Pfsense won't recognize network card

kpa

As far as I can see it should be supported by the bge(4) driver:

https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=bge&sektion=4&manpath=freebsd-release-ports

Can you boot from the pfSense install media and do this from the shell you can start instead of starting the installer:


dmesg | grep bge

Does that produce any output and what does it say?

firefox

@kpa:

As far as I can see it should be supported by the bge(4) driver:

https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=bge&sektion=4&manpath=freebsd-release-ports

Can you boot from the pfSense install media and do this from the shell you can start instead of starting the installer:
dmesg | grep bge
Does that produce any output and what does it say?

There is a lot of text so I took a screenshot

20171020_081711.jpg_thumb

kpa

That's not good, the chip is recognized by the driver but something causes the driver initialization to fail. Can you see if there are BIOS updates for your board?

You can also see if this helps:

https://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Tuning_and_Troubleshooting_Network_Cards#Broadcom_bce.284.29_Cards

firefox

i have the last bios update
I did a bios update two days ago after the computer bios was in French
ן download the bios from here
https://support.lenovo.com/il/en/downloads/migr-66068
my computer is
MT-M 8808-8HF
S/N: LKLWHF9

is it worth a try earlier BIOS ?

firefox

updating
I've updated to earlier (2jjy47usa) BIOS
(The last one is 2jjy49usa)
and Same problem

After searching Google I came across a post in the forum of pfsense (i have no link to it)
There, it is said that sometimes when an external card is connected, the internal is disconnected
I disconnected the external card (that is, I removed it from the computer)
And I turned on the system
Indeed now pfsense recognizes the internal card bge0

The message did not say how to fix this situation

after using linux boot cd and windows install
both NIC work together
only on pfsense they dont work together

i try to find a jumper on the motherboard
i did not see one

is there a way to make both NIC work ?

Guest

Indeed now pfsense recognizes the internal card bge0

Go to the BIOS and enable it would be my first try.

firefox

It's already enabled

kpa

My guess is that the BIOS is set to automatically disable the built-in NIC in case there's an add-on card installed, that makes sort of sense in a desktop system but is nonsense on a server type system.

I'd also guess that the developers of the Linux driver have found a way to enable the integrated Broadcom NIC regardless but the FreeBSD driver doesn't have the same workaround.

stephenw10

pfSense is able to attach to the Broadcom card and it can be assigned when the Realtek card is not in the box?

If that's the case then I'd throw the Realtek card away an look for something else. The rtl8139 is a truly terrible NIC.

https://github.com/pfsense/FreeBSD-src/blob/db53f09b3a68bfa850844e88c97535f277db4d71/sys/dev/rl/if_rl.c#L48

Steve

Guest

"snip"```
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
ubuntu
description: Computer
width: 32 bits


This is under Linux (Ubuntu) and pfSense is based on FreeBSD and also could it be that this PC
or pfSense box is a 32Bit version and you try out to install pfSensen version 2.4.0 that is coming
only as a 64Bit version!!!

Often, but not even, in the BIOS could be also set another Interrupt to many onboards NICs because
tey are shared together with some PCIe slots, perhaps this might be then also the case here? Please
have a look on this too.

firefox

@kpa:

My guess is that the BIOS is set to automatically disable the built-in NIC in case there's an add-on card installed, that makes sort of sense in a desktop system but is nonsense on a server type system.

I'd also guess that the developers of the Linux driver have found a way to enable the integrated Broadcom NIC regardless but the FreeBSD driver doesn't have the same workaround.

The BIOS option associated with a network card is only
Whether to enabled the card or not to enabled

There is another option related to pxe boot (I added a screenshot)
I tried to run the system when the options are enabled. The same result

@stephenw10:

pfSense is able to attach to the Broadcom card and it can be assigned when the Realtek card is not in the box?

