Ethernet not working on Android (my dicoverys)

[Apicalis]

You probably read about this problem several times. But i wanted to share with you what i could find out.

I got the 2GB Model of the Pine and I am using the Rooted Android 5.1.1 Image Release 20160428 [BETA]
I DON'T have the WiFi/Bluetooth Module.


After several tries of failure i decided to make a new clean installation and proceeded as follows:

- Install the Image
- Boot up the Pine with only the Power and HDMI connected
- Unplug the power after 10 minutes without doing anything else
- Wait another 10 minutes and hook up the Ethernet Cable and the Mouse and Keyboard
- The displayed time at the top right switch from 4 o'clock to the accurate time at that moment like there was a connection to a timeserver
- No Ethernet connection what so ever and the RJ45 Jack was blinking continiously
- The Pine is registered in the DHCP/DNS Services on the router. I knew clearly which IP it was since it was the only Android via LAN not WiFi. Also i checked it cmd ping while it was plugged in and out so i am 100% sure that it was the correct device.
- During the ping i noticed that i had a LOT of packet drops, since it was directly connected to the router where the pinging computer was also connected with a distance of 4 Meter cable. So there shouldnt have been even a single drop and i had about 25%-50%
- This lead me to believe that the Ethernet module might be busy trying to broadcast or something. But Wireshark gave me nothing. The only things i could see where my Pings and the registration when i plugged in the Ethernet Cable


And now comes another interesting observation

- My brother has the exact same Pine with the exact same configuration and the exact same SD card... BUT... he has the WiFi/Bluetooth module. And on his Pine64 the Ethernet connection worked after some time and pluggin it in and out.
- Same thing happened to another user on the Pine64 Chat

My conclusion: Either they downloaded some updates for Android before (unknowlingly) and this got it to work somehow  OR the Pine64 tries to find the not exisiting Wifimodule, even if it's deactivated. Just askin if it's there to go on with the program and use the Ethernet connection and thus getting stuck on that request.

Tomorrow my brother will bring his WiFi module and i am going to check it out and give you my results. I hope to help some people out with a bit deeper insight.

Kind regards

Martin aka. Apicalis

[g_t_j]

Hi there.

Very interesting post.

I got 2 pines out of 4 which refuse to connect to anything on the internet on Android/Remix while are very slow on Linux.

I also get the same results as you on Android with these 2 boards. They do connect to a time server, get an IP from the router, the LAN leds blink constantly, everything seems OK BUT... they don't connect to anything!

I will try the WIFI module with these boards tomorrow. I will set up a wireless connection and then with the WIFI still switched on, I will connect an Ethernet cable and give the board some time.

Will post back if anything changed. Hope you found the solution to the problem. If that's the case, then it's probably the quality of the Ethernet driver that causes the issue.

[Apicalis]

Hi there.

Very interesting post.

I got 2 pines out of 4 which refuse to connect to anything on the internet on Android/Remix while are very slow on Linux.

I also get the same results as you on Android with these 2 boards. They do connect to a time server, get an IP from the router, the LAN leds blink constantly, everything seems OK BUT... they don't connect to anything!

I will try the WIFI module with these boards tomorrow. I will set up a wireless connection and then with the WIFI still switched on, I will connect an Ethernet cable and give the board some time.

Will post back if anything changed. Hope you found the solution to the problem. If that's the case, then it's probably the quality of the Ethernet driver that causes the issue.

Yes that would be the case. It was also my thought and that was reason why i posted all this. I tried to narrow it down as much as it was possible for me with my expirience. But as you can see it has it's limitations.

I hope it get's fixed with some updates, if that's the case then PINE64 just needs to Upload a new Image for Android with the Updates included

[Apicalis]

Hi there.

Very interesting post.

I got 2 pines out of 4 which refuse to connect to anything on the internet on Android/Remix while are very slow on Linux.

I also get the same results as you on Android with these 2 boards. They do connect to a time server, get an IP from the router, the LAN leds blink constantly, everything seems OK BUT... they don't connect to anything!

I will try the WIFI module with these boards tomorrow. I will set up a wireless connection and then with the WIFI still switched on, I will connect an Ethernet cable and give the board some time.

Will post back if anything changed. Hope you found the solution to the problem. If that's the case, then it's probably the quality of the Ethernet driver that causes the issue.

