Ethernet Card Stopped Working (BCM5785M)

Ronin324 · 2012-06-12 07:51:42

My ethernet card stopped functioning about a week ago, at the time I thought my cable had died and did not think to much of it. Then I checked the cable in my desktop computer and it worked fine and was able to connect to my router as well as the interent. To the best of my recolection I did not install any new software that may have cuased the problem, just standard pacman package updates. I ran throught the Networking wiki to try and see if I could find anything wrong but was not able to solve the problem. The odd thing is when I try and connect to my router I obtain and IP address of 192.168.1.128 which to my recolection was a fall back address when an error occurs. I normally will run my laptop on my ethernet card just becuase of shotty wireless router suppled by my ISP. I am able to use my wireless card without problems, other then the substandard performace of the wireless router, so my networking appears to be generally functioning on the computer.

- Lspci -v gives the following output for the network card.

04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
	Subsystem: COMPAL Electronics Inc Device 0025
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 50
	Memory at f0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
	Expansion ROM at <ignored> [disabled]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: tg3

I went to Broadcom's website and the tg3 driver was the correct driver listed for the device.

I checked to ensure that the tg3 module was loaded and running at start up as well which it was.

-dmesg |grep tg3 returned the following (I did edit out my MAC address with all zeros)

[    5.167906] tg3.c:v3.122 (December 7, 2011)
[    5.236677] tg3 0000:04:00.0: vpd r/w failed.  This is likely a firmware bug on this device.  Contact the card vendor for a firmware update.
[    5.296677] tg3 0000:04:00.0: vpd r/w failed.  This is likely a firmware bug on this device.  Contact the card vendor for a firmware update.
[    5.356733] tg3 0000:04:00.0: vpd r/w failed.  This is likely a firmware bug on this device.  Contact the card vendor for a firmware update.
[    5.357927] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Tigon3 [partno(none) rev b002] (PCI Express) MAC address 00:00:00:00:00:00
[    5.357931] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: attached PHY is 5787 (10/100/1000Base-T Ethernet) (WireSpeed[1], EEE[0])
[    5.357934] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: RXcsums[1] LinkChgREG[0] MIirq[0] ASF[0] TSOcap[1]
[    5.357937] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: dma_rwctrl[76180000] dma_mask[64-bit]
[    9.667630] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[  181.228436] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex
[  181.228439] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX
[  196.452292] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Link is down
[  198.139080] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex
[  198.139084] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX
[  213.460062] tg3 0000:04:00.0: wake-up capability enabled by ACPI
[  213.490759] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[  213.594112] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[  215.212240] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex
[  215.212244] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX
[  317.747290] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[  319.365458] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex
[  319.365462] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX
[  677.340714] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[  677.450541] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[  679.089732] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex
[  679.089736] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX
[ 1458.870527] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 1458.980505] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 1460.537332] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 1460.653833] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 1463.029526] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex
[ 1463.029530] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX
[ 1463.460524] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 1465.088599] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex
[ 1465.088603] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX
[ 1466.403974] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 1466.534005] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 1468.152175] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex
[ 1468.152179] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX
[ 1469.364042] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 1471.003175] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex
[ 1471.003179] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX
[ 1474.737324] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 1474.843977] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 1476.462073] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex
[ 1476.462076] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX
[ 1538.923961] tg3 0000:04:00.0: irq 50 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 1540.563060] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex
[ 1540.563064] tg3 0000:04:00.0: eth0: Flow control is on for TX and on for RX

The firmware out of date looked odd to me but seems to be a common thing with the driver at least when I searched the net. I found that message appear several times but without anything posted about my specific problem.

-Running dhcpcd on the ethernet card produces the following output

dhcpcd[3932]: version 5.5.6 starting
dhcpcd[3932]: eth0: sending IPv6 Router Solicitation
dhcpcd[3932]: eth0: broadcasting for a lease
dhcpcd[3932]: eth0: offered 192.168.1.128 from 192.168.1.1
dhcpcd[3932]: eth0: acknowledged 192.168.1.128 from 192.168.1.1
dhcpcd[3932]: eth0: checking for 192.168.1.128
dhcpcd[3932]: eth0: sending IPv6 Router Solicitation
dhcpcd[3932]: eth0: leased 192.168.1.128 for 86400 seconds
dhcpcd[3932]: forked to background, child pid 3975

The router IP address is 192.168.1.1

If anyone can be of assitance I would appreciate it. If any other command out put might help feel free to let me know.

Thanks

Trilby · 2012-06-12 08:33:05

I only have one little thing to contribute - but first I wanted to say welcome to the forum and awesome first post. This is a great example of how to ask questions the "right way" to get a good answer. Sadly I am not the one with that good answer.

I will say though that everything looks perfectly in order. The DHCPCD is good, and it shows that you are connected. I assume you recognize an error as a browser does not connect. But have your tried other web-tools to see if they can connect? A good starting point would be ping. Try each of the following:

ping -c 3 google.com
ping -c 3 8.8.8.8

and post the output here.

Ronin324 · 2012-06-12 09:14:08

Trilby wrote:

I only have one little thing to contribute - but first I wanted to say welcome to the forum and awesome first post. This is a great example of how to ask questions the "right way" to get a good answer. Sadly I am not the one with that good answer.
.

Well thanks for the compliment. this is my first post here but not my first go with linux. I started using linux back when Red Hat was still avalaible under the GNU as a free distro. Then to Fedora in beta, Gentoo. Ubuntu, and now Arch. I have been running arch for about two years and just have not needed to post do to generally finding my answers in the wiki or on a forum post either here or else linuxquestions as well. I guess that leads me to say that this distro is one of the most well documented ones I have ever used. Gentoo would be the only other who comes close but that is needed just with the complexity involved in the install.

Trilby wrote:

I will say though that everything looks perfectly in order. The DHCPCD is good, and it shows that you are connected. I assume you recognize an error as a browser does not connect. But have your tried other web-tools to see if they can connect? A good starting point would be ping. Try each of the following:
ping -c 3 google.com
ping -c 3 8.8.8.8
and post the output here.

I did try a ping on the google site both with the name server as well as the ip while going through the network wiki. I also tried a ping to the router it self without success.

[scar@thecube ~]$ ping -c 3 www.google.com
ping: unknown host www.google.com
[scar@thecube ~]$ ping -c 3 google.com
ping: unknown host google.com
[scar@thecube ~]$ ping -c 3 8.8.8.8
PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 192.168.1.128 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.128 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.128 icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable

--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 0 received, +3 errors, 100% packet loss, time 2008ms
pipe 3
[scar@thecube ~]$ ping -c 3 192.168.1.1
PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 192.168.1.128 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.128 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.128 icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable

--- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 0 received, +3 errors, 100% packet loss, time 2008ms
pipe 3

I guess one thing I did forget to mention is that the LEDs on the ethernet card seem to be functioning as well when I plug the cable in.

EDIT:

Interesting Update.

I was able to connect to my router as well as the internet by switching over to a static IP. I made sure to set it as high as possible but it did work. I was browsing around and saw another post on the forums and someone suggested to switch to static IP to help troubleshoot the problem.

Here was the post I found: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=143183

Last edited by Ronin324 (2012-06-12 09:59:50)

Arch Linux

#1 2012-06-12 07:51:42

Ethernet Card Stopped Working (BCM5785M)

#2 2012-06-12 08:33:05

Re: Ethernet Card Stopped Working (BCM5785M)

#3 2012-06-12 09:14:08

Re: Ethernet Card Stopped Working (BCM5785M)

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