Network card powers off and doesn't come back unless rebooted

[yurx]

On one of my linux machines (Ubuntu 10.04, 64bit) misbehaves.

Whether I restart the "networking" service or go through ifdown/ifup sequence the link disappears. I can see the router light goes off as if the cable is disconnected. The network card light goes dark as well. Everything looks like the device gets powered off and I can't get it back on.

Reboot fixes the problem though it doesn't quite makes sense that one needs to reboot in order to simply update IP configuration (e.g. change /etc/network/interfaces config from DHCP to static IP).

I am puzzled. Does anyone have ideas? SOS!

[kakariko81280]

Hi there,

Can you tell us what kind of network card you are using and which driver is driving it?

Also, have you tried using ifconfig to bring the card back online?

Let us know how you get on

[yurx]

lspci output tells me it is "04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM57780 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 01)". I am not running NetworkManager.

I did try "ifconfig up eth0" with no success. The only operation that succeeds is when I renew my IP with "dhclient eth0" from local DHCP server/router but this is only applicable with DHCP. I tried changing runlevels (telinit 1, telinit 2) and it didn't work either. The network link only comes back when (or before) BIOS kicks in during reboot.

I also saved output from lsmod before and after restarting the network. It is slightly different. After I restart it also shows additional 2 modules for IPv6 protocol.

I am having a feeling that the solution may be so simple I will laugh when I find it out. There has to be a way to control hardware properties. I know ethtool can change ethernet card settings but I am not sure how to use it to power on the card.

[TaZMAniac]

Go to System - Preferences and select Network Connections.

If your using wired network connection go to that tab and highlight eth connection shown in the window.
Now click Edit and enter your user password.

A new window will open. Under the Wired tab make sure MTU is set to automatic and the check box labeled Available to all users in the bottom left is checked.

Under the IPv4 tab make sure the Method selection is set to Automatic (DHCP). Also want the box marked Available to all users is checked.

The 802.1x tab should not have the Use 802.1x box checked.

Under the IPv6 tab make sure the Method selection is set to Ignore.

Now click on Apply and close out the Network connections window.

Reboot your computer and see if these settings help. If you are still having problems let us know. I'm willing to bet that IPv6 is enabled and that is causing your problems.

[yurx]

Thanks for the detailed description. I would try doing that except this only applies to NetworkManager. I purposely uninstalled NetworkManager. All my linux machines (except for the laptop) are configured with "resolv.conf" & "interfaces". What I can do is try to configure the settings through the configuration files.

Concerning your suspicion about IPv6. I will try to disable it in my configuration and see if it makes the difference.

[kakariko81280]

Hi there,

When you say ifconfig doesn't work, do you get an error message or do you just not get a network connection?

Could you post the output of ifconfig eth0 after you have performed the ifdown/ifup cycle?

let us know how you get on

[yurx]

Yes I forgot to mention about the output. There is none in the terminal. When checking syslog it reveals the following:

>> ifconfig eth0 down
ec 4 15:48:20 XXXXX avahi-daemon[1392]: Interface eth0.IPv4 no longer relevant for mDNS.
Dec 4 15:48:20 XXXXX avahi-daemon[1392]: Leaving mDNS multicast group on interface eth0.IPv4 with address 10.1.1.101.
Dec 4 15:48:20 XXXXX dhclient: receive_packet failed on eth0: Network is down
Dec 4 15:48:20 XXXXX dhclient: receive_packet failed on eth0: Network is down
Dec 4 15:48:20 XXXXX avahi-daemon[1392]: Withdrawing address record for 10.1.1.101 on eth0.

>> ifconfig eth0 up
Dec 4 15:41:28 XXXXX kernel: [151821.412155] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 34 for MSI/MSI-X
Dec 4 15:41:28 XXXXX avahi-daemon[1392]: Joining mDNS multicast group on interface eth0.IPv4 with address 10.1.1.101.
Dec 4 15:41:28 XXXXX avahi-daemon[1392]: New relevant interface eth0.IPv4 for mDNS.
Dec 4 15:41:28 XXXXX avahi-daemon[1392]: Registering new address record for 10.1.1.101 on eth0.IPv4.
Dec 4 15:41:28 XXXXX kernel: [151821.443708] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
Dec 4 15:41:29 XXXXX kernel: [151822.296270] tg3: eth0: Link is down.

I am not quite sure why it is listing "eth0.IPv4" instead of simply "eth0". My "/etc/network/interfaces" file is very primitive and has no reference to "eth0.IPv4":
auto lo eth0
allow-hotplug eth0
iface lo inet loopback
iface eth0 inet dhcp

Even when I do "ifconfig -a" it shows only "eth0", "lo", "pan0", "vboxnet0".