Connectivity issues with BCM5722 based Nic on Dell T110ii server running 12.04 LTS

This bug is missing log files that will aid in diagnosing the problem. From a terminal window please run:

apport-collect 1048817

and then change the status of the bug to 'Confirmed'.

If, due to the nature of the issue you have encountered, you are unable to run this command, please add a comment stating that fact and change the bug status to 'Confirmed'.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.

I'd also like to see logs from this system and more details about how to reproduce. I have a T110ii that does not experience these problems, even with a GA release of 12.04. I've done a simlutaneous download of files of size 3.2GB and 1.6GB via www and haven't had anything drop out yet. While those files were downloading, I also scp'ed some 3.2GB files over to another system. So far, so good.

Hi Robert,

Let me summarize the information we need from you regarding your server and the NIC issue you're seeing.

1: You mention 12.04 on this. Have you run other previous versions of Ubuntu on this machine without seeing this issue? What versions?

2: Have you tried 12.10 (in development)?

3: What is the firmware level of your BCM5722 NIC? This sounds suspiciously like a firmware problem that has been seen in the past, so this could be a simple matter of updating the firmware on your Broadcom NIC. To get this information, just run the following command and paste the output into your reply:

ethtool -i eth0

that should get the info for your onboard NIC. (make sure you haven't disabled it in BIOS first), and since you installed that additional NIC, make sure you are pointing ethtool at the right device.

4: As Brad and Kent requested, please run the following: apport-collect 1048817
this will attach various system logs that will help us debug this issue.

From what I can tell, the most current firmware for the Broadcom NIC is 7.2.14 for this system. I just updated mine from 6.2.1.

On my test T110ii, I have updated the Ubuntu OS to the latest 12.04.1 server code (kernel and all) in addition to updating the BCM NIC firmware. The BIOS on my T110ii is current at 2.0.5.

I've kicked off an iperf test on the T110ii. Iperf is basically a network benchmarking tool, but, I'm going to let it run for a few hours to see if I drop any connections at any point along the way.

I kicked off an iperf test and let it run for about 5 hours on this server.

With the latest 12.04 kernel and latest firmware on the broadcom card, I did not get any interruptions in service on the NIC during the test run.

On my T110ii here, things seem to be working OK with the onboard brodcom 5722 NIC.

Ethtool information for the NIC in my T110ii, which has so far *not* given me any problems:

Settings for eth0:
 Supported ports: [ TP ]
 Supported link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                         100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
                         1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
 Supported pause frame use: No
 Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
 Advertised link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                         100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
                         1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
 Advertised pause frame use: Symmetric
 Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
 Speed: 1000Mb/s
 Duplex: Full
 Port: Twisted Pair
 PHYAD: 1
 Transceiver: internal
 Auto-negotiation: on
 MDI-X: Unknown
 Supports Wake-on: g
 Wake-on: d
 Current message level: 0x000000ff (255)
          drv probe link timer ifdown ifup rx_err tx_err
 Link detected: yes

driver: tg3
version: 3.121
firmware-version: 7.2.14 bc 5722-v3.11
bus-info: 0000:02:00.0
supports-statistics: yes
supports-test: yes
supports-eeprom-access: yes
supports-register-dump: yes

@Robert: another thought, have you tried different cables? What is the server plugged into? Could the port on your switch be going bad?

AlsaDevices:
 total 0
 crw-rw---T 1 root audio 116, 1 Sep 9 11:23 seq
 crw-rw---T 1 root audio 116, 33 Sep 9 11:23 timer
AplayDevices: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu5
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
AudioDevicesInUse: Error: command ['fuser', '-v', '/dev/snd/seq', '/dev/snd/timer'] failed with exit code 1:
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=45d339f3-112b-4955-8d0e-e943ca7194e8
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120424.1)
MachineType: Dell Inc. PowerEdge T110 II
Package: linux (not installed)
PciMultimedia:

ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB:

ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic root=UUID=2a6cd5aa-2acd-4039-a967-3e193c14f8f6 ro
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-23.36-generic 3.2.14
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.2.0-23-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.2.0-23-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.79
RfKill: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Tags: precise
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-23-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups:

dmi.bios.date: 03/13/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 2.0.5
dmi.board.name: 015TH9
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A08
dmi.chassis.type: 17
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr2.0.5:bd03/13/2012:svnDellInc.:pnPowerEdgeT110II:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn015TH9:rvrA08:cvnDellInc.:ct17:cvr:
dmi.product.name: PowerEdge T110 II
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

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ethtool -i eth0
driver: tg3
version: 3.121
firmware-version: 6.2.1 bc 5722-v3.11
bus-info: 0000:02:00.0
supports-statistics: yes
supports-test: yes
supports-eeprom-access: yes
supports-register-dump: yes

switched to 10Mbps - not one ping
switched to 100Mbps - 3 of 10 ping pass (randomly)
switched to 1000Mbps - not one ping
the switch is some cisco GbE auto-everithing

with: ethtool -K eth0 rx off tx off - same behaviour
with: ethtool -K eth0 tso off - same behaviour
after limited testing it seems like hardware problem,
same UTP cable moved on server side to some noname USB-NIC (dm9601) and the connection works perfectly.

Thanks, Robert.

If updating the OS to the latest code and also the firmware on the NIC to 7.2.14 doesn't help , then I'd recommend possibly opening up a service call on the system.

Unable to reproduce on hardware here. Looks like firmware is at least one or two levels down on the failing system. System we have access to with latest firmware works fine.

The debian bug for this hasn't been touched since January of last year and this bug has sat idle about as long. Can we close this bug now?

Since the server was allready in production, I've installed Intel PCIe NIC adapter 'cause I had no more time to experiment, and that NIC is working without any problems. Thx, folks far all suggestions.

Changed to Won't Fix based on Robert's last comment and that we were unable to reproduce this on similar hardware.