[SOLVED] 24.1.5_3 broke one of my Intel nics. Good NICs, poor download speed

[Davesworld]

After applying the 24.1.5_3 and subsequent reboot, my Intel 82574L nic no longer works. The second intel nic uses a different chip and works fine.

root@thor:~ # dmesg | grep em1
em1: <Intel(R) Gigabit CT 82574L> port 0x2000-0x201f mem 0xc1a00000-0xc1a1ffff,0xc1a20000-0xc1a23fff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci2
em1: EEPROM V2.1-0
em1: Using 1024 TX descriptors and 1024 RX descriptors
em1: Using 2 RX queues 2 TX queues
em1: Using MSI-X interrupts with 3 vectors
em1: Ethernet address: 00:1e:67:19:4d:3c
em1: netmap queues/slots: TX 2/1024, RX 2/1024
em1: link state changed to UP
em1: link state changed to DOWN
em1: Disabling TSO for 10/100 Ethernet.
em1: link state changed to UP
em1: link state changed to DOWN
em1: Disabling TSO for 10/100 Ethernet.
em1: link state changed to UP
em1: link state changed to DOWN

It repeats from there.

[franco]

Hardware broken? Not sure which version you ran before since you didn't tell but it's extremely unlikely a software change caused it (one that does not include particular driver updates).

You can always revert the kernel to 24.1.2 to double check (given the fact that you ran something like this prior, but as noted you didn't say).


Cheers,
Franco

[Davesworld]

I just updated from the previous version.

The Intel NIC that IS working, sort of, an 82579LM, is assigned to LAN, and through it I get full upload bandwidth but download bandwidth is a trickle. Doing a speed test from within the firewall itself in and out of the WAN has no performance issues. That one is a Broadcom NIC.

 To sum up, after updating, the 82579LM works well in the upload direction and the 82574L doesn't work at all. I did try reverting the kernel but no change so I brought it back up to date.

 I tried reverting the kernel and no change. I did substitute a USB NIC for the down NIC and it has the same lesser download bandwidth but the upload is full 500 mbs I pay for. I ran speedtest-cli within OPNsense and I still get 500/500. I inadvertently bought another motherboard last weekend from eBay without realizing that I already had this one in an older Intel server. I had a Mini-ITX firewall crap out on me last Tuesday morning, both the motherboard and power supply went.

 Just for the fun of it, I moved a 347 MB file to the OPNsense machine via SFTP  and then moved it back and it only took a few seconds either way so the one working Intel NIC is not the bottleneck itself.

 

[franco]

It would still be good to know the last known good and first bad version explicitly.


Thanks,
Franco

[Davesworld]

The 82574L nic that doesn't work anymore doesn't seem to return by reverting.

 Not as important but I had to boot the machine to a gparted live image to clean up the drives by wiping the partition tables before the installer would let me install.

[axsdenied]

Log shows 10/100 which is concerning.  It's either a cable, physical nic problem or driver problem.  And yes, things always "work" before they don't.  Making system changes can unearth issues that were there but who's symptoms hadn't surfaced yet.

[Davesworld]

Right now I am focusing on why the throughput between the WAN and the LAN and WLAN is so slow in the download direction with a twist. I ran iperf3 from a Linux client to a known server iperf3 -c la.speedtest.clouvider.net -p 5209 -P 20 and got this:
[SUM]   0.00-10.00  sec   620 MBytes   520 Mbits/sec  1837             sender
[SUM]   0.00-10.02  sec   607 MBytes   509 Mbits/sec                  receiver

It's a 500/500 fiber connection.

 Now running speedtest-cli from that same linux client I get:
Download: 3.40 Mbit/s
Testing upload speed...
Upload: 383.22 Mbit/s

 Web browsing and file downloading reflect the speedtest results. The same happens over WLAN.

[kss]

And yes, things always "work" before they don't.

I am adding this quote to my repertoire! 

[Davesworld]

Replaced the motherboard with an identical unit, the 82574L when being assigned to something does the same thing with the same errors and simply will not work. I did not even try to assign the 82579LM on the new board.

 I put a quad Broadcom gigabit NIC in a PCIe slot and assigned my two WANs, LAN and WLAN to the four interfaces, works perfectly now so really, a non-Intel NIC solved this.

[Davesworld]

Still not sure what the deal is with recent kernels and older Intel NICS.