Problem getting multiple NICs working

pcCoder · 04-04-2014, 01:47 AM

System: Debian Wheezy
Kernel: 3.13 (from Debian Backports)
Motherboard NIC: Realtek 8138 driver
Addon card NIC: Syba SD-PEX24033 Realtek 8111E (Uses the 8138 driver)

The addon card's interface comes up, and I seem to receive traffic in wireshark, but I notice that traffic never seems to get out. The interface shows received frames with few to no errors, but very few received transmitted with very high error. This is the case on both ports. I've tried the drivers that come with Debian, as well as the manufacture drivers from the website. Is this likely a driver problem or a hardware problem? I'm about to give up and RMA

ifconfig eth1

Code:

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:13:3b:0e:8d:7d  
          inet addr:192.168.2.20  Bcast:0.0.0.0  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::213:3bff:fe0e:8d7d/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:31 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:399 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:2465 (2.4 KiB)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
          Interrupt:76 Base address:0x4000

allend · 04-04-2014, 07:13 AM

Quote:

inet addr:192.168.2.20 Bcast:0.0.0.0 Mask:255.255.255.0

That broadcast address is unusual - 192.168.2.255 would be usual. I mention this because it suggests you are doing a manual configuration.
Are your outgoing packets being routed to a default gateway? Have a look at the output of 'route'.

pcCoder · 04-04-2014, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by allend

That broadcast address is unusual - 192.168.2.255 would be usual. I mention this because it suggests you are doing a manual configuration.
Are your outgoing packets being routed to a default gateway? Have a look at the output of 'route'.

I've checked several things so I probably posted the output of a time I didn't give it a correct address with prefix. I use the 'ip addr' and 'ip link' commands to bring it up. Here is my latest:

Code:

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:13:3b:0e:8d:7d  
          inet addr:192.168.2.100  Bcast:192.168.2.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::213:3bff:fe0e:8d7d/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:362 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:500 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:31698 (30.9 KiB)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
          Interrupt:76 Base address:0xe000

To test it out, I've hooked both my onboard NIC and a port of the addon card to a switch, ensure they are in the same VLAN, and clear the switch mac address table. I set their addresses to two different networks and then ping a dummy host on each network. When I ping a host on the network of the onboard NIC "ping -I eth0 192.168.1.199" Wireshark shows traffic on both interfaces, so the ARP is going out eth0 and back in eth1. When I "ping -I eth1 192.168.2.199", Wireshark only shows traffic on the eth1 interface going out, but not on the eth0 interface. This seems to suggest that wireshark is capturing the outbound packets before it hits the hardware, but then the hardware drops the packets and so it doesn't get broadcast through the switch and back into eth0. This is also what the output shows, 0 sent packets, 500 dropped sent packets. I've tested out known good cables and ports on the switch.

Edit: I don't have a default gateway configured right now. I'm just using it for local traffic. Here is 'ip route show':

Code:

192.168.1.0/24 dev eth0  proto kernel  scope link  src 192.168.1.100 
192.168.2.0/24 dev eth1  proto kernel  scope link  src 192.168.2.100

allend · 04-04-2014, 12:00 PM

My apologies to you. I have fallen into the classic LQ trap of teaching my grandmother to suck eggs based on a profile with a low post count.
Digging a bit deeper, there are reports of the Realtek 8111E being problematic. Perhaps try the Realtek driver. http://www.realtek.com/downloads/dow...etDown=false#2

[Edit]My bad - Just reread the initial post and saw that you have already tried that.[/Edit]

pcCoder · 04-05-2014, 12:16 PM

I downloaded and installed the 8.0.38 driver on that page but still have the same problem. I booted into kernel 3.2 to see if it would work and still get the same problem. Another purchaser review mentions that it works perfectly fine in Debian Wheezy, so I'm assuming it is just a bad card. I'm probably going to return it and just get an external USB3 adapter or so since I only planned on using it for some hobbies and practice labs.

jefro · 04-05-2014, 04:42 PM

I'd consider network cables too and any other associated device in path.

Do a loopback and see what happens maybe.