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Raspberry Pi loses ethernet

Former Member

Hello there.

After several attempts to search this forum and not having found a solution, I decided to create a new discussion.

 

My Raspberry is a headless setup with a disk (externally powered) that I use as a downloader (transmission) and a file server (samba).

Sometimes it works for days in a row, sometimes it gets stuck and does not even acquire an IP address.

 

When it does not have an IP address I cannot determine what is wrong.

I have it plugged in to my router, the lights on the board itself light up and the light of the router that says it is connected also lights up.

The router does not recognise the Pi (it is not shown at the DHCP client list) and the Pi cannot ping the router.

Also, the Pi sees if the cable is removed. (the lights turn off and dmesg says eth0 is unplugged).

 

/etc/network/interfaces has dhcp enabled (although when I try to convert it to static and reboot the Pi says it has an IP address but cannot even ping the router and the router does not find it)

/etc/resolv.conf also has my router IP

 

I am at a deadend. If anyone could help me I would really appreciate it.

 

PS. I also used my multimeter at the TP1 TP2 connectors and got a result of 4.99V.

  • Ok, I've now run my old RasPi with the SD card built on the new failing one and powered the old one by the new power supply, result - no ethernet dropout after running for about 4 hours (the new RasPi fails in about 4 mins).  I think I've now established to my satisfaction that there is something seriously wrong with my new RasPi and there is no other unit, power supply, SD card, ethernet router, ethernet cables etc etc that is the problem. 

    In both cases the only connection to either RasPi is an ethernet connection, no USB, no HDMI, absolutely nothing but the power supply.  So if anyone else gets the ethernet dropout problem one of the possible causes can be the RasPi itself.  Of course in some cases it could be the power supply or any of the other diagnosis mentioned in this thread but the RasPi being the problem is a possibility.  I hope that helps.

  • in reply to rew

    Ok, I've now run my old RasPi with the SD card built on the new failing

    one and powered the old one by the new power supply, result - no

    ethernet dropout after running for about 4 hours (the new RasPi fails in

    about 4 mins).  I think I've now established to my satisfaction that

    there is something seriously wrong with my new RasPi and there is no

    other unit, power supply, SD card, ethernet router, ethernet cables etc

    etc that is the problem.

     

    In both cases the only connection either RasPi has is an ethernet

    connection, no USB, no HDMI, absolutely nothing but the power supply.

    So if anyone else gets the ethernet dropout problem one of the possible

    causes can be the RasPi itself.  Of course in some cases it could be the

    power supply or any of the other diagnosis mentioned but the RasPi being

    the problem is a possibility.  I hope that helps.

  • in reply to Former Member

    Peter Robinson wrote:

     

    Ok, I've now run my old RasPi with the SD card built on the new failing

    one and powered the old one by the new power supply, result - no

    ethernet dropout after running for about 4 hours (the new RasPi fails in

    about 4 mins).  I think I've now established to my satisfaction that

    there is something seriously wrong with my new RasPi and there is no

    other unit, power supply, SD card, ethernet router, ethernet cables etc

    etc that is the problem.

     

    In both cases the only connection either RasPi has is an ethernet

    connection, no USB, no HDMI, absolutely nothing but the power supply.

    So if anyone else gets the ethernet dropout problem one of the possible

    causes can be the RasPi itself.  Of course in some cases it could be the

    power supply or any of the other diagnosis mentioned but the RasPi being

    the problem is a possibility.  I hope that helps.

    Good analysis -- very helpful to the community.

     

    Here are some of the things that could be happening with your flaky RasPi:

    1.  Poor contact of SD card connector.  However, if it always boots this is unlikely.

    2.  Iffy polyfuse F3.  As more current flows through F3, it gets warmer and increases resistance.  If it warms up too much, RasPi's 5V measured at TP1 goes too low and chips start to fail.

    3.  Iffy solder joint.  As the board heats up, it flexes slightly and the solder joint opens up.

    4.  Iffy PCB trace.  As the board heats up, it flexes slightly and the trace opens up.

     

    In most of these cases it's time for an RMA.

  • in reply to johnbeetem

    I had the same issue with RPI B and B+. I try 2A power supply, and it doesn't help. 

    I think it's Raspbian issue.   I also try updating FW, and roll back to old FW, and it doesn't help either. 

    I guess RPI foundation need to fix this backward compatibility issue.

  • in reply to Former Member

    Eugene Tam wrote:

     

    I had the same issue with RPI B and B+. I try 2A power supply, and it doesn't help.

    I think it's Raspbian issue.   I also try updating FW, and roll back to old FW, and it doesn't help either.

    I guess RPI foundation need to fix this backward compatibility issue.

    Is the issue that RasPi runs for a long time and then fails, or does it not come up at all?  In the latter case, it could be an iffy Micro USB power cable.  A 2A supply doesn't help you if there's a significant drop over the power cable.  Check the RasPi's 5V level.

     

    There may be other useful suggestions at the RasPi Troubleshooting Wiki: http://elinux.org/R-Pi_Troubleshooting

  • in reply to johnbeetem

    It takes less than 10 minutes to fail.  After a few minutes from Graphic is turned on, The pi first drops eth0, then it freeze 10 minutes after that.   If I stay with CLI after boot, then eth0 remains on indefinitely.  Thats with Raspbian Wheezy.

     

    I tried Jessie, but I experience the same issue with Eth0 - Pi drops Eth0.  But Graphic seems still running ... 1/2 hour now without any problem.

     

    Before, I can run programs on these Pi for months.  Something definitely messed up in the FW or Driver.  The problem is that I overwrote SD with the supposed newest and greatest recent Raspbian and can't revert back to the old FW/OS.

     

    Could anyone tell me which version of Raspbian does not have this problem?  At least, I can try to revert back to those version.

     

    I think the Foundation need to spend more time to clean up the FW/Driver instead to churning  more hardware.  The difference between RPI and other card is the RPI software.  Otherwise RPI users will turn to other cards. 

  • I've had the same problem but only with wifi usb dongles, I've found the ethernet jack to be extremely stable. Try newest os and a higher output power supply.  Maybe a heat sink?

  • in reply to danringer

    A better USB cable may be the answer rather than a higher output power adapter, it is well known that bad usb cables are well known for causing issues with PI's