-
                  2.0.3-release (i386)
                  Built on fri apr 12 10:22; 18 EDT 2013
                  FreeBSD 8.1-release-p13

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                  • K
                    kejianshi
                    last edited by

                    I'd try either a reload of the firmware or fresh install.  (Often fixes things where you think it wouldn't)

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                    • C
                      Cyber-Wizard
                      last edited by

                      It turned out that the gear supplied by my ISP was tagging all packets send inward to my routers' WAN port but wouldn't accept packets tagged with the same VLAN ID. Several calls to my ISP got me through to someone who knew what I was talking about and fixed it in just a few seconds.

                      I'm ashamed to say that I didn't catch that during my troubleshooting and it was the superexperts at pfSense support that ultimately found the problem.

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                      • K
                        kejianshi
                        last edited by

                        ISP equipment problems?

                        (I'd have never guessed)  ;D

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                        • stephenw10S
                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                          last edited by

                          Hmm, yet the Win7 machine had no problems.  :-\

                          Was it revealed by a packet capture on WAN?

                          Ah well, glad you got it sorted.

                          Steve

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                          • C
                            Cyber-Wizard
                            last edited by

                            Yep. We ran a packet capture on the WAN and found the VLAN ID on the inbound packets. Thinking we were clever, we tried setting the WAN port to the same VLAN ID and then nothing returned at all. Even the ISP tech was stumped as to how that hardware got set up and sent out that way.

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                            • K
                              kejianshi
                              last edited by

                              I wish I knew enough to install this stuff for a living…    Sounds like fun.  :D
                              I hope you got paid by the hour?

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