I have flashed my Comfast CF-E385AC with the latest stable and the latest snapshot releases and found both have a problem when booting with network cables attached. The OpenWrt based firmware provided by Comfast does not have this issue.
With the OpenWrt firmware there is no network connectivity after booting with Ethernet cables attached to either interface. I am using the default configuration for my tests but more complex configurations work well if booted with no cables attached. When cables are attached during boot wired interfaces do not respond when the process completes.
Investigating using the serial console and running ifconfig shows that packets are being sent out but the Rx data for all interfaces except loopback are 0. Checking the switch counters using swconfig shows that both Rx and Tx data is passing for the switch port connected to the interface. Modifying the network configuration and reloading does not correct the problem. Booted with or without cables attached, the router comes up normally from the serial console and the output of dmesg is identical.
Further investigation shows that if cables are attached before the U-boot code brings up the interface the problem occurs. If cables are attached immediately after the U-boot has passed this point in the startup sequence and before OpenWrt boot starts the interfaces work normally after booting completes. The U-Boot console output for a successful boot shows both eth0 and eth1 down (cables unplugged):
U-Boot 1.1.4-g93f29c3b-dirty (May 4 2018 - 11:10:12)
ap135 - Scorpion 1.0DRAM:
sri
Scorpion 1.0
ath_ddr_initial_config(233): (32bit) ddr1 init
tap = 0x00000002
Tap (low, high) = (0xaa55aa55, 0x0)
Tap values = (0x8, 0x8, 0x8, 0x8)
4 MB
eth0 link down
FAIL
eth1 link down
FAIL
Using eth0 device
Tx Timed out
Tx Timed out
ping failed;
Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0
## Booting image at 9f050000 ...
If a cable is attached to a port (eth0 in this case) the U-Boot output shows this port being initialized. Once this occurs the router ports will not work after boot.
U-Boot 1.1.4-g93f29c3b-dirty (May 4 2018 - 11:10:12)
ap135 - Scorpion 1.0DRAM:
sri
Scorpion 1.0
ath_ddr_initial_config(233): (32bit) ddr1 init
tap = 0x00000002
Tap (low, high) = (0xaa55aa55, 0x0)
Tap values = (0x8, 0x8, 0x8, 0x8)
4 MB
eth0 up
athrs17_reg_init_wan done
SGMII in forced mode
athr_gmac_sgmii_setup SGMII done
: cfg1 0x800c0000 cfg2 0x7214
eth1: 20:0d:b0:70:87:c2
eth1 up
Setting 0x18116290 to 0x60c0214f
eth0 link down
FAIL
dup 1 speed 1000
Using eth1 device
ping failed;
Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0
## Booting image at 9f050000 ...
My assumption is that some initialization from the U-Boot code remains during the OpenWrt boot and causes this issue.
I need some advice and help on this as I'm now at the point were code changes are likely needed to fix this issue. Where would be the best place in the code to investigate and add additional initialization if needed?
