[SOLVED] A20 Lime2 eMMC revision G: no more network

[lauhub]

Hello all,

I installed Debian (Armbian) on a newly received A20-Lime2-eMMC-rev.G with Kernel 4.8.6 and 4.9.5

Problem: no more network, IP is not set. With the same image of the eMMC on another board (with older revision number) everything works.

It seems the new revision makes the physical port for eth0 not work (RTL8211E). I get the following message:

Code Select Expand

eth0: "fail to init PTP."

I tried to recompile u-boot with CONFIG_RTL8211X_PHY_FORCE_MASTER=n but this did not work

Does anyone have a clue on about how to make this work ? (patch, kernel option, etc)

[JohnS]

Did you ask in Armbian forum?  If not, do.

John

[lauhub]

Yes I did

[lauhub]

The problem is from hardware: the same image works on another rev. G board

[LubOlimex]

Both boards have the same Ethernet controller chip?

By the way, when you are in doubt whether it is most likely a software or a hardware problem - always test with the latest official image. For the A20-OLinuXino-LIME2-eMMC this is the correct image for testing at the time of posting:

https://www.olimex.com/wiki/images/2/20/A20-lime2_mainline_uboot_sunxi_kernel_3.4.103_jessie_emmc_rel_9.torrent

Best regards,
Lub/OLIMEX

[lauhub]

Both boards have the same Ethernet controller chip?

Yes, same chips on both boards

[LubOlimex]

Interesting. Does the problem persist with the official LIME2 eMMC images?

This one to be specific: https://www.olimex.com/wiki/images/2/20/A20-lime2_mainline_uboot_sunxi_kernel_3.4.103_jessie_emmc_rel_9.torrent

Best regards,
Lub/OLIMEX

[lauhub]

Hello,

I am sorry not to give more information since february but I was very busy.

Interesting. Does the problem persist with the official LIME2 eMMC images?

This one to be specific: https://www.olimex.com/wiki/images/2/20/A20-lime2_mainline_uboot_sunxi_kernel_3.4.103_jessie_emmc_rel_9.torrent

Thank you for your advices, I finally proceeded to test the boards

I come back with some bad news:

1. the first defect board does not work with the official image from OLimex

2. I started experiencing network bad functioning with the second board (the one I was talking about that was working) : it does not work anymore :

it has been in use for several months from february to august then unplugged. And re-pluging it today lead to network malfunction. First it was no ssh connection, then no IP address, then no more network at all.

Tested with official image: no luck. It does not work anymore.

Do you have a bad serie of cards with that kind of issue ?

I will send back both cards to your customer service in the next days.

[LubOlimex]

The official image was updated four time since last time you posted. The official image for LIME2 is now release #13 and it is available as an archive via torrent here: https://www.olimex.com/wiki/images/2/24/A20-lime2_mainline_uboot_sunxi_kernel_3.4.103_jessie_NAND_rel_13.torrent

I hope you tested with this image.

Before sending any boards back it is required to write an e-mail at support@olimex.com - we have to give you RMA number else your return might not be proceeded. In your e-mail, make sure include a link to this forum thread so we don't go through standard support pracitces again. Also make sure to check our warranty and returns policy: https://www.olimex.com/wiki/GTC#Warranty

Best regards,
Lub/OLIMEX

[lauhub]

Hello,

Thank you for your reply

I tested this morning both board with the #15 image (https://www.olimex.com/wiki/images/2/21/A20-lime2_mainline_uboot_sunxi_kernel_3.4.103_jessie_eMMC_rel_15.torrent)

Good news : both boards have the ethernet link working.

Bad news for me: I use a 4.9 kernel because I need BTRFS to prevent FS corruption if board loses power with a lot of additional work using this on my project. Re-compiling with the right patches will be hard I presume

I tried with the newer 4.13 kernel version from Armbian: it works well too

I wanted to keep my kernel version as close a Debian Stretch's kernel version as possible (4.9). But I think I'll need to upgrade to 4.13

Thank you for you support !