Intel NUC DN2820FYKH, bogus ACPI, USB boot

stig.voss · Dec 14, 2014, 12:24 PM

I am writing to inform that the system in question is booting using pfsense 2.2-RC, more specific, the following image: pfSense-2.2-RC-1g-i386-nanobsd-vga-20141213-1326.img

firewalluser · Dec 14, 2014, 2:54 PM

I have run into an issue concerning the ACPI. It seems from research that it is caused by a bogus ACPI table on the DN2820 NUC and FreeBSD*, which causes a kernel panic upon boot.

Is this problem related to just that model of NUC?

Its just I got a NUC Celeron 847 http://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/nuc/nuc-kit-dccp847dye.html with 8GB ram + 128GB mSATA drive back in July 2013 and its been running very well with pfsense on it. I think back then it was pfsense 2.1 that was available at the time, but apart from the built in AMT back door into every Intel system its met expectations.

If need to compare HW settings drop a pm.

FWIW.

stig.voss · Dec 14, 2014, 4:07 PM

Yes, it only concerns the Bay Trail-based Celeron NUC. I also have the Celeron 847-based and a i3-4010U-based NUC running pfsense 2.1.5, both working perfectly.

Today I retested the Bay Trail-based NUC using the release candidate of 2.2 to verify if the issue had been resolved in the latest version, as it stated in the bug report that it would have been resolved in FreeBSD 10.1, and it does seem to be the case for pfsense 2.2 too as it's based on FreeBSD 10.1.

firewalluser · Dec 14, 2014, 4:31 PM

Thats handy to know, thanks for that!

mzarrugh · Dec 16, 2014, 4:16 PM

This is really awesome to know as I'm planning to setup a similar config on my home network.

Did the Realtek ethernet cause you problems with VLANs though or did it work smoothly so far?

stig.voss · Dec 17, 2014, 3:04 PM

@mzarrugh:

This is really awesome to know as I'm planning to setup a similar config on my home network.

Did the Realtek ethernet cause you problems with VLANs though or did it work smoothly so far?

I didn't actually take it that far as I didn't have any VLAN equipment at the location, I just installed pfsense 2.2-RC on the device. During the coming weekend, I should be at a site with VLAN equipment and I will try it for you.

Personally, upon encountering the issue I bought a replacement, namely the Celeron 847-based NUC mentioned earlier. Here in Denmark the DN2820FYKH and the DCCP847DYE are priced somewhat similar and I can confirm that the DCCP847DYE works flawlessly with both pfsense 2.1.5 and VLAN.

But I do very much see your point about the need for testing VLAN capabilities. I will return with an answer to this question after the coming weekend.

stig.voss · Dec 17, 2014, 6:18 PM

Plans change and I got access to VLAN equipment way earlier than expected. I have now tested the device using VLAN and it does seem to work as shown in the picture below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byf_N3Zxj7ytbnZmdFRqZlVpQXM/view?usp=sharing

mzarrugh · Dec 17, 2014, 6:35 PM

@stig.voss:

Plans change and I got access to VLAN equipment way earlier than expected. I have now tested the device using VLAN and it does seem to work as shown in the picture below.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Byf_N3Zxj7ytbnZmdFRqZlVpQXM/view?usp=sharing

Wow thanks much appreciated :D

stig.voss · Jan 5, 2015, 10:36 PM

This is not a request for help or an attempt to revive the thread for a new question. But I would like to inform potential users of this device a bit about my experience it.

Since around Christmas I attempted to implement this device as the firewall appliance in my home network. At first it did show some symptoms of being unstable under heavy load and upon that cause some "re0: watchdog timeout" errors. I left home for some weeks and let it run as my gateway and firewall. During the weeks with low activity on the network, it showed no signs of this problem. Now, as I got home and have started using my network again, the device is doing the same tricks again. From time to time after pushing a couple of megabytes per second on my connection or on VPN, it will crash the connection. When streaming it will crash the connection. A basic synchronization with Google Drive seems to be able to do it. I have yet not found a specific pattern in the issue. There might be a solution out there, but I have not experimented further.

To visualize my experience, I will provide a chart of ping logging.

Performance wise, ignoring the timeouts, it easily handles my 150/150 Mbps connection and it pushes some 90-110 Mbps on OpenVPN.

firewalluser · Jan 6, 2015, 12:51 PM

Who is your isp? I wonder if you are seeing problems simply by testing the speed limits. Was this with the I3 or Celeron 847?

stephenw10 · Jan 6, 2015, 1:39 PM

Have you tried the loader tunables available in the driver:
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=re&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=FreeBSD+10.1-RELEASE&arch=default&format=html#LOADER_TUNABLES

I'd definitely try disabling msi/msi-x if you haven't already.

Steve

stig.voss · Jan 6, 2015, 5:16 PM

@firewalluser:

Who is your isp?

The Danish optic fibre provider named Syd Energi in cooperation with their ISP company named Stofa.

@firewalluser:

I wonder if you are seeing problems simply by testing the speed limits.

It seems to happen mostly during load at several megabytes per second.

@firewalluser:

Was this with the I3 or Celeron 847?

It is the Bay Trail-based Celeron version with Intel Celeron N2820, product link: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/nuc/nuc-board-dn2820fykh.html.

