Raspberry Pi 4 - UE300 ethernet drops

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hello,

To coincide with new fibre broadband (replacing VDSL) I moved from my old Netgear (also running OpenWRT) to Raspberry Pi 4 with the TP-Link UE300.
After a few days eth1 (the UE300) dropped. The internet connection wasn't being actively used at that time (aside from the usual background traffic). I disabled irqbalance in-case that was the problem, though I have enabled packet steering.

After over 18 days of uptime, the interface went down again.
The fibre ONT has no LAN light when I looked at it. The PON remains fine.
I didn't need to take any action - the connection came back within a minute or two.

I am struggling to work out the cause, especially as it can be many weeks between drops.

I have now changed the ethernet cable just in case.

Does this look like the fault of the UE300/Pi, or could the fibre ONT be at fault instead?

Logs:

Sat Sep  7 17:30:14 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Network device 'eth1' link is down
Sat Sep  7 17:30:14 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan' has link connectivity loss
Sat Sep  7 17:30:14 2024 kern.info kernel: [1633474.061015] r8152 2-2:1.0 eth1: carrier off
Sat Sep  7 17:30:14 2024 daemon.info pppd[2121]: Terminating on signal 15
Sat Sep  7 17:30:14 2024 daemon.info pppd[2121]: Connect time 27222.9 minutes.
Sat Sep  7 17:30:14 2024 daemon.info pppd[2121]: Sent 2671431852 bytes, received 3959157337 bytes.
Sat Sep  7 17:30:14 2024 daemon.err odhcp6c[2187]: Failed to send RS (Network unreachable)
Sat Sep  7 17:30:14 2024 daemon.err odhcp6c[2187]: Failed to send RELEASE message to ff02::1:2 (Network unreachable)
Sat Sep  7 17:30:14 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan_6' is disabled
Sat Sep  7 17:30:14 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Network device 'pppoe-wan' link is down
Sat Sep  7 17:30:14 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Network alias 'pppoe-wan' link is down
Sat Sep  7 17:30:14 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan_6' has link connectivity loss
Sat Sep  7 17:30:14 2024 daemon.notice netifd: wan_6 (2187): Command failed: ubus call network.interface notify_proto { "action": 0, "link-up": false, "keep": false, "interface": "wan_6" } (Permission denied)
Sat Sep  7 17:30:14 2024 daemon.err odhcp6c[2187]: Failed to send SOLICIT message to ff02::1:2 (Network unreachable)
Sat Sep  7 17:30:14 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan_6' is now down
Sat Sep  7 17:30:15 2024 daemon.warn odhcpd[935]: No default route present, overriding ra_lifetime!
Sat Sep  7 17:30:17 2024 daemon.warn odhcpd[935]: No default route present, overriding ra_lifetime!
Sat Sep  7 17:30:17 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Network device 'eth1' link is up
Sat Sep  7 17:30:17 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan' has link connectivity
Sat Sep  7 17:30:17 2024 kern.info kernel: [1633477.132292] r8152 2-2:1.0 eth1: carrier on
Sat Sep  7 17:30:19 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan' is now down
Sat Sep  7 17:30:19 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan' is setting up now
Sat Sep  7 17:30:19 2024 daemon.info pppd[5560]: Plugin pppoe.so loaded.
Sat Sep  7 17:30:19 2024 daemon.info pppd[5560]: PPPoE plugin from pppd 2.4.9
Sat Sep  7 17:30:19 2024 daemon.notice pppd[5560]: pppd 2.4.9 started by root, uid 0
Sat Sep  7 17:30:20 2024 user.notice https-dns-proxy: Starting service instances on_interface_trigger ✓✓
Sat Sep  7 17:30:23 2024 daemon.warn odhcpd[935]: No default route present, overriding ra_lifetime!
Sat Sep  7 17:30:34 2024 daemon.warn pppd[5560]: Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Sat Sep  7 17:30:34 2024 daemon.err pppd[5560]: Unable to complete PPPoE Discovery
Sat Sep  7 17:30:34 2024 daemon.info pppd[5560]: Exit.
Sat Sep  7 17:30:34 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan' is now down
Sat Sep  7 17:30:34 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan' is setting up now
Sat Sep  7 17:30:35 2024 daemon.info pppd[5850]: Plugin pppoe.so loaded.
Sat Sep  7 17:30:35 2024 daemon.info pppd[5850]: PPPoE plugin from pppd 2.4.9