Yes that would be the case. It was also my thought and that was reason why i posted all this. I tried to narrow it down as much as it was possible for me with my expirience. But as you can see it has it's limitations.

I hope it get's fixed with some updates, if that's the case then PINE64 just needs to Upload a new Image for Android with the Updates included

Okay now i was able to test everything with a WiFi module attached.

Just to make it clear again how it behaved without the module:

- DHCP/DNS registry done
- Ping to the Pine possible but with lots of package drops
- Appearntly a short period of time with a real connection since the Time got pulled from a timeserver
- No other connection to the internet whatsoever

Now with the WiFi Module:

- I setup the WiFi and let the device run for 10-15 Minutes, restarted and let it run for another 10-15 minutes. On that second boot it appearently started and configured some Apps/Services. This update screen didn't appear before.

- I deactivated WiFi and tried the Ethernet connection but there was nothing. After that i activated the WiFi , then plugged in the Ethernet cable and the WiFi symbol got an exclamation mark and then deactivated itself. Thus i was running on Ethernet and it was working quite fast (during webbrowsing on chrome). But the connection slowed down massivly and then ramped up again and then slowed down until it was inactive.

- I did the same procedure again and this time started the download of Kodi which at some point interrupted. BUT the download continued when i swiped down the top bar and just hit on the WiFi button. Right that second. Where it was not even connected to a WiFi network yet.



My conclusion:

- There is a major issue in the drivers
- It appears that the Pine always is looking for the WiFi Module even if it's not there and not activated


I hope the developers read this and might be able to narrow down the problem even further and find a solution. This is the best i can give you.

[Luke]

Thanks for sharing this.

[Apicalis]

Well i observed something new.

After all the stuff I did before, I turned off the Pine64 and removed the WiFi Module and restartet it. It now seems that the Ethernet connection is stable. I watched an entire episode of a show on Amazon Video via Ethernet without problems.

I gonna work with it for a few days. Maybe afterwards we can use this Thread as a Workaround for the Ethernet problem.  Maybe i can remove all my personal information and login data from the Pine and Upload the Image so everybody can use it who doesn't have a WiFi module available

[fneves]

Well i observed something new.

After all the stuff I did before, I turned off the Pine64 and removed the WiFi Module and restartet it. It now seems that the Ethernet connection is stable. I watched an entire episode of a show on Amazon Video via Ethernet without problems.

I gonna work with it for a few days. Maybe afterwards we can use this Thread as a Workaround for the Ethernet problem.  Maybe i can remove all my personal information and login data from the Pine and Upload the Image so everybody can use it who doesn't have a WiFi module available

Gigabit ethernet?

[Apicalis]

Well i observed something new.

After all the stuff I did before, I turned off the Pine64 and removed the WiFi Module and restartet it. It now seems that the Ethernet connection is stable. I watched an entire episode of a show on Amazon Video via Ethernet without problems.

I gonna work with it for a few days. Maybe afterwards we can use this Thread as a Workaround for the Ethernet problem.  Maybe i can remove all my personal information and login data from the Pine and Upload the Image so everybody can use it who doesn't have a WiFi module available

Gigabit ethernet?

I didn't run a speedtest but judged from the feeling i really don't think it was gigabit. Also there are some hiccups inbetween with the connection, but that might be the connection at work. I gonna take it back home with me today and will test it more

[g_t_j]

I haven't tried it myself yet but I will probably dol later today.
Uploading the image you successfully use (without your credentials) would help a lot all of us who have Ethernet issues, to determine what's the condition of our board.

Cheers.

[Apicalis]

I haven't tried it myself yet but I will probably dol later today.
Uploading the image you successfully use (without your credentials) would help a lot all of us who have Ethernet issues, to determine what's the condition of our board.

Cheers.

g_t_j did u give it a try?

Update on the behaviour of my Pine64:

- It ran solid until I restarted it
- After the restart the Internet usually works for a few seconds and then gets extremely slow until it won't work at all. All that within a few seconds.

My conclusion:

It seems that my thought was correct. That the internet won't work properly until the WiFI hardware is actually attached and after that is done

Simply said, the Pine64 is a mother that lost her child(WiFi Module) somewhere and won't stop searching for it until it's found. After she found it she will continue to communicate with other people(Ethernet) than her child ^^

So there is a massive issue in the drivers of Ethernet and WiFI