Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.

Gizmo · Post by **Gizmo** » 22 Jul 2011, 07:18

Hi all.
Wednesday night I was happily copying various bits and bytes to /home/storage on my B2, no problem at all.
Thursday, I went to stream a movie, but I couldn't find B2 on the network. Tried from my laptop - unable to mount any mapped drives from B2. Okay - ping... nothing. Host unavailable.

I look on the back of the B2, both ports are lights out. I swapped the cable to a known good cable/router port, still nothing. Looks like hardware. Power cycled the B2. I see the usual flashing LED on the front as it shuts down and again as I power up. Still no lights on the ports.

So. I'm guessing this is a problem with the network card. Where do I stand (warranty wise) if I open up and check the internal connections? I have a static kit and the right tools for the job, but the thing is only about 8 months old so I don't want to blow my waranty if it's busted.

Cheeseboy · Post by **Cheeseboy** » 22 Jul 2011, 08:02

Hi Gizmo,

Excito tends to be pretty lenient with stuff like that. Quite a few of us have been opening our Bubbas and poked about with them without ever having had any grief about it. But to get an official answer, I suggest you email support@excito.com directly. Some of these forum posts go below the Excito radar as they are understaffed and very busy.

Cheers,

Cheeseboy

Gizmo · Post by **Gizmo** » 22 Jul 2011, 08:29

Thanks Cheeseboy!

I sent support an email last night once I'd exhausted my ideas, so I'll see what they say. Thought I would ask here if anybody else had had a similar experience!

Gizmo · Post by **Gizmo** » 22 Jul 2011, 16:32

Are the network ports on a bus, manually removable, does anybody know?

Cheeseboy · Post by **Cheeseboy** » 22 Jul 2011, 17:06

Hi Gizmo,

I haven't been inside a Bubba2 device, only the first version (Bubba server). But I very much doubt it. I think it is all soldered to a single circuit board. Check out his old post to get an idea about the design http://forum.excito.net/viewtopic.php?f ... bubba#p112

And look at this (again from the Bubba mk 1 time-period):
http://forum.excito.net/download/file.php?id=3 (from this thread http://forum.excito.net/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=206

The network connector is the one on the bottom right, under the USB one. You can see the solder points...
I haven't seen any such schematics for the Bubba2 or B3 though...

Ubi · Post by **Ubi** » 22 Jul 2011, 17:16

Did you plug in one of these cables before your issues started happening? http://goo.gl/ja2BC

Ubi · Post by **Ubi** » 22 Jul 2011, 17:18

On a more serious note, why bother soldering out the NICs when the thing is in warranty?

Cheeseboy · Post by **Cheeseboy** » 22 Jul 2011, 17:21

Ubi wrote:On a more serious note, why bother soldering out the NICs when the thing is in warranty?

Downtime minimization, I guess. And perhaps the satisfaction of fixing something yourself. I know I would have preferred it that way.
Nice pic of the cable BTW. Is it real?

Ubi · Post by **Ubi** » 22 Jul 2011, 17:37

yeah, it's called an ëthernet killer, a gimmic "invention" by a nerd with too much spare time. He made a whole collection though: http://www.fiftythree.org/etherkiller/. Be sure to read the bottom paragraphs before making one of these yourself.

Cheeseboy · Post by **Cheeseboy** » 22 Jul 2011, 17:45

developed with a few misc parts to warn new users that the IT department is not to be messed with

This led to some general discussion that this particular device really is in a class of devices, now called the "killers", which need to be made.

LOL!

Gizmo · Post by **Gizmo** » 22 Jul 2011, 17:59

Yeap! thanks everybody - I'm sincerely moved by the sympathy I'm feeling

Will wait for the support guys to get back to me because that looks like a whole new system board.... Going to the attic to dig out DVDs...

Gizmo · Post by **Gizmo** » 22 Jul 2011, 18:01

P.S. try the mini tazer made from a disposable camera... scares cats good!

Gizmo · Post by **Gizmo** » 22 Jul 2011, 18:10

Apology to CB! Thanks for the schematics - interesting to see what's inside and you're right - I don't want to hang around for new bits and sending stuff back! but as Ubi says... I have a waranty...

guslid · Post by **guslid** » 13 Aug 2011, 08:27

Gizmo - did you get any response from Excito regarding the NICs? I seem to have run into the same situation...

Post by **johannes** » 19 Aug 2011, 03:53

Generally, we don't mind you guys opening up your units to check, we trust in you guys being capable and you have always proven to be.

However, if you don't get ethernet link something is very wrong. It's actually strange since the two ports are on separate driver chips (including the LED drivers). I guess you are sure that the problem isn't in the other end? (Try looping a cable from WAN to LAN to se if link lights up).

Anyways, not much to do from the inside for this issue, but feel free to open it up if you are curious.

forum.excito.org

Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.

Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.

Re: Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.

Re: Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.

Re: Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.

Re: Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.

Re: Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.

Re: Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.

Re: Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.

Re: Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.

Re: Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.

Re: Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.

Re: Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.

Re: Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.

Re: Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.

Re: Bubba|Two - Dead Ethernet Ports.