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    NIC periodically stops working until reboot

    General pfSense Questions
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    • C
      CZa last edited by

      Hello all,

      I have been using pfsense for a while but I'm still a newbie.

      My setup consists of 3 NICs: 1 integrated in the motherboard and 2 connected to the PCIe and PCI buses. Normally, everything works fine. However, from time to time, the integrated NIC stops working and I cannot re-enable it unless I reboot the system. This is not an ideal solution, as it requires interrupting the operation of the other 2 NICs, which otherwise are working fine.

      Usually, when the NIC stops working, the following messages appear in the logs (latest message first):

      May 15 00:26:55	kernel		em0: Unable to initialize the hardware
      May 15 00:26:55	kernel		em0: Hardware Initialization Failed
      May 15 00:26:55	kernel		em0: Watchdog timeout -- resetting
      

      The NIC appears as active:

      ifconfig em0
      em0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
              options=209b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,WOL_MAGIC>
              ether 68:05:ca:87:e7:38
              hwaddr 68:05:ca:87:e7:38
              inet6 fe80::6a05:caff:fe87:e738%em0 prefixlen 64 tentative scopeid 0x1
              inet 192.168.2.1 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.2.255
              nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
              media: Ethernet autoselect (1000baseT <full-duplex>)
              status: active
      

      But it doesn't work:

      ping 192.168.2.2
      PING 192.168.2.2 (192.168.2.2): 56 data bytes
      ping: sendto: Host is down
      ping: sendto: Host is down
      ping: sendto: Host is down
      ping: sendto: Host is down
      

      Nothing changes if I turn it down and back up with ifconfig and/or netif.

      I have been searching for a solution for a while but I haven't found anything that works.

      Any help will be much appreciated.

      Regards
      CZa

      Gertjan 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Gertjan
        Gertjan @CZa last edited by

        @cza

        Could be many things, like a physical disconnection in the plug.
        Don't loose your time with it.
        If possible, disable this NIC in the BIOS and add another single or double NIC card.

        No "help me" PM's please. Use the forum.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • bmeeks
          bmeeks last edited by

          Agree with @Gertjan . This is almost certainly a hardware issue, so you will either need to disable the on-board NIC and replace it with another of some type in an empty card slot, or else replace the motherboard where the on-board NIC resides.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • stephenw10
            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator last edited by

            Yup Watchdog timeout on em is not something known that can be worked around easily.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • C
              CZa last edited by

              Thank you all for your replies.

              It is really disappointing that there is no way to reset the NIC without having to reboot. I suppose I will have to follow your suggestions and replace it.

              Regards,
              CZa

              JKnott 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • JKnott
                JKnott @CZa last edited by

                @cza

                There is the ifconfig command to shut and open an interface, which might help. However, i also suspect it's a hardware issue.

                PfSense running on Qotom mini PC
                i5 CPU, 4 GB memory, 32 GB SSD & 4 Intel Gb Ethernet ports.
                UniFi AC-Lite access point

                I haven't lost my mind. It's around here...somewhere...

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
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