Problems detecting intel network adapter

jneves10 · Oct 22, 2009, 2:03 PM

Hi everybody,

I have been facing a problem with a network adapter Intel Gigabit ET Dual Port Srvr Adptr (Part Number E1G42ET) (chipset is JL82576GB).

I have been looking around and i find that i should use the igb driver (developped from intel) for this specific adapter, however pfsense (1.2.2) have not some tools like "make" to compile the driver available in intel site. So i have compiled it in another machine with FreeBSD and tried kldload in pfsense. When i try this, i allways get an error "kldload: can't load if_igb.ko: No such file or directory"!

Any one has this issue?!

I know this is not an hardware problem, once i tried with other OS (linux), and the adapter works fine.

Thank you all,

JL

jneves10 · Oct 22, 2009, 2:05 PM

Hi,

In previous post, i forget to tell that i tried already pfsense 1.2.3-RC!

Thanks,

JL

neyz · Dec 4, 2009, 5:33 PM

Hello everyone !

we are using an Intel quad port card (intel 82576 chip product code E1G44ET) in a Dell R210 server and have absolutely no luck at all detecting this card :(

We bought this because it's in the compatibiliy list and everyone seems to be saying "go for intel" but now we have 4 servers with those expensive cards and can't seem to make them work with pfsense (we have tried 1.2.2 and 1.2.3RC3) :(

Did you manage to compile and load the driver in the end ?

We have tested the card under a different OS and it works fine but in the dmesg we get "No driver attached" next to our pci interfaces..

Does anyone have any tips regarding this issue ?

Thank you guys !

Perry · Dec 4, 2009, 6:50 PM

@http://doc.pfsense.org/index.php/Policy_on_FreeBSD_issues:

We do not have any developers who work on drivers in FreeBSD, and cannot assist with such issues. In these cases, we suggest installing a stock FreeBSD release on your hardware, replicating the problem, and reporting it to the appropriate FreeBSD list. This is the only way your problem will be resolved, and even at that will only be resolved in future releases. Alternatively, use different hardware.

rsingh · Dec 5, 2009, 12:44 AM

sigh. i have dual intel gigabit cards. the linux e1000 driver detects them no problem. 1.2.3-rc3 doesn't… for some reason, other intel gigabit nics which use the same e1000 driver are detected no problem, just not the dual cards.

perhaps it'll work in 2.0. if it weren't for the kernel panics, i'd try that experimental version. perhaps i will anyways.

mhab12 · Dec 5, 2009, 1:12 AM

We just picked up one of these cards (E1G44ET) for a XenServer and it's not detecting there either. It's the latest and greatest from Intel so I'm sure it's only a matter of time, but for now it looks like a better idea to stick with the tried and true quad port cards that have been out for several years. They're supported on just about everything. I feel your pain.

wallabybob · Dec 5, 2009, 10:47 AM

Intel used to maintain the FreeBSD drivers for the Intel GigE cards. (Maybe they still do!)

I encourage any one who has one of these new cards to lodge a FreeBSD problem report (go to http://www.freebsd.org/support/bugreports.html) to encourage the FreeBSD developers to get the support into the FreeBSD 7.2 stream. Its possible the support is in FreeBSD 8.0 but thats

The FreeBSD 8.0 hardware release notes (http://www.freebsd.org/releases/8.0R/hardware.html) says the igb driver supports:

Intel Gigabit ET Dual Port Server Adapter (82576)
Intel Gigabit VT Quad Port Server Adapter (82575)]

The same list appears in the FreeBSD 7.2 hardware release notes so its unclear if these cards are supported in FreeBSD 8.0. I searched the FreeBSD problem reports for "82576" and again for "E1G42ET" but nothing turned up so its possible the FreeBSD developers are not yet aware of this situation.

If you can get to the shell prompt to capture the output from command "pciconf" it would possibly be useful to post that in the problem report.

neyz · Dec 5, 2009, 4:39 PM

Heh guys !

Nice to see this thread is getting some attention !

I found the drivers on intel's page : http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&ProdId=3024&DwnldID=15815&lang=eng

So there must be some hope even if the driver is not included in the stock kernel right ?!

I'm a big freebsd neewb but shouldn't it be possible to do like jneves10 and compile the driver on another machine and copy the driver to the pfsense installation and load it ?

I understand this could only be a temporary solution before upstream includes this driver but it could take months before those cards actually work out of the box and it would really be ashame to have to replace those expensive cards with something else:(

I also understand this is not pfsense's team's job to fix our problem here but if we are all in the same boat why not try to help out each other :P

Have a good weekend guys !

rsingh · Dec 5, 2009, 7:21 PM

i'll have to withdraw my earlier comment. my dual port copper gig card is working now. i setup a second system (same motherboard) as a test bed for the primary pfsense box.

the chip is intel FW82546EB. i booted off the 1.2.3-RC1 live cd just now and I was able to detect both cards, each with 2 ports for a total of 4 gig ports. it's a PCIX133 card but runs at other speeds and can be had for very little on ebay. it uses the standard em0 intel gigabit driver automatically. no fiddling involved.

i'll try to do more testing to find why these didn't originally work when i was setting up my first pfsense box.

after further testing, the card works in both motherboards (tyan S2510). the bios revision is the same, the bios settings are very similar. i can only chalk this up to user error on my part.

neyz · Dec 7, 2009, 3:45 PM

Hello all, good news ! We managed to make it work, here is the procedure for people who are interested :

-1 Build yourself a freebsd 7.2 32bits box
-2 Build the intel drivers
-3 Copy the resulting .ko modules in the /boot/kernel/ and /boot/modules of the target pfsense box (we used 1.2.3RC3)
-4 Edit the /boot/loader.conf and add the if_igb_load="YES"

You might need to clear some routes by using "route flush" and "route add default gateway_ip"

Reboot and enjoy !