Sat Sep  7 17:30:35 2024 daemon.notice pppd[5850]: pppd 2.4.9 started by root, uid 0
Sat Sep  7 17:30:36 2024 user.notice https-dns-proxy: Starting service instances on_interface_trigger ✓✓
Sat Sep  7 17:30:50 2024 daemon.warn pppd[5850]: Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Sat Sep  7 17:30:50 2024 daemon.err pppd[5850]: Unable to complete PPPoE Discovery
Sat Sep  7 17:30:50 2024 daemon.info pppd[5850]: Exit.
Sat Sep  7 17:30:50 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan' is now down
Sat Sep  7 17:30:50 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan' is setting up now
Sat Sep  7 17:30:50 2024 daemon.info pppd[6149]: Plugin pppoe.so loaded.
Sat Sep  7 17:30:50 2024 daemon.info pppd[6149]: PPPoE plugin from pppd 2.4.9
Sat Sep  7 17:30:50 2024 daemon.notice pppd[6149]: pppd 2.4.9 started by root, uid 0
Sat Sep  7 17:30:51 2024 user.notice https-dns-proxy: Starting service instances on_interface_trigger ✓✓
Sat Sep  7 17:30:54 2024 daemon.err uhttpd[1056]: [info] luci: accepted login on / for root from 192.168.1.185
Sat Sep  7 17:31:05 2024 daemon.warn pppd[6149]: Timeout waiting for PADO packets
Sat Sep  7 17:31:05 2024 daemon.err pppd[6149]: Unable to complete PPPoE Discovery
Sat Sep  7 17:31:05 2024 daemon.info pppd[6149]: Exit.
Sat Sep  7 17:31:05 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan' is now down
Sat Sep  7 17:31:05 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan' is setting up now
Sat Sep  7 17:31:05 2024 daemon.info pppd[6726]: Plugin pppoe.so loaded.
Sat Sep  7 17:31:05 2024 daemon.info pppd[6726]: PPPoE plugin from pppd 2.4.9
Sat Sep  7 17:31:05 2024 daemon.notice pppd[6726]: pppd 2.4.9 started by root, uid 0
Sat Sep  7 17:31:06 2024 user.notice https-dns-proxy: Starting service instances on_interface_trigger ✓✓
Sat Sep  7 17:31:10 2024 daemon.info pppd[6726]: PPP session is 263
Sat Sep  7 17:31:10 2024 daemon.warn pppd[6726]: Connected to b0:70:0d:x:x:x via interface eth1
Sat Sep  7 17:31:10 2024 kern.info kernel: [1633530.348448] pppoe-wan: renamed from ppp0
Sat Sep  7 17:31:10 2024 daemon.info pppd[6726]: Renamed interface ppp0 to pppoe-wan
Sat Sep  7 17:31:10 2024 daemon.info pppd[6726]: Using interface pppoe-wan
Sat Sep  7 17:31:10 2024 daemon.notice pppd[6726]: Connect: pppoe-wan <--> eth1
Sat Sep  7 17:31:13 2024 daemon.info pppd[6726]: CHAP authentication succeeded: CHAP authentication success
Sat Sep  7 17:31:13 2024 daemon.notice pppd[6726]: CHAP authentication succeeded
Sat Sep  7 17:31:13 2024 daemon.notice pppd[6726]: peer from calling number B0:70:0D:x:x:x authorized
Sat Sep  7 17:31:13 2024 daemon.notice pppd[6726]: local  LL address fe80::3c26:0b16:e4f3:acea
Sat Sep  7 17:31:13 2024 daemon.notice pppd[6726]: remote LL address fe80::427c:7dff:fe5d:x
Sat Sep  7 17:31:13 2024 daemon.notice pppd[6726]: local  IP address 109.152.x.x
Sat Sep  7 17:31:13 2024 daemon.notice pppd[6726]: remote IP address 172.16.10.x
Sat Sep  7 17:31:13 2024 daemon.notice pppd[6726]: primary   DNS address 81.139.56.100
Sat Sep  7 17:31:13 2024 daemon.notice pppd[6726]: secondary DNS address 81.139.57.100
Sat Sep  7 17:31:13 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Network device 'pppoe-wan' link is up
Sat Sep  7 17:31:13 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Network alias 'pppoe-wan' link is up
Sat Sep  7 17:31:13 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan' is now up
Sat Sep  7 17:31:13 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan_6' is enabled
Sat Sep  7 17:31:13 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan_6' has link connectivity
Sat Sep  7 17:31:13 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan_6' is setting up now
Sat Sep  7 17:31:13 2024 user.notice firewall: Reloading firewall due to ifup of wan (pppoe-wan)
Sat Sep  7 17:31:14 2024 user.notice firewall: Reloading firewall due to ifupdate of wan (pppoe-wan)
Sat Sep  7 17:31:15 2024 user.notice https-dns-proxy: Starting service instances on_interface_trigger ✓✓
Sat Sep  7 17:31:17 2024 daemon.notice netifd: Interface 'wan_6' is now up
Sat Sep  7 17:31:17 2024 user.notice firewall: Reloading firewall due to ifup of wan_6 (pppoe-wan)

