NIC always needs physical reset after reboot before it will come up

m0j0

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Joined
Jan 18, 2021
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5
Currently running FreeNAS-11.3-U5 but this has been an issue on older releases also. Hardware is a HP Microserver N36L using the onboard HP NC107i NIC.

Whenever I shutdown the server (which isn't very often), the network doesn't come up unless I physically unplug the cable and plug it back in. I've got quite a few devices on this switch and this only occurs with this server. I've tried different switch ports but it makes no difference. I've had to add some additional config items to the NIC in FreeNAS as it was only negotiating at 100Mbps, so after some reading I added the following - "media 1000baseT mediaopt full-duplex"

Looking at the syslog from when I powered it on after replacing a hard drive this morning, I see this:-

Code:
Jan 19 05:12:04 freenas bge0: <HP NC107i PCIe Gigabit Server Adapter, ASIC rev. 0x5784100> mem 0xfe9f0000-0xfe9fffff irq 18 at device 0.0 on pci2
Jan 19 05:12:04 freenas bge0: CHIP ID 0x05784100; ASIC REV 0x5784; CHIP REV 0x57841; PCI-E
Jan 19 05:12:04 freenas miibus0: <MII bus> on bge0
Jan 19 05:12:04 freenas bge0: Using defaults for TSO: 65518/35/2048
Jan 19 05:12:04 freenas bge0: Ethernet address: 3c:d9:2b:02:96:94
Jan 19 05:12:04 freenas kernel: bge0: link state changed to DOWN
Jan 19 05:12:04 freenas kernel: bge0: link state changed to DOWN
Jan 19 05:20:38 freenas kernel: bge0: link state changed to UP
Jan 19 05:20:38 freenas kernel: bge0: link state changed to UP


The UP is not until I pulled the cable and plugged it back in again. I waited a while to see if it might eventually come up by itself.

I've searched around these forums and found various issues reported with these cards but not the same issue. Other than the above, everything is working fine. It's not a huge issue except that it means I have to be near the unit if I ever need to reboot it. So, it's not much more than an inconvenience unless I have an extended power outage that runs down the UPS when I'm not at home. That said, I'd really like to find a solution. Unfortunately, my switch is not manageable so I don't have access to any logs or anything from that side of the connection.

I'm considering dropping in an Intel NIC to see if that helps but would really like to fix it if possible.
 

Chris Moore

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May 2, 2015
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10,080
I'm considering dropping in an Intel NIC to see if that helps but would really like to fix it if possible.
Is the NIC you have problem with an integrated NIC? It is not one of the suggested hardware options. Not all hardware works properly with FreeNAS.

This guide dates from 2018, but the general guidelines are still valid. FreeNAS does not need latest hardware, just reliable, compatible hardware.
 

jgreco

Resident Grinch
Joined
May 29, 2011
Messages
18,681
Yeah, some bge's do this sometimes. You may also be able to tease it to come up by doing "ifconfig bge0 down; sleep 1; ifconfig bge0 up". Years of hair-pulling with HP's bge interfaces makes me avoid buying them. Well, that and their crappy firmware update policies.
 

m0j0

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Joined
Jan 18, 2021
Messages
5
Thanks guys. I was considering a @Reboot cronjob to do the down/up of the interface but seems like a bit of a hack. I have a dual port pro-1000 NIC in front of me. Might just drop that in on the weekend and be done with it.
 

JustinClift

Patron
Joined
Apr 24, 2016
Messages
287
@m0j0 Interesting. Is there any chance you can screenshot or take photo's of the BIOS settings for it?

Just wondering if it's some setting in there (maybe power savings related?), as I have both an N36L and N40L here with FreeNAS 11.3-U5 on them. Haven't seen this behaviour on them, so am wondering "what could be different"... :wink:
 

m0j0

Cadet
Joined
Jan 18, 2021
Messages
5
Thanks for the reply, Justin. However, I've already done away with the onboard NIC and am running with a dual-port Intel NIC (which had no issues when I rebooted it). Getting a shot of the BIOS settings is not an easy task as it's a headless system tucked away in my server room (aka laundry). If I do need to plug in a monitor & keyboard and reboot for some reason, I'll be sure to do this, however.
 
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