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    Solved: Bizarre NIC problem

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    • H
      hbauer
      last edited by

      This is probably more a freebsd problem but may be somebody can give me a hint

      I want to setup a 2.4.2 test system with an old Lenovo M52. It has a "Broadcom NetXtrem GBit" network card which is recognized from pfsense and also gets an IP Adress as the "WAN" side. If it is the only network card in the system.

      When I insert a second network card (NatSemi DP8381) it also gets recognized.

      But: as soon as I insert the second card without touching the network cable the internal Broadcom card stops working. The cable is there but ifconfig reports "media Ethernet none"

      Any Ideas?

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      • D
        darkcrucible
        last edited by

        If you reboot with the second NIC inserted, does ifconfig show the Broadcom anymore?

        If not, maybe check your BIOS for something about the builtin NIC being disabled if a second one is connected. Check the BIOS updates too while you're at it in case this is mentioned.

        Just an idea. Seems like a long shot but you never know.

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        • H
          hbauer
          last edited by

          unfortunately reboot does not help and ifconfig does show both cards.

          The bios does not have much settings and I already tried various setting without any luck

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          • ?
            Guest
            last edited by

            Maybe address/IRQ problem? It's a bit oldschool but it's pretty weird.

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            • GrimsonG
              Grimson Banned
              last edited by

              On some old systems the integrated NIC will be disabled by the BIOS as soon as an additional NIC is inserted. So get a Intel NIC with two ports and just forget the integrated one.

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              • D
                darkcrucible
                last edited by

                This might help you figure out more info.

                Run the command 'dmesg' before inserting the second card and after. Share the new stuff that's added to dmesg when inserting the second card.

                The system logs may also have some information.

                Otherwise, Grimson is probably right.

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                • H
                  hbauer
                  last edited by

                  @darkcrucible:

                  Run the command 'dmesg' before inserting the second card and after. Share the new stuff that's added to dmesg when inserting the second card.

                  I am not inserting the card while the system is powered on. So I cant provide this.

                  @darkcrucible:

                  Otherwise, Grimson is probably right.

                  Thats what I wanted to find out and

                  The card is working fine with Debian 9

                  Then I reinstalled pfsense withouth touching anything on the hardware and then i have a pfsense box that is recognizing the card but believes there is no cable is connected.

                  So I believe we can exclude bios / hardware issues.

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                  • H
                    hbauer
                    last edited by

                    there are some new findings

                    After the card was working with Debian I thought I give a vanilla FreeBSD install a try.

                    At first the results where the same as with pfSense installation.

                    After 10 Pages of Google result I fount this https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/5457/ and I gave the recommendation a try

                    
                    # ifconfig -m bge0
                       ......
                       supported media:
                       media 10baseT/UTP
                       media none
                    #ifconfig bge0 media 10baseT/UTP
                    #ifconfig bge0
                    
                    

                    tataaa. The card now knows the cable is there and I get an IP address

                    Is there any way I can automate this in the pfSense boot up phase?

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                    • D
                      darkcrucible
                      last edited by

                      @hbauer:

                      there are some new findings

                      After the card was working with Debian I thought I give a vanilla FreeBSD install a try.

                      At first the results where the same as with pfSense installation.

                      After 10 Pages of Google result I fount this https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/5457/ and I gave the recommendation a try

                      
                      # ifconfig -m bge0
                         ......
                         supported media:
                         media 10baseT/UTP
                         media none
                      #ifconfig bge0 media 10baseT/UTP
                      #ifconfig bge0
                      
                      

                      tataaa. The card now knows the cable is there and I get an IP address

                      Is there any way I can automate this in the pfSense boot up phase?

                      There's a package called ShellCmd which I believe can do what you're looking for.

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                      • H
                        hbauer
                        last edited by

                        much easier. I reinstalled pfsense and started the ifconfig command ones to get started and configure pfsense.

                        Then I went back to the WAN setting and if found this setting " Speed and Duplex" where I could set the necessary media type.

                        Rebooted and the WAN address got the ip address ;-)

                        Everything looks good

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