@stephenw10:

Have you tried the loader tunables available in the driver:
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=re&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=FreeBSD+10.1-RELEASE&arch=default&format=html#LOADER_TUNABLES

I'd definitely try disabling msi/msi-x if you haven't already.

Steve

I have tried disabling both MSI and MSI-X, but I am not sure that I did it properly as my commands seemed to concern PCI devices not Realtek-specific. I shall attempt this and report back.

Jan 6, 2015, 5:33 PM

Have you checked the log for apinger if it starts to panic with some load on the connection (Status - Systemlogs - Gateways)? Increasing the time for latency and package loss (System - Gateway - edit Gateway) might stop it from restarting interfaces/killing states on "gateway failure" (System - Advanced) due to apinger freaking out…

stig.voss · Jan 6, 2015, 7:17 PM

@stephenw10:

Have you tried the loader tunables available in the driver:
https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=re&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=FreeBSD+10.1-RELEASE&arch=default&format=html#LOADER_TUNABLES

I'd definitely try disabling msi/msi-x if you haven't already.

Steve

I attempted this to disable MSI and MSI-X but the outcome remains the same, watchdog timeout in an infinite till rebooting.

@chemlud:

Have you checked the log for apinger if it starts to panic with some load on the connection (Status - Systemlogs - Gateways)? Increasing the time for latency and package loss (System - Gateway - edit Gateway) might stop it from restarting interfaces/killing states on "gateway failure" (System - Advanced) due to apinger freaking out…

I attempted your suggestion by increasing the values tenfold but it did not seem to change the picture. I don't see any apinger panic and the watchdog timeouts does usually not occur during the load but as an after effect thereof. I wouldn't know, but to me it does not seem like an issue with gateway timeouts. The reason for this statement is that the whole interface shuts down. As the NUC only has one interface, it is required to run in a VLAN setup and therefore when the interface shuts down, the LAN-side shuts down as well as the WAN-side. Upon inspecting the pfSense console directly, it also tells me that the interface has lost its IP which it otherwise gets assigned from the DHCP server.

As shown in this photograph of the console, the watchdog timeouts continue when first arising till the device is rebooted.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3243656/IMG_20150106_193949.jpg

EDIT: Concerning gateway timeouts, I should also remember to state that it is only an issue with this device in particular. It is not the case upon using a computer directly connected to the fiber bridge nor upon using another firewall appliance.

stephenw10 · Jan 6, 2015, 8:18 PM

Interesting. Often with device time-outs you get nothing at all afterwards. Your NIC is obviously recovering enough to time-out again.
You've disabled all the hardware off loading options in System: Advanced: Networking: ?

Steve

stig.voss · Jan 6, 2015, 8:44 PM

@stephenw10:

Interesting. Often with device time-outs you get nothing at all afterwards. Your NIC is obviously recovering enough to time-out again.

My NIC does recover, usually the first couple of times it recovers and my connection is reestablished. But thereafter, it goes into an infinite loop of timeouts.

@stephenw10:

You've disabled all the hardware off loading options in System: Advanced: Networking: ?

I attempted this, rebooted and pushed some load on the device again. Same old result.

firewalluser · Jan 7, 2015, 11:36 PM

I know this might seem like sucking eggs, but have you got lot the latest bios updates?

I've had to patch mine.

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-034499.htm

stig.voss · Jan 9, 2015, 12:13 PM

@firewalluser:

I know this might seem like sucking eggs, but have you got lot the latest bios updates?

I've had to patch mine.

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-034499.htm

Looking at the release dates of BIOS versions and when I tested the device at first, I must be running BIOS Version 0045 - FYBYT10H.86A.0045.2014.1212.1150.

I see there has been released one since, but looking at the release notes of version 0047, then it only provided changes related to some security jumper and configuration menu. http://downloadmirror.intel.com/24579/eng/FY_0047_ReleaseNotes.pdf

charliem · Jan 9, 2015, 2:53 PM

@stig.voss:

I see there has been released one since, but looking at the release notes of version 0047, then it only provided changes related to some security jumper and configuration menu. http://downloadmirror.intel.com/24579/eng/FY_0047_ReleaseNotes.pdf

Wow, lots of bios updates in a short time span! Good that they are active, but OTOH there must be loads of bugs to fix. A bios release on Christmas eve, really?

mzarrugh · Feb 1, 2015, 6:30 PM

@stig.voss:

This is not a request for help or an attempt to revive the thread for a new question. But I would like to inform potential users of this device a bit about my experience it.

Since around Christmas I attempted to implement this device as the firewall appliance in my home network. At first it did show some symptoms of being unstable under heavy load and upon that cause some "re0: watchdog timeout" errors. I left home for some weeks and let it run as my gateway and firewall. During the weeks with low activity on the network, it showed no signs of this problem. Now, as I got home and have started using my network again, the device is doing the same tricks again. From time to time after pushing a couple of megabytes per second on my connection or on VPN, it will crash the connection. When streaming it will crash the connection. A basic synchronization with Google Drive seems to be able to do it. I have yet not found a specific pattern in the issue. There might be a solution out there, but I have not experimented further.

To visualize my experience, I will provide a chart of ping logging.

Performance wise, ignoring the timeouts, it easily handles my 150/150 Mbps connection and it pushes some 90-110 Mbps on OpenVPN.

Does this issue only occurs while connected through the VPN?