[FreeNAS] Intel Pro 1000 CT NIC not working

D

dsiminiuk

I'm running FreeNAS 9.1 and the management interface (and therefore the CIFS shares) is running on the built in NIC which is an Atheros AR8151 v2.0 (MTU maximum 6120) and I wish to switch to a NIC that supports jumbo frames at 9k to take advantage of the headroom on my ProCurve 2824 switch.

The motherboard is a GIGABYTE GA-G41MT-S2PT with 2 - PCI slots, each has an Intel Pro 1000 MT NIC (em0 and em1); 1 - PCIe x16 slot with an IBM ServeRAID M1015 card reflashed with LSI firmware; 1 PCIe 1x slot that is empty. 2.5 GHz Core 2 Duo with 8 GB RAM.

I purchased an Intel Pro 1000 CT (PCIe 1x - 82574L chipset as em2) as the candidate (capable of 16k MTU) and I am able to configure the interface from the FreeNAS console. I have link layer indication at the switch and the NIC and I can ping its local IP but not the gateway. This, using the same CAT6 cable and switchport that was from the Atheros built in NIC (now turned off in the BIOS). I have also installed the new Intel Pro 1000 CT NIC into my Dell Vostro 200S running Windows 7 X64 and it appears to be fine. That, I would think, would indicate that the NIC is ok.

I happened to have a TrendNet (RealTek chipset 8xxx) NIC that does work in this PCIe 1x slot with the same cable on the same switchport (although the MTU max is 7k and not what I want). This would tell me that the GIGABYTE motherboard/slot is ok.

Does anybody have any idea why an Intel Pro 1000 CT will not work in this GIGABYTE Mobo? NIC Firmware? The "L" version of the 82574 is not supported?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
Danny
 
I thought perhaps that securing the L bracket might be lifting the card out of the socket to some degree so I tested it without the mounting bracket, and same thing...

I found an Intel Pro 1000 PT adapter... update to follow...
 
So... Danny, do you often have conversations with yourself?

Funny you should ask Danny, sometimes I do, but I don't always answer myself. Usually I'm screaming at the guy driving the car in front of me who didn't use his turn signal, didn't stop at a red light, or threw a cigarette out the window. People! unreal.

Oh good, I thought maybe there for a moment you were nuts (N-V-T-S),
 
There are reports of that card working with FreeBSD, but since you are using FreeNAS I have no idea. Maybe a FreeNAS forum is a better place to ask?
 
That card is on the list of compatible hardware for FreeBSD and that is the is OS for FreeNAS. I'm sure the FreeNAS guys would tell me it's a FreeBSD issue :).

The odd thing is that the driver sees it; I can set the IP, mask, and ping the assigned IP... just nowhere outside. It's the weirdest thing. Trying the new PT card will be an interesting test. If it works then there has to be something wrong with the CT card. If it doesn't then there has to be some issue with Intel on that Mobo.

And thank you for replying... at least I know I'm not that tree falling in the forest.
 
Which version of FreeNAS? They are based on different versions of FreeBSD. Does that particular version of FreeNAS include the em(4) driver? Probably, but maybe not, or maybe they load it differently, or configure it differently. What do the FreeNAS people say about it?
 
wblock@ said:
Which version of FreeNAS? They are based on different versions of FreeBSD. Does that particular version of FreeNAS include the em(4) driver? Probably, but maybe not, or maybe they load it differently, or configure it differently. What do the FreeNAS people say about it?
Click to expand...
9.2.1 is the latest FreeNAS release but FreeNAS is not just a GUI on the top of vanilla FreeBSD. The system is heavy modified. There is not much you can configure in FreeNAS. Whatever is loaded is loaded. Manual editing text files is not the way to go as FreeNAS is embedded system and things are mounted read only. All configuration is done through GUI and saved in SQLight database. I have 10Gb and 1Gb Intel controller and work like a charm with FreeNAS ix and igb drivers.
 
Over at the FreeNAS support forums some "admin" named "cyberjerk" made an attempt at solving the worlds problems by giving me advice about my setup that I did not ask for but not a serious attempt regarding my particular NIC issue. His arrogance really put me off and I doubt I'll be back there for help again. I hope this asswipe is atypical of the leadership behind FreeNAS but I'll never know.

In any case, I bought an Intel PT adapter and tried it and it also did not work. I'm stuck but eventually I'll replace the mobo with one that has at least one PCIe x4 so I can use some of the dual Intel NICs I have.

Still unresolved.
 
Play around with the -tso, -rxcsum and -txcsum options of the interface with ifconfig(8) and see if any of them makes a difference. If those don't help the next step is to ask on the freebsd-net@freebsd.org mailing list.
 
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