Firewall behavior blocks traffic

[amd.64]

I install OpeWRT on a Lenovo Tiny PC with a Intel EXPI9404PTLBLK Pro/1000 Pt Quad Port.

Quite often I will lose Internet connectivity. When I check the firewall it is doing what is shown in the image and video below. Usually all I have to do is turn the system off and turn it back on, and all is good for a while, sometimes it does this behavior right as soon as it boots. I have tried a second NIC of the same model.

I had IP Fire on the same system for a small period of time, but when I did I did not have any issues

I also have a second system with the same set up (same exact hardware) running OPNSense with no issues.

This issue has really gotten on my nerves and I really like to resolve it as soon as possible. Can anybody tell me what is going on and how to fix it?

Thank You

OpenWRT Firewall behavior

[brada4]

You might need to upgrade intel firmware on the card itself. It has to come from card manufacturer, ie intel, hpe, supermicro, dell etc.

[psherman]

That doesn't look like an issue with the firewall... hardware unit hang sounds like a hardware problem maybe? or a driver?

[slh]

RX/ TX unit hangs are plaguing Intel ethernet cards for at least two decades… One of the reasons why -if given the choice- I prefer even Realtek network cards over Intel (they may be a tad slower/ need more CPU performance, but I don't get silent data corruption and hung interfaces). As brada4 mentioned, this can only be fixed (if at all) with a firmware upgrade of this ethernet card, matching your exact chipset. Most of the time these bugs are related to the powersaving features of the card, so disabling those might paper over the issue as well.

[amd.64]

Both NICs I have tried (both same model) only two of the ports work. I was hoping that it was just the OS that would see the other two. But with these issues that explains why the other two most likely don't work.

It looks like I am just gonna replace the card.

I would like to still use a card that has four ethernet ports.

What brand / models NICS work best with OpenWRT?

@slh

RX/ TX unit hangs are plaguing Intel ethernet cards for at least two decades… One of the reasons why -if given the choice- I prefer even Realtek network cards over Intel (they may be a tad slower/ need more CPU performance, but I don't get silent data corruption and hung interfaces). As brada4 mentioned, this can only be fixed (if at all) with a firmware upgrade of this ethernet card, matching your exact chipset. Most of the time these bugs are related to the powersaving features of the card, so disabling those might paper over the issue as well.

Thanks for the info. I usually use NICS with Realtek as well. I have used Intel cards in the based but not enough to experience the issues you mention

[slh]

Based on your description you claim to have a USFF device, but I doubt a full-sized 4-port card fits into that - but if true, it might not get enough power. If you have a SFF device (with normal desktop/ slim) PCIe, that should not be an issue. But 4-port cards are always tricky.

[brada4]

Also check if driver provides some temperature information, it might need to be placed into airflow, not the very corner of PC case.

[amd.64]

@slh

Based on your description you claim to have a USFF device, but I doubt a full-sized 4-port card fits into that - but if true, it might not get enough power. If you have a SFF device (with normal desktop/ slim) PCIe, that should not be an issue. But 4-port cards are always tricky.

It is a tight fit but it does fit.

As I said in my original post, I have the same exact Lenovo Tiny PC and NIC running OPNSense with no issues.

@brada4

Also check if driver provides some temperature information, it might need to be placed into airflow, not the very corner of PC case.

It is a tiny PC with only one PCI-E slot.

I have been all through the OpenWRT web interface I do not see anything that says anything about temperature, even though I have luci-app-statistics and collectd-mod-thermal installed

[amd.64]

I have replaced the Intel card with a HiFiber 2.5G NIC with Realtek RTL8125 Chip.

I am experiencing the same behavior. In another thread I have been I advised that I may need to upgrade to 24. However as far as I can tell it is still in the release candidate phase. Any body know how close it is to being a full release.

The reason I have been advised that I may need to upgrade to 24 is for the driver of the NIC I just installed. Is it possible to download the NIC from other sources?

[brada4]

Are you serious? Intel firmware crashes on a realtek card?

[amd.64]

???

That is not what I said. I removed the Intel card and replaced it with the HiFiber 2.5G NIC with Realtek RTL8125 Chip

With either card I experience the same behavior.

However, I just realized that eth0 is causing the problem, eth0 is the internal NIC which is an intel.

The problem did get worse with the HiFiber NIC installed. I don't know if it is a fluke, if there is some kind of conflict or if it is just a coincidence.

[amd.64]

I probably went the hard way of doing this. I installed the new NIC and reimaged the drive. The new NIC works.

Both the Intel and the HIFiber NIC although quad port only two of the four worked. Turns out the internal or the NIC on the motherboard was causing some kind of issue. I disabled it in BIOS -- reimaged again and all seems good -- so far anyway! I am just minus one NIC then I thought I would have.

Before performing what I describe in this comment, I would experience the behavior I describe in my original comment several times a day where I had to reboot, several times an hour where it would be able to recover on its own. I disabled the onboard NIC yesterday afternoon and have not had any trouble since.

The way I did it was probably the hard way to fix it but it is working.