[solved] AX88179B not binding with kmod driver

[rustybit]

Hey there, I am trying to get my UGREEN gigabit ethernet USB adapter to work. I installed the AX88179 kmod driver but after power cycles, reboots, unplugging and manual binding attempts the device is not binding i.e. recognised as ethernet adapter. Anyone here experience the same and could help?

Here my finding so far:

root@OpenWrt:~# dmesg | tail -n 50 | grep -i 'usb\|asix\|ax88179\|eth'
[    7.764531] bcmgenet fd580000.ethernet eth0: Link is Down
[    8.811954] usbcore: registered new interface driver lan78xx
[    8.822394] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
[    8.827977] usbhid: USB HID core driver
[    8.832894] usbcore: registered new interface driver ax88179_178a
[    8.892218] usbcore: registered new interface driver brcmfmac
[   10.783391] bcmgenet fd580000.ethernet: configuring instance for external RGMII (RX delay)
[   10.792437] bcmgenet fd580000.ethernet eth0: Link is Down
[   10.797867] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered blocking state
[   10.803146] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered disabled state
[   10.808389] bcmgenet fd580000.ethernet eth0: entered allmulticast mode
[   10.815082] bcmgenet fd580000.ethernet eth0: entered promiscuous mode
[   13.912537] bcmgenet fd580000.ethernet eth0: Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full - flow control off
[   13.920609] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered blocking state
[   13.925873] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered forwarding state
[  276.114700] usb 2-2: USB disconnect, device number 2
[  276.494656] usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[  284.975102] usb 2-2: new SuperSpeed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[  285.011583] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0b95, idProduct=1790, bcdDevice= 2.00
[  285.019785] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[  285.026936] usb 2-2: Product: AX88179B
[  285.030685] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: ASIX
[  285.034518] usb 2-2: SerialNumber: 00Dxxxxx
root@OpenWrt:~# echo '2-2' > /sys/bus/usb/drivers/ax88179_178a/bind
ash: write error: No such device
root@OpenWrt:~# dmesg | tail -n 20 | grep -i 'usb\|asix\|ax88179\|eth'
[   10.783391] bcmgenet fd580000.ethernet: configuring instance for external RGMII (RX delay)
[   10.792437] bcmgenet fd580000.ethernet eth0: Link is Down
[   10.797867] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered blocking state
[   10.803146] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered disabled state
[   10.808389] bcmgenet fd580000.ethernet eth0: entered allmulticast mode
[   10.815082] bcmgenet fd580000.ethernet eth0: entered promiscuous mode
[   13.912537] bcmgenet fd580000.ethernet eth0: Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full - flow control off
[   13.920609] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered blocking state
[   13.925873] br-lan: port 1(eth0) entered forwarding state
[  276.114700] usb 2-2: USB disconnect, device number 2
[  276.494656] usb 1-1.2: new high-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[  284.975102] usb 2-2: new SuperSpeed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[  285.011583] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=0b95, idProduct=1790, bcdDevice= 2.00
[  285.019785] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[  285.026936] usb 2-2: Product: AX88179B
[  285.030685] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: ASIX
[  285.034518] usb 2-2: SerialNumber: 00Dxxxxx
root@OpenWrt:~# ip a
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN qlen 1000
    link/loopback [MAC] brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq master br-lan state UP qlen 1000
    link/ether [MAC] brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether [MAC] brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
4: br-lan: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP qlen 1000
    link/ether xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet [IP] brd [IP] scope global br-lan
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 f[IP] scope global noprefixroute
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 [IP] scope link
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
root@OpenWrt:~#

[frollic]

is the host by any chance a RPi ?

[rustybit]

That is correct. Should have mentioned this.

[frollic]

did you install kmod-usb-net-cdc-mbim too ?
keep in mind AX88179B doesn't work very well with the RPi.

Snapshot build for raspberry pi 5 opkg command not found

That was super helpful! Installed kmod-usb-net-cdc-mbim and it got listed under devices. Let me proceed with further setup. Strange thing is, Before doing on rpi5, Today I installed stable build on raspberry pi 2 (1.1)) and installed just kmod-usb-net-asix-ax88179 and used very same usb to ethernet adapter and it worked without issues.

[rustybit]

I did install it now and after rebooting the ethernet appears. Thanks alot for this tip!