14.04: JMicron Ethernet is not working

[robi-hipnos]

Another issue with 14.04. JMicron Ethernet is not working. I can't even apply manufacturer driver because of new kernel.

[varunendra]

Welcome to the forums robi-hipnos

Please open a terminal (Ctrl-Alt-T) and post back the outputs of the following commands -

sudo lshw -numeric -C network

While posting the outputs, please use 'Code' tags. It preserves the output's formatting and makes the post cleaner, compact and more readable. To see a quick 'HowTo' with screenshots, please follow the "Use Code Tags" link in my signature.

[QIII]

Moved to Networking & Wireless

[robi-hipnos]

And also for network (first is Wifi interface which works and second is the troubled ethernet):

sudo lshw -numeric -C network

  *-network               
       description: Wireless interface
       product: AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) [168C:2B]
       vendor: Qualcomm Atheros [168C]
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 01
       serial: 48:5d:60:e3:cf:db
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath9k driverversion=3.13.0-24-generic firmware=N/A ip=192.168.1.4 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
       resources: irq:17 memory:d2a00000-d2a0ffff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: JMC250 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [197B:250]
       vendor: JMicron Technology Corp. [197B]
       physical id: 0.5
       bus info: pci@0000:05:00.5
       logical name: eth0
       version: 03
       serial: bc:ae:c5:d4:ab:fe
       size: 10Mbit/s
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm pciexpress msix msi bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=jme driverversion=1.0.8 duplex=half latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
       resources: irq:50 memory:d0200000-d0203fff ioport:9100(size=128) ioport:9000(size=256)

It's funny that while watching switch, the network light for laptop is on but when kernel boots, light goes off. It does not even react to plug/unplug cable. It's like ethernet is not present at all.

[varunendra]

While being connected to internet via wireless, please install 'ethtool' -

sudo apt-get install ethtool

Then try forcing 100 Mb/s full duplex on the ethernet interface -

sudo ethtool -s eth0 speed 100 duplex full autoneg off

Does this help activating ethernet? If not, please post back the output of -

sudo ethtool eth0

..after trying the above change.

[robi-hipnos]

It does help!

And output is:

Supported ports: [ TP MII ]
    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:  Not reported
    Advertised pause frame use: No
    Advertised auto-negotiation: No
    Speed: 100Mb/s
    Duplex: Full
    Port: MII
    PHYAD: 1
    Transceiver: internal
    Auto-negotiation: off
    Supports Wake-on: pg
    Wake-on: g
    Current message level: 0x000020c6 (8390)
                   probe link rx_err tx_err hw
    Link detected: yes

[varunendra]

It does help!

Let's try making it permanent then. Please run the following code to add the command to your /etc/rc.local file -

sudo sed -i '/^exit 0/i /sbin/ethtool -s eth0 speed 100 duplex full autoneg off' /etc/rc.local

Reboot and check if the Ethernet is working now. If not, we may have to try another method to make it permanent.

Your card is capable of Gigabit speed (1000 Mb/s), so "speed 100" option is a compromise with speed. We may try forcing 1000 Mb/s, but I doubt its success. "Autonegotiation" is essential for gigabit speed link, so the ethtool command will have to be changed a bit to try that. But if your router is 10/100 Mbit only, there is no point in trying that and we're good with 100 Mb/s.

[robi-hipnos]

This method works between reboots. I have tried to force it with 1000 Mb/s but I get message:

sudo ethtool -s eth0 speed 1000 duplex full autoneg off

Cannot set new settings: Invalid argument
  not setting speed
  not setting duplex
  not setting autoneg

I have gigabit switch and I use ethernet only to transfer large files which means few seconds instead of waiting forever. So this workaround is to make at least working ethernet.

Thanks for you help

[varunendra]

You're welcome!

A correction in the command you tried -

Instead of..

sudo ethtool -s eth0 speed 1000 duplex full autoneg off

Try -

sudo ethtool -s eth0 speed 1000 duplex full autoneg on

Autonegotiation is necessary for gigabit link.

[robi-hipnos]

Oh, I should be reading more carefully about autonegotiation. So this seems to be working too

Settings for eth0:
    Supported ports: [ TP MII ]
    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:  1000baseT/Full 
    Advertised pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
    Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
    Link partner advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 
                                         100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 
                                         1000baseT/Full 
    Link partner advertised pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
    Link partner advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
    Speed: 1000Mb/s
    Duplex: Full
    Port: MII
    PHYAD: 1
    Transceiver: internal
    Auto-negotiation: on
    Supports Wake-on: pg
    Wake-on: g
    Current message level: 0x000020c6 (8390)
                   probe link rx_err tx_err hw
    Link detected: yes

And now the big question, why it does not work out of the box? Kernel driver seems to be ok.