Upgrade 1.0.8-1 only partially solves my "silicon bug&q

[davidI]

The just released Bubba 2 upgrade to 1.0.8-1 includes a claimed fix for the silicon bug.

First I'd like to point out that since it says on the box "no experience required" one would expect that upgrading would need no experience.

However the released upgrade is a catch 22. To fix the bug the upgrade is needed, but to get the upgrade the fix is needed.

Luckily I know my way around Linux and was succesfully able to apply the workaround using ethtool mentioned in this forum. I can now access the internet from the Bubba and apt-get.

However I still cannot route through Bubba from my PC. I can ssh to the bubba OK and (e.g.) wget works on it.

Any suggestions?

Update 9 Oct
last night I reinstalled the new image from scratch as described at the end of the manual: No improvement of my problem. The LAN link between my PC to the Bubba 2 is fast, the WAN link between my Bubba 2 and the internet is fast, but using Bubba 2 as a router from my PC to the internet is so slow that it times out. DNS lookup does work, as does ping, but that's about it.

[pa]

Hi davidI,

Can you provide us with your network configuration settings for both WAN and LAN?
Preferable, if possible, the outputs (from commandline) of
/sbin/ifconfig
and
/sbin/route -n

/PA

[davidI]

The physical setup is as in the first scenarion from the manual:

Code: Select all

internet ---------\        /--------------------- PC
                  wan   lan
                    bubba

Below are the reports as requested.

Thanks in advance,
David.

ifconfig of Bubba:
===========
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:22:02:00:01:44
inet addr:84.195.89.105 Bcast:255.255.255.255 Mask:255.255.240.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MTU:576 Metric:1
RX packets:33360 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:103
TX packets:30528 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:19772809 (18.8 MiB) TX bytes:2165036 (2.0 MiB)
Base address:0xe000

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:22:02:00:01:45
inet addr:192.168.10.1 Bcast:192.168.10.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::222:2ff:fe00:145/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:776 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:855 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:114511 (111.8 KiB) TX bytes:274610 (268.1 KiB)

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:54 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:54 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:8472 (8.2 KiB) TX bytes:8472 (8.2 KiB)

ifconfig of Linux PC:
=============
ath0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:22:69:0a:67:80
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1e:68:b2:7f:c8
inet addr:192.168.10.80 Bcast:192.168.10.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::21e:68ff:feb2:7fc8/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:758 errors:0 dropped:356386173 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:995 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:239824 (234.2 KB) TX bytes:131164 (128.0 KB)
Interrupt:219 Base address:0xe000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:56 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:56 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:3916 (3.8 KB) TX bytes:3916 (3.8 KB)

wifi0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-22-69-0A-67-80-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:939 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:280
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:43194 (42.1 KB)
Interrupt:18

Route of Bubba
===========
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.10.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth1
84.195.80.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.240.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
239.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth1
0.0.0.0 84.195.80.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0


Route of PC
=========
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.10.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 1000 0 0 eth0
0.0.0.0 192.168.10.1 0.0.0.0 UG 100 0 0 eth0

Update 10 Oct 20:00 PM
=====
if I connect the bubba via the wan port to my dlink ethernet router, and my laptop to the LAN port of the bubba I can ssh from the laptop to a PC connected to the dlink, but when I run the first command that generates more than a few tens of bytes of output (e.g. ls) the connection then freezes and remains frozen.

I can connect using ssh into the bubba through either port with no problems.

[pa]

Hi davidI

Sorry for the late reply.
The workaround describe does not "take" after a reboot unless added specifically.
Can you ssh to bubba, manually do the fix, and then run a software update in order to get the workaround to permanentely work?
Either run the update from the UI or use

apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade

/PA

[davidI]

Which workaround? The ethtool workaround described as a solution to the silicon bug does not fix my problem.

I have 1.0.8-1 and settings->upgrade now says "0 packages to update."

I can link from the bubba to the internet in every configuration, I cannot link from the PC to the internet if the bubba is directly connected to the internet.

[carl]

There is something wrong with your MTU on eth0 on the bubba, the minimum MTU required is 1500 per standard; if you have less than 1500, all packages containing more than 576 bytes (in your case) will be dropped.

/Carl

[PaulW]

@Carl: Thanks for your quick respons.
Unfortunately I am facing exactly the same issue as described by DavidI.

What can we do to get the MTU value changed in the Bubba2?

[carl]

@Carl: Thanks for your quick respons.
Unfortunately I am facing exactly the same issue as described by DavidI.

What can we do to get the MTU value changed in the Bubba2?

you can change the mtu by issuing following command:
ifconfig eth0 mtu 1500

why you have gotten the other MTU I'm not certain; I'll have to confront my colleagues about that.

/Carl

[carl]

I have confronted my colleagues now, and want you to try following:

as su, type: ifconfig eth1 mtu 576

According to the ifconfig output, a lot of data has been sent and received in the WAN port of the bubba, but not much routed inwards to the LAN. It could be a problem in the bubba, that we havn't foreseen (even though 576 is the absolute minimum MTU, the minimum over ethernet is 1500).

/Carl

[carl]

After more investigations, it is probable related to mtu and our firewall; We are working to verify this and to create an solution; in the mean time I would like to ask you to reduce your MTU on your LAN port to 576.

/Carl

[davidI]

I will try this this evening, but I'm puzzled why you want me to reduce the value from what you say is the good value instead of increasing the bad value to 1500?

[davidI]

I've just read up a bit about MTU, mainly here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_transmission_unit

My experiences do seem to fit with this idea, since small packets do get through OK, but large ones don't: the first few hundred bytes do arrive and then the connection freezes.

I suspect what is happening is that while my router tells the bubba that it's MTU is 1500, my cable modem says 576. This causes the eth0 (WAN) to be set to 576. The eth1 (LAN) side is always set to 1500, as both sides of the LAN cable can handle 1500, which leads to a mis-match between the WAN and LAN.

Probably the module that handles the ip-forwarding within the bubba does not like this mis-match and bottles up, chopping the data off or failing to re-package properly.

I'll experiment with my various pieces of kit (cable modem, router, bubba and PC) connected in different ways tonight and report my findings here.

[scott-2]

I'll experiment with my various pieces of kit (cable modem, router, bubba and PC) connected in different ways tonight and report my findings here.

Thanks for your hard work on this. I am following right behind you with the same problem. Looking forward to your next discovery.

[davidI]

By connecting my PC direct to the modem I saw that the modem allows 1500.

I then put my bubba between and did (logged in via su as root)

/sbin/ifconfig eth0 mtu 1500

as was first suggested and now I can connect correctly

everything works

I am now sending this message via the bubba (I'm one happy man!)

Thanks Carl (thanks from my wife too - she was wondering why I was spending so much time not talking to her )

Of course this is not a final fix as it will need to be re-applied after each re-boot, but I'm sure that Carl and the rest at Excito will soon have an upgrade ready.

[scott-2]

By connecting my PC direct to the modem I saw that the modem allows 1500.

I then put my bubba between and did (logged in via su as root)

/sbin/ifconfig eth0 mtu 1500

as was first suggested and now I can connect correctly

This fix worked for me too. Thanks.