[Soekris] Flaky ethernet port on net5501-60
Good afternoon list: I have a net5501-60 that I pack in my carry on luggage as a hotel router/access point. The box runs OpenBSD. It's main function is to connect to the hotel wifi and provide a natted network for all of my electronic gear (ipads, iPhones, a couple of laptops etc.) It solves the issue I have with my family of limits to the hotel's wifi when I travel. The last time I travelled with this thing I noticed that the first ethernet port: "Eth 0" or vr0, would not see a signal from either of the hotels where I stayed. I figured that the port went south and since there are three others, two of which are unused, I wouldn't worry about it. I hooked it up to my network yesterday and since I didn't know what port it was on, and I hadn't connected to it over the console port, I tried connecting via the "dead" vr0 port. Imagine my surprise when that port worked again here at home. Has anyone seen something like this before: One port on the box doesn't work in some locations, but works in others? I'm curious about the cause of this. Thanks -- Chris signature.asc Description: PGP signature ___ Soekris-tech mailing list Soekris-tech@lists.soekris.com http://lists.soekris.com/mailman/listinfo/soekris-tech
Re: [Soekris] Flaky ethernet port on net5501-60
Often hotels will bring you to a web page, where you have to enter a code and/or give a password and/or click "I agree" to a terms of service statement, before they will start passing packets. So you might have to do this on a laptop or something first. Then plug the cable into the Soekris box, and start up networking again. Ken Hendrickson -Original Message- From: soekris-tech-boun...@lists.soekris.com [mailto:soekris-tech-boun...@lists.soekris.com] On Behalf Of Christopher Sean Hilton Sent: Monday, February 01, 2016 3:09 PM To: soekris-tech@lists.soekris.com Subject: [Soekris] Flaky ethernet port on net5501-60 Good afternoon list: I have a net5501-60 that I pack in my carry on luggage as a hotel router/access point. The box runs OpenBSD. It's main function is to connect to the hotel wifi and provide a natted network for all of my electronic gear (ipads, iPhones, a couple of laptops etc.) It solves the issue I have with my family of limits to the hotel's wifi when I travel. The last time I travelled with this thing I noticed that the first ethernet port: "Eth 0" or vr0, would not see a signal from either of the hotels where I stayed. I figured that the port went south and since there are three others, two of which are unused, I wouldn't worry about it. I hooked it up to my network yesterday and since I didn't know what port it was on, and I hadn't connected to it over the console port, I tried connecting via the "dead" vr0 port. Imagine my surprise when that port worked again here at home. Has anyone seen something like this before: One port on the box doesn't work in some locations, but works in others? I'm curious about the cause of this. Thanks -- Chris ___ Soekris-tech mailing list Soekris-tech@lists.soekris.com http://lists.soekris.com/mailman/listinfo/soekris-tech
Re: [Soekris] Flaky ethernet port on net5501-60
On Mon, Feb 01, 2016 at 10:11:27PM +, Hendrickson, Kenneth wrote: > Often hotels will bring you to a web page, where you have to enter a > code and/or give a password and/or click "I agree" to a terms of > service statement, before they will start passing packets. > > So you might have to do this on a laptop or something first. Then > plug the cable into the Soekris box, and start up networking again. > So when I tested this I plugged my laptop into the ethernet first and verified the captive portal and outbound path to the internet. I've been in a lot of hotels that have both WiFi and ethernet where the ethernet is dead. The results I got were: laptop: ethernet -- link, initial DHCP address, agreed to captive portal, connected to internet; soekris: vr0 -- No link; no dhcp, no captive portal, no internet; vr2 -- link, initial DHCP address, agreed to captive portal, connected to internet; At this point I assumed a dead vr0 port and since the Net5501-xx has four and I only needed two, I moved on. What puzzles me is that I expected the vr0 port to remain dead when I returned home. And that's not what happened. I completely believe that the hotel's wiring could be the root issue. If that's the case there's not much that I can do. Does anyone know if there's something in the Soekris that would exhibit these symptoms? Could this be a weak power supply? I won't be travelling again until late June. If the issue comes up again I'd like to have a strategy to figure out whats going on. If weak wiring in the hotel is the issue could it be weak enough that it affects all four ethernet ports on my Net5501? -- Chris __o "All I was trying to do was get home from work." _`\<,_ -Rosa Parks ___(*)/_(*).___o..___..o...ooO..._ Christopher Sean Hilton[chris/at/vindaloo/dot/com] ___ Soekris-tech mailing list Soekris-tech@lists.soekris.com http://lists.soekris.com/mailman/listinfo/soekris-tech
Re: [Soekris] Flaky ethernet port on net5501-60
On Mon, Feb 01, 2016 at 10:23:59PM +0100, Wim Vandeputte Mailing list only wrote: > > Hey Chris, > > On Mon, Feb 01, 2016 at 03:08:42PM -0500, Christopher Sean Hilton wrote: > > Has anyone seen something like this before: One port on the box > > doesn't work in some locations, but works in others? > > > > I'm curious about the cause of this. > > hey, hotel networks are notoriously flakey and badly wired... > > but the vr chip is supposed to be auto-negociating and can deal with > cross wires... but how about you try to force it to a lower setting > like 10 Mbit instead of 100 Mbit and half duplex instead of full duplex, > next time you run into the trouble? > Thanks for the helpful ideas here Wim! I replied on the other answer also. I don't remember trying to force a slower negotiation before I changed ports. Next time i'm in that situation I'll throw that solution on my list. -- Chris -- Chris __o "All I was trying to do was get home from work." _`\<,_ -Rosa Parks ___(*)/_(*).___o..___..o...ooO..._ Christopher Sean Hilton[chris/at/vindaloo/dot/com] ___ Soekris-tech mailing list Soekris-tech@lists.soekris.com http://lists.soekris.com/mailman/listinfo/soekris-tech
Re: [Soekris] Flaky ethernet port on net5501-60
What version of OpenBSD are you running? Since upgrading my Net5501-60 to OpenBSD 5.8 I've experienced the same issue you see -- no link on the vr network interfaces. I suspect it is a driver issue in OpenBSD, I see some old threads about the 'vr' driver but nothing recent. Same hardware was working fine plugged into the same switch when running a really old release of OpenBSD. ___ Soekris-tech mailing list Soekris-tech@lists.soekris.com http://lists.soekris.com/mailman/listinfo/soekris-tech