[1633474.061015] r8152 2-2:1.0 eth1: carrier off
[1633477.132292] r8152 2-2:1.0 eth1: carrier on
2

Provider reboots CPE.

3

Well I have seen posts on these forums about the UE300 + Pi4 combination sometimes not being the most stable.
I am almost certain that the PON light stayed on all the time so I am not convinced that it rebooted (can they "soft reboot?").

4

I was getting disconnection when torrenting. I read in forum that if you plug the adapter to USB 2 port, it won't disconnect. So i did that and no disconnections anymore.

5

You get 75% speed, but ok.

6

I have around 70 Mbps speed. So it didn't affect me.

1 Like
7

I have 500 Mbps, so I think with the overhead etc, USB2 would cut the speed by too much. Might try it though if the problem continues.

1 Like
8

According to AI, if you plug USB 3 1Gbit adapter to USB 2 port, you will get around 480 Mbps.

9

Try to avoid using hallucination as information source. You dont get "around 480", you get less than that certainly.

10

With tests in the past I got a maximum of 320 MBit/sec.

11

I would suspect a power supply issue could be the reason. Could be that the power rail of rpi4 has difficulties with handling power peaks or the PSU can handle the average power, but not handle the peak consumption.

I have such a problem after a few minutes on a RPI Zero with similar log behavior with my 1gbit noname RJ 45 USB adapter and some more stuff attached.
At least the noname GBit adapters (I think one is an Amazon basic) that I own seem to be somehow power greed or cause some weird peaks eventually overwhelming the power rail. This does not happen immediately but after 15-20min, maybe some controller chips heating up does lower the power regulation head room.
My impression is, the RPI Zero does not crash but drops voltage on USB, kind of causing kind of a reset on attached devices that are power greedy

Keeping several items USB-attached and just replacing 1GBit to a 100mbit dongle fixes it reliably for me, but since I only need it for admin access the lower speed is not an issue for me.

Maybe try a stronger PSU or a different RJ45 adapter or an active USB hub with an own PSU.

If you stick them in USB2 port, they draw less power, as the USB2 limits power more than 3.0

12

There's nothing inherently unstable about a Pi4 and UE300 combo. I've been using that setup as my primary router for over 5 years without issues. It's on a 1gbit down/100mb up connection, runs several VPN connections and a reverse proxy. All while happily downloading large amounts of data at full speed.

Currently has an uptime of 72 days. Would be longer but that's when I last updated OpenWRT. I have another Pi4 and UE300 at another location which has similar uptime without issues.

If it were an issue with the ue300 I'd have expected to see something in the log related to the usb port. I would however double check that whatever power supply you're using is at least 5v 3A.

13

I am using official power supply. You can check the forum to see people who use this adapter have this issue. I don't know why you don't have this issue.

14

Perhaps you could link to some of these posts where people are having issues with a Pi4 and a UE300?

15

LOL. It turned out you are also involved this. The post is a reply to you :smiley:

16

And where in that thread is the issue with the UE300 and a Pi4?

17

It looks like guy didn't mention the brand of their adapter but we are using the same chip. I had also read that people had problems with asix or whatever chips and they were mentioning about UE300 had problems. I can't search and find those posts now. But hey, plugging the adpter in USB 2 port also worked for me. There is definetely a problem with our adapters or drivers.

18

So, to clarify, you have a problem with your USB adaptor. It's not a UE300 and you can't find any threads where people have actually said there's a problem with the UE300 and Pi4s, but you feel confident telling me that it's an inherently unstable combo? Is that about right?

No-one is disputing that there have been issues raised about other USB ethernet dongles and the Pi4 (including adaptors using an RTL8153 chip). But the UE300 has been recommended on plenty of occasions and there have been minimal posts from users having issues using them with a Pi4. Now it maybe that the OP is bucking that trend, but the evidence so far doesn't suggest it's a USB issue.

19

It actually works for others:
https://elinux.org/RPi_USB_Ethernet_adapters

Please run some iperf through adapter on Raspbian to check power supply.