LAN/NIC problem

[clarkss12]

I did follow the instructions on how to get fast Ethernet to work under Android, but did not work for me. But obviously, my experiences with my other Android boxes does not apply in this case????? So, this board is useless for my right now for Android or Remix. It does play well under Linux, and that is what I have been using with I use it.

[MarkHaysHarris777]

I did follow the instructions on how to get fast Ethernet to work under Android, but did not work for me.  But obviously, my experiences with my other Android boxes does not apply in this case?????  So, this board is useless for my right now for Android or Remix.  It does play well under Linux, and that is what I have been using with I use it.

Hi clarkss12,  try making a four wire ethernet cable (what people here are calling a hackyfix) where you physically remove the blue and brown pairs from your Cat5 or Cat6 cable leaving intact the two pairs that are orange and green...   the orange and green wires are all that is necessary for 100mb/s comm, and no software 'fix' is necessary.  Make sure you have the right pairs... remove blue, and brown, (all four wires) each color has a solid and a tracer. 

The remaining wires will make your eth on remix or android work fine... pins 1,2,3, and 6...  green and orange.

[clarkss12]

I did cut the wires on a cat6 cable per his instructions, but did not work for me.

[MarkHaysHarris777]

I did cut the wires on a cat6 cable per his instructions, but did not work for me.

You may have cut the wrong wire.  

... the white wires with the trace coloring are difficult to see ( some vendors are worse than others ) and of course you should have good lighting.  My first guess is that the wrong wire was cut, and the other guess is that your cat6 cable might be defective ( one of the green or orange wires might have a break in it ).

On my cable I actually pulled the wires from their sheath. I cut the blue and brown pairs and physically pulled the wires from the cable, and resealed the cable with shrink wrap; worked fine. 

It pretty much has to work; unless you cut the wrong wire.

[clarkss12]

Here is my Dropbox link to 3 photos of my modified Ethernet cable, maybe you can determine if I have the correct wires.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kxgyltmr9w6xu...SZ6la?dl=0

[cdslashetc]

Here is my Dropbox link to 3 photos of my modified Ethernet cable, maybe you can determine if I have the correct wires.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kxgyltmr9w6xu...SZ6la?dl=0

Looks to me like the correct pairs are cut. Have you tested with a different computer to see what happens or even a cable tester?

Sounds like autonegotiation may not be working. Do you have another switch you can try?

[clarkss12]

I made a video showing my hardware and Ethernet connected to my Pine board.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kxgyltmr9w6xu...SZ6la?dl=0

[clarkss12]

I owe everyone on here a big thanks for the info about the modified Ethernet cable.  I loaded Android (haven't used in quite awhile), and tested the modified Ethernet cable and it is working great now.  I tested the connection by running a test video on Netflix and it played flawlessly.  Made another video showing Netflix playing while connected using the modified Ethernet cable.  I have no idea why it did not work before.  I still have to try the Remix OS and see if it works there.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kxgyltmr9w6xu...SZ6la?dl=0

[jandvs]

I sent my pine home with my friend.  Visually, the Pine 64's are identical. They both are Pine64+ 2GB.  He compared HIS to MINE using a couple of different cables long with his sdcard (debian) and mine (ubuntu). Packet loss was determined by pinging google.com (also tried yahoo.com and bing.com with similar results as below).

Pine 64 - HIS
50ft Cat 6 -ubuntu card, no packet loss
50ft Cat 6-debian card, no packet loss
6in Cat 6-ubuntu card, no packet loss
6in Cat 6-debian card, no packet loss


Pine 64 - MINE
50ft Cat 6 -ubuntu card, packet loss (10-28%)
50ft Cat 6-debian card, packet loss(15-28%)
6in Cat 6-ubuntu card, packet loss(8-21%)
6in Cat 6-debian card, packet loss(11-24%)

So this eliminates my "network enviornment" and isolates my pine64 in a known good environment to have a hardware issue.

[MarkHaysHarris777]

So this eliminates my "network enviornment" and isolates my pine64 in a known good environment to have a hardware issue.

Your approach to isolating the problem to your board is correct.

... I did the same; but, in my case I created a 'known perfect' environment for testing, and then isolated the hardware problem to the board in question.  When the problem follows the hardware (rather than the software , nor the environment ) then the problem is difinitively hardware related. Thank you for your input.

Having said that;  however, that does not say in any terms 'what' the hardware difficulty is, only that its hardware , and board specific.  We still need to know the cause , whether cold solder joints, inferior components, or other, or even a combination. Also, even though this problem is difinitively hardware in nature does not preclude that environment ( or even software ) may not affect test results--- which is also contributing to the confusion here. Test results ARE being affected by environment and software---BUT the nature of the problem is difinitively hardware and board specific (at this point in the investigation).