Note : There might be an easier method to achieve this but this one worked for us :)

wallabybob · Dec 7, 2009, 8:31 PM

@neyz:

Hello all, good news ! We managed to make it work, here is the procedure for people who are interested :

-1 Build yourself a freebsd 7.2 32bits box
-2 Build the intel drivers
-3 Copy the resulting .ko modules in the /boot/kernel/ and /boot/modules of the target pfsense box (we used 1.2.3RC3)
-4 Edit the /boot/loader.conf and add the if_igb_load="YES"

You might need to clear some routes by using "route flush" and "route add default gateway_ip"

Reboot and enjoy !

Note : There might be an easier method to achieve this but this one worked for us :)

This suggests igb is not built into the pfSense kernel. (If the igb driver was built into the kernel I would expect an error on loading the igb module due to duplicate symbols. But maybe the "Intel drivers" use carefully chosen symbol names to avoid conflict with those of the standard FreeBSD driver.)

lavinia · Dec 30, 2009, 5:37 PM

Hi all,

Hope this is not too late to chime in.

I'm also using an Intel E1G42ET dual-port copper card (i believe it's an 82576 chip) with 1.2.3-RC3. I didn't need to do anything special as it detected the cards without any issues. The card is picked up as igb0 and igb1. No need to build the drivers.

All previous versions of pfsense would not detect the card.

However, my biggest beef with the igb driver is that VLANs and Traffic shaping will not work at all!!! I hope that these issues can be resolved soon or with 2.0 as I was hoping to use this card to handle more of the heavier traffic rather than relying on a pair of Intel CT desktop cards that I've stuffed into the box for "temporary" use. I'm still testing to see what works and what doesn't. So far everything is okay but it's unfortunate that these features are unavailable at the moment.

Oh well…...

jimp · Dec 30, 2009, 7:44 PM

@lavinia:

However, my biggest beef with the igb driver is that VLANs and Traffic shaping will not work at all!!! I hope that these issues can be resolved soon or with 2.0 as I was hoping to use this card to handle more of the heavier traffic rather than relying on a pair of Intel CT desktop cards that I've stuffed into the box for "temporary" use. I'm still testing to see what works and what doesn't. So far everything is okay but it's unfortunate that these features are unavailable at the moment.

It looks like the arrays that keep track of this functionality were updated to include igb. You can edit /etc/inc/globals.inc and add igb to the list for vlans on line 79. You can then edit /etc/inc/interfaces.inc and add igb to the list starting on line 1511.

If you add it there and it works fine for both, then you may want to open a ticket at http://redmine.pfsense.org - although there are no plans for future 1.2.x releases, it may still get worked in somehow.

The detection in 2.0 is automatic, so these lists aren't used, so it would probably work there without any additional issues.

lavinia · Dec 31, 2009, 7:15 PM

Thank you so much!!! I added igb to the two lines and both functions are working now. You've made a generally miserable grey day a little bit brighter.

I'll look forward to playing with 2.0 when time allows.

:D

cyberfinn · Apr 17, 2010, 10:15 PM

Does anybody have the modules need, to get this to work? Or do I have to setup at FreeBSD 7.2 and make my own?

wallabybob · Apr 17, 2010, 10:29 PM

@cyberfinn:

Does anybody have the modules need, to get this to work? Or do I have to setup at FreeBSD 7.2 and make my own?

A previous reply suggests the necessary driver is already built into pfSense 1,2.3 (lavinia 31-Dec-2009) but if you want VLANs or traffc shaping you will have to tweak a couple of text files. (See jimp's reply 31-Dec).

Have you tried pfSense 1.2.3 and found your NICs are not recognised?

cyberfinn · Apr 19, 2010, 1:54 PM

Yes.

I have just recieved 2 x Dell PowerEdge R210 each with one Intel Gigabit ET Quad Port Server Adapter PCIe

I have installed pfSense 1.2.3 and can only find the onboard NIC's, then I have tryed with the 2.0 beta version and it can find the cards. What am I doing wrong?

cyberfinn · Apr 19, 2010, 1:56 PM

I only have the 1.2.3 version from 08. dec 2009 http://pfsense.nsa.co.il/downloads/

Where do I find the 31. dec version?

wallabybob · Apr 19, 2010, 10:21 PM

@cyberfinn:

I only have the 1.2.3 version from 08. dec 2009 http://pfsense.nsa.co.il/downloads/

Where do I find the 31. dec version?

The replies were date 31-Dec-2009 and I quoted that date to help you find the relevant replies. I didn't mean to imply there was a particular pfSense 1.2.3 build of 31-Dec-2009.

@cyberfinn:

I have just recieved 2 x Dell PowerEdge R210 each with one Intel Gigabit ET Quad Port Server Adapter PCIe

I have installed pfSense 1.2.3 and can only find the onboard NIC's, then I have tryed with the 2.0 beta version and it can find the cards. What am I doing wrong?

Probably nothing. As time goes by manufacturers release NICs that are slightly different from previous versions (e.g. bug correction) and they have different identification codes from previous versions and so older drivers don't recognise them. If you post the dmesg output from the pfSense 1.2.3 startup 'll take a look and see if thats the problem.

epl67 · May 11, 2010, 7:58 AM

Were going to buy one of these in combinaison of a good cpu, in a rackmount server.

The reference is E1G44ET, if anyone has feedback with QUAD Intel PCI-E card please help.

The vendor already has other reference as :
Intel PRO/1000 PT and Intel PRO/1000 GT.
The GT version seems a little less performance (no dedicated CPU hash), but seems more standard.

The Intel PRO/1000 MT is in there too.

Any feedback on theses cards is highly appreciated, and please give the date of buy.
Many thanks,