Update to kernel 4.4.88 drops atheros nic support? Or bad mobo?

I'm pretty sure my motherboard is toast, but I gotta ask:

So yesterday I upgraded a box via slackpkg to the current 14.2 patch level, and this included the kernel update to 4.4.88. After I rebooted, I noticed that the box no longer had a network connection. Ifconfig shows there was no eth0. lspci did show a line for a qualcomm atheros network adaptor of some sort (sorry don't have exact verbiage), but the kernel log showed nothing at boot time. I was unable to get it to recognize the network adapter. The board is a gigabyte ...sorry I forget the model, but it's been working rock solid for a few months.

So I set lilo to use the older kernel, 4.4.38, I think. Reboot. Still no nic!

So the possibilities:

1) This kernel dropped support for the nic on the other board. If this was the case, reverting to the old kernel should have worked.

2) The motherboard, when I rebooted, through an amazing coincidence of timing, went bad and no longer recognizes the on-board nic. This board is only a few months old, and has been rock solid.

I looked at the back of the box, and the network cable connection lights up when I plug a cable in, and the switch also lights up, showing there is a connection. It seems at least that end of the hardware works.

Am I missing something? Did my mobo really go bad and this is just an amazing coincidence?

I then booted from an old Slackware boot disk, I think it had the 4.4.14 kernel. Still no nic!

I think the mobo went bad and the timing was just an amazing coincidence. I welcome comments and suggestions from anyone.

Edit: I power cycled it, powered down and let it sit for a while, reset the bios. No joy. Still no nic.

Ook --

I've got Atheros eth0 and wlan0 Cards in my LapTop.

They've been working fine since installing 4.4.88 and the accompanying firmware file.

I am now running a 'hand-rolled' 4.4.89 with the 4.4.88 firmware and all is OK.

Not sure which Atheros Card you've got but below are 'mine'.

HTH.

-- kjh

# lspci |grep -i atheros

3c:00.0 Ethernet controller: Qualcomm Atheros Killer E2400 Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 10)
3f:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter (rev 32)

# lsmod |grep ath

ath10k_pci             32568  0
ath10k_core           251220  1 ath10k_pci
ath                    21042  1 ath10k_core
mac80211              609894  1 ath10k_core
cfg80211              526141  3 ath,mac80211,ath10k_core

# ls -la /var/log/packages/kernel* |grep -e 4.4.88 -e firmware

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   56532 Sep 16 05:53 /var/log/packages/kernel-firmware-20170914git-noarch-1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root    1001 Sep 16 05:53 /var/log/packages/kernel-generic-4.4.88-x86_64-1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root   25115 Sep 16 05:53 /var/log/packages/kernel-headers-4.4.88-x86-1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root     997 Sep 16 05:53 /var/log/packages/kernel-huge-4.4.88-x86_64-1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root  248570 Sep 16 05:54 /var/log/packages/kernel-modules-4.4.88-x86_64-1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 3413028 Sep 16 05:54 /var/log/packages/kernel-source-4.4.88-noarch-1

I've also been running the 4.13.x kernel, and it worked fine. It just didn't make sense the it would have been dropped from the 4.4.88, but I had to ask. I think there is a new motherboard in my very near future....

Originally Posted by Ook It just didn't make sense the it would have been dropped from the 4.4.88, but I had to ask. I think there is a new motherboard in my very near future....

Yes. It may well be your motherboard. My wireless NIC is also supported on 4.4.88.

bash-4.3# lspci |grep -i atheros
02:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

Linux odin 4.4.88 #2 SMP Thu Sep 14 14:21:06 CDT 2017 x86_64 AMD Athlon(tm) II P340 Dual-Core Processor AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux

I replace my motherboard. Nic is back. Bloody garbage gigabyte board anyhow grumble grumble grumble grumble. Didn't last two months. The last board was an MSI, lasted about six months. I went back to Asus - maybe I can get more than two months out of this board...

Originally Posted by Ook I replace my motherboard. Nic is back. Bloody garbage gigabyte board anyhow grumble grumble grumble grumble. Didn't last two months. The last board was an MSI, lasted about six months. I went back to Asus - maybe I can get more than two months out of this board...

If you've gone through that many boards, it may be indicative of another issue, most likely power related. A bad PSU could cause boards to fail as can poor voltage from your house. I don't think there's an easy way to test your power supply since the boards are lasting several months, but it might not hurt to see if you can monitor voltages it puts out. For the power from your house, at a minimum, you should be using a decent surge protector/suppressor, not just a "power strip" as that provides basically no extra protection. A better option might be to get a battery backup that supports AVR (automatic voltage regulation). This type of battery backup can clear up poor voltages coming in through your house (which could be occasionally going higher or lower than what the PSU can properly handle, so that ends up getting fed to the board).

Just some points to consider Good luck with your ASUS!

Originally Posted by bassmadrigal If you've gone through that many boards, it may be indicative of another issue, most likely power related. A bad PSU could cause boards to fail as can poor voltage from your house. I don't think there's an easy way to test your power supply since the boards are lasting several months, but it might not hurt to see if you can monitor voltages it puts out. For the power from your house, at a minimum, you should be using a decent surge protector/suppressor, not just a "power strip" as that provides basically no extra protection. A better option might be to get a battery backup that supports AVR (automatic voltage regulation). This type of battery backup can clear up poor voltages coming in through your house (which could be occasionally going higher or lower than what the PSU can properly handle, so that ends up getting fed to the board. Just some points to consider Good luck with your ASUS!

I thought of that. This time I replaced the power supply along with the board! I've had a bad psu burn up boards before - several years ago I had a power supply go bad, and it cost me two good boards before I realized it was the power supply. For all I know these last two boards this time around were also burned out by the power supply, in retrospect, I should have replaced it earlier. Usually I replace the power supply whenever I install a new board. Maybe this is what I get for getting sloppy...<sigh>

I think the house supply is OK, we have several other computer here that are rock solid. My surge protector was expensive, but it is maybe ten years old. Maybe time for a new one?

Originally Posted by Ook My surge protector was expensive, but it is maybe ten years old. Maybe time for a new one?

According to this, it might be time to replace it. It did have some good info in there that I wasn't aware of. Now I'm wondering if I should replace all of my surge protectors...