If that's the case then I'd throw the Realtek card away an look for something else. The rtl8139 is a truly terrible NIC.

https://github.com/pfsense/FreeBSD-src/blob/db53f09b3a68bfa850844e88c97535f277db4d71/sys/dev/rl/if_rl.c#L48

Steve

yes as i said
When I remove the external network card from the computer
And runs the system without the external card then pfsense recognizes the internal network card properly

I'll try another card

@BlueKobold:

"snip"```
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
ubuntu
description: Computer
width: 32 bits


This is under Linux (Ubuntu) and pfSense is based on FreeBSD and also could it be that this PC
or pfSense box is a 32Bit version and you try out to install pfSensen version 2.4.0 that is coming
only as a 64Bit version!!!

Often, but not even, in the BIOS could be also set another Interrupt to many onboards NICs because
tey are shared together with some PCIe slots, perhaps this might be then also the case here? Please
have a look on this too.

I checked to see if it was suitable for 64 bit
i use this program https://www.grc.com/securable.htm
it give me The processor is 64 bit compatible

20171021_060353.jpg_thumb

20171021_060557.jpg_thumb
![Screenshot from 2017-10-21 06-23-54.png](/public/imported_attachments/1/Screenshot from 2017-10-21 06-23-54.png)
![Screenshot from 2017-10-21 06-23-54.png_thumb](/public/imported_attachments/1/Screenshot from 2017-10-21 06-23-54.png_thumb)

firefox

Update
I brought four more network cards
That means there are currently 5 network cards
4 with pci connection
1 with pci-e-x1 connection

I tried to change
And those are the results

Three of the cards with a pci connection
Once I connect the network card to the computer
I get the same result as the first network card
The system identifies only the external card but not the internal one

On one card with a pci-e-x1 connection
When I connect it to a computer
The system identifies the internal card and not the external one

And the last card with a pci connection
Same
The system identifies the internal card and not the external one

All cards are valid and working on windows xp / windows 7 / linux

stephenw10

@firefox:

All cards are valid and working on windows xp / windows 7 / linux

On the same motherboard?

It does look like that card is being disabled by attaching a different card. Can you not just use two additional NICs?

Steve

firefox

@stephenw10:

@firefox:

All cards are valid and working on windows xp / windows 7 / linux

On the same motherboard?

It does look like that card is being disabled by attaching a different card. Can you not just use two additional NICs?

Steve

yes on the same motherboard

i can use two additional cards

but the one i want to use is 10/100/1000
and all the other 4 is 10/100
the one on the boars is 10/100/1000

I'll give it another try
I will try to get network cards that they are 10/100/1000

The reason for all this is
That my current system is 32 bit
With 1.5 GHz memory and 10/100 network cards
And there is no upgrade to 32 bit

This computer I'm trying to install on is
With 4GB memory
And a 10/100/1000 network card

stephenw10

Do you need more that 100Mbps? Having just one Gigabit NIC isn't going to help much, except maybe if you're using VLANs.

There appears to be some basic low level incompatibility with that on-board NIC and I don't think we are going to be able to help you with it.

pfSense 2.3.X will be supported for ~1 year so there's no rush to upgrade.

Steve

kejianshi

If after much trying you just can't get things to work, I suggest adding a cheap intel nic you buy off ebay for $10.

Get two and replace your current add-on card… It will save you trouble down the road. Make sure whatever you buy has native support for netmap.

Suricata needs it to work in inline mode. It might save you trouble later.

firefox

Do you need more that 100Mbps?

we have connections up to 500 MB

If after much trying you just can't get things to work, I suggest adding a cheap intel nic you buy off ebay for $10.

As I wrote I will try to retrieve other network cards
And if it does not work
Then another computer

In any case, thanks to everyone who tried to help

kejianshi

Network cards are usually cheaper than computers.

firefox

updating
I brought four new Intel network cards
With pci connection
And another Intel card with a pci-x connection
pfsense does not recognize any of them
I tried to connect two together or separately
The same result

If Windows 2000 recognizes the network cards
(I connected two cards and the computer recognized the other two cards and the card on the board)
So pfsense should also identify them without problems

Another question that may be related

When I installed the pfsense 2.4.0
The installation process was different from what I know
Perhaps I needed to do something different for pfsense to recognize the network cards ?

Guest

You need to assign them to interfaces.