SG-2100 dead WAN port

mspeculatrix

We had an electrical storm today, after which the WAN port on my SG-2100 seems to have died. The WAN port doesn't connected directly to an Internet feed - it goes via an Orange Livebox, which is still working fine, so I'm a bit surprised. But no link is being established between the two.

I've tried plugging other devices via Ethernet cables into the WAN port to see if I at least get link LEDs flashing, but they remain obstinately dark.

I'd appreciate any tips as to how I start diagnosing this to see if it is, indeed, a hardware failure. I simply can't afford to replace the device.

stephenw10

At the command line run:

ifconfig -vma

Make sure you still see both mvneta0 and mvneta1 as present.

Check the status of mvneta0, which is the WAN port.

Steve

mspeculatrix

@stephenw10 mvneta0 is showing up, but reporting ‘no carrier’.

The LAN switch is fine.

BTW, I’m connecting to the WAN port via the RJ45 socket. I’ve ordered an SFP-RJ45 adapter to see if I can use that socket instead.

[Edit] It also reports ‘Media’ as ‘none’.

stephenw10

Hmm, well that doesn't look good.
The SFP port could still be good though if the failure is in the magnetics.

Steve

SteveITS

@mspeculatrix Did you (Halt and) remove power for 30 seconds? That sometimes fixes power related issues by letting capacitors drain. (if it had a power button I'd say to unplug power and press the power button)

In a pinch if you can sacrifice a LAN port you can make it independent:
https://docs.netgate.com/pfsense/en/latest/solutions/netgate-2100/switch-overview.html

mspeculatrix

@steveits Yes. In fact the power was off for quite a while when I popped open the device to see if there were any obviously fried components (I know my way around electronics so am not afraid to have a go at replacing parts.) No visible damage, although I intend to probe around with the DMM and scope soon.

The SFP adapter arrives today. If that doesn’t work, I’ll take a look at using one of the LAN ports.

Thanks for your help.

mspeculatrix

The SFP adapter did the trick. The activity LED on the WAN RJ45 socket also still works. I did a factory reset and am currently restoring settings from backup.