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    Unstable interface on APU1 after changing configuration

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    • rmaederR
      rmaeder
      last edited by

      On my APU1, whenever I make a change to an interface in the web FE, such as changing mtu, MAC, Speed and Duplex, the interface becomes unstable. It drops the link every few seconds and then comes back up, and down, etc.
      A reboot fixes the problem, but I wonder whether there is something less drastic that makes the interface behave again.
      Here is the output of two consecutive "ifconfig re0" within a few seconds:

      re0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
              options=8209b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,WOL_MAGIC,LINKSTATE>
              ether 00:0d:b9:3f:52:10
              hwaddr 00:0d:b9:3f:52:10
              inet6 fe80::20d:b9ff:fe3f:5210%re0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1 
              nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
              media: Ethernet autoselect (none)
              status: no carrier
      
      re0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
              options=8209b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,WOL_MAGIC,LINKSTATE>
              ether 00:0d:b9:3f:52:10
              hwaddr 00:0d:b9:3f:52:10
              inet6 fe80::20d:b9ff:fe3f:5210%re0 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x1 
              inet 185.XX.YY.ZZ netmask 0xffffffe0 broadcast 185.XX.YY.ZZZ 
              nd6 options=21<PERFORMNUD,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
              media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex>)
              status: active
      

      The chip is a Realtek RTL8111E. pfSense is 2.4.4_p3
      Roman

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      • stephenw10S
        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
        last edited by

        What Coreboot version do you have on that? I'm not aware if anything related that was fixed in an update but if you've never updated it there have been a lot of fixes since release.

        Steve

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        • rmaederR
          rmaeder @stephenw10
          last edited by

          @stephenw10
          I upgraded the BIOS just days ago (for the first time ever), and it is at v4.9.0.7.
          I powered up my backup unit, which still has the original version, 4.0, and did a quick test changing interface properties, and no problems showed up.
          That unit is configured for a different ISP, but I will eventually reconfigure it and then I can see whether it also works for the new configuration, with the old BIOS.
          Roman

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          • stephenw10S
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
            last edited by

            Hmm. Well the one I have here seems to work fine and it's running pfSense 2.5 snapshots and Core boot v4.8.0.1.

            You might try either of those.

            If you have a backup unit though the first thing I would try is load that up with 2.4.4p3 fresh and restore the config into it from the other one. See if the fault follows it. If not re-install the other one and see if the fault remains.

            Steve

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            • rmaederR
              rmaeder @stephenw10
              last edited by

              @stephenw10
              I reinstalled 2.4.4p3 on my backup unit, loaded the current config, and then connected it to my network in place of the active unit; I did not upgrade the BIOS.
              The behaviour is exactly the same. I configured the WAN interface (re0) with an MTU of 1500, which is the same value it has by default. After applying the changes, the interface would lose the link every few seconds, then come back up, until I rebooted. It alternated between

              media: Ethernet autoselect (none)
              

              and

              media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex>)
              

              Roman

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              • stephenw10S
                stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                last edited by

                What is it connected to? Can you put a different switch in between?

                I had an old laptop some time ago that had a Realtek NIC and it would not link stably to an SMC switch I had in any OS. Something there was not in compliance with spec but it was not something I could ever resolve.

                Steve

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                • rmaederR
                  rmaeder @stephenw10
                  last edited by

                  @stephenw10 said in Unstable interface on APU1 after changing configuration:

                  What is it connected to? Can you put a different switch in between?

                  it is connected to a DKT-COMEGA 79741 Fiber gateway. I could connect re2 to another device and see whether it behaves the same way.

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                  • rmaederR
                    rmaeder @rmaeder
                    last edited by

                    it is connected to a DKT-COMEGA 79741 Fiber gateway. I could connect re2 to another device and see whether it behaves the same way.

                    I connected re2 to my laptop; there was no problem changing the interface properties (mtu, autoselect).
                    The laptop uses the e1000e driver for its Intel NIC. The only difference I could see is in the output of ifconfig: in re0, it is

                    media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex>)
                    

                    and in re2, it is

                    media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex,master>)
                    

                    Anyway, I don't think I'll need to touch the interface configuration often enough for this behaviour to be a real problem.

                    Roman

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