Trouble with ethernet on 3.0.0.4.374.33 (RT-N66U)

[ionblue]

I upgraded my RT-N66U today to 3.0.0.4.374.33 from .32 and immediately had an issue with ethernet. More specifically, the ethernet on my Apple Thunderbolt display no longer worked (Gig-E).

I rebooted my MacBook Pro, powered down the display and still nothing. Tried unplugging the cable from both the display and the router and still nothing. I then plugged directly into my MBP and it came right up. Changed it back and nothing.

So I downgraded to .32 over wi-fi and the port came right up. I upgraded again thinking maybe something was amiss in the upgrade and after rebooting the router, the port would not come up. So I downgraded to .32 again and that's where I'm at.

I have no idea what the deal is here. I've never experienced this kind of issue before. Can anyone provide any ideas? Merlin?

Anthony

 

[RMerlin]

This is definitely odd, especially since there is nothing special related to the network switch.

Did you follow the instructions requiring you to reset back to factory defaults as you are upgrading an RT-N66U? If for some reason you want to avoid having to reset to factory default, you can use the SDK5 experimental build instead, which uses the same wireless driver as 374.32.

 

[ionblue]

Hey Merlin. I did not reset to defaults since I was coming from 3.0.0.4.374.32 and the readme stated anything older than 3.0.0.4.374. I thought I was safe in that regard.

I can certainly try that, although I'd need to copy down all my settings and whatnot since you don't recommend loading a saved copy. Is this your recommendation?

 

[RMerlin]

Hey Merlin. I did not reset to defaults since I was coming from 3.0.0.4.374.32 and the readme stated anything older than 3.0.0.4.374. I thought I was safe in that regard.

I can certainly try that, although I'd need to copy down all my settings and whatnot since you don't recommend loading a saved copy. Is this your recommendation?

I'd say try first the SDK5 build, as it won't require you to do a factory default reset. If it works fine with it, then you can either stick with it, or switch to the regular build in which case a factory default reset will be needed.

 

[ionblue]

Well, that was a bust. Sort of.

I installed the SDK5 version and everything worked fine so I figured I'd install the regular version and restore defaults and give it a try. That had the same issue with the ethernet on my Thunderbolt display as before the upgrade.

So I went back to .32 and restored my settings. I may try again tomorrow, but I don't know what else I would change to make it work. Weird.

 

[RMerlin]

Well, that was a bust. Sort of.

I installed the SDK5 version and everything worked fine so I figured I'd install the regular version and restore defaults and give it a try. That had the same issue with the ethernet on my Thunderbolt display as before the upgrade.

So I went back to .32 and restored my settings. I may try again tomorrow, but I don't know what else I would change to make it work. Weird.

I'd recommend switching to the SDK5 version then and declare victory. That is the exact same driver as 374.32, so you won't be losing anything over it, and save a lot of troubleshooting time.

 

[ionblue]

Got is working...

Hey Merlin. I decided to dig into a little further and was watching my ethernet port during and after the upgrade. It would come up and go down a few times before it stopped trying. So I hopped into my console and saw a few errors in there that didn't make any sense, but led me to believe it was some kind of handshake issue.

So I looked at the port configuration on my Mac and I had it set to manual configuration, 1000baseT, full-duplex, flow-control, MTU 1500. I changed it to automatic and the port popped right up. Checking ifconfig it has the exact same settings as above so I dunno why it didn't want to do the handshake.

But it's working so I don't really care! I do have one other unrelated question. I have the router switch control jumbo frame disabled. Should this be enabled? Benefits?

Thanks for all your help sir.

Anthony

 

[PrivateJoker]

So I looked at the port configuration on my Mac and I had it set to manual configuration, 1000baseT, full-duplex, flow-control, MTU 1500. I changed it to automatic and the port popped right up. Checking ifconfig it has the exact same settings as above so I dunno why it didn't want to do the handshake.

But it's working so I don't really care! I do have one other unrelated question. I have the router switch control jumbo frame disabled. Should this be enabled? Benefits?

My Macs also don't behave well with manual settings for Ethernet and they just always work properly on auto. I think the only situation where I've needed manual settings are when the device at other end also had manual settings.

There are a couple posts within the last week or so of people inquiring about jumbo frames - there are very specific circumstances that it could be a potential benefit but most people will realize no improvement and possible throughput degradation. Search the recent posts for jumbo frames for more info, i think a few people including myself have shared their #s and test results as well.

 

[ionblue]

I didn't think it would benefit me, but I figured I'd ask since I was poking around in there. As for my Mac, I honestly don't recall why I had it set on manual configuration. I think at one time with an older firmware I had set it to manual due to issues with the ethernet on the Thunderbolt display. That's just a stab in the dark since I really can't recall.