[Asus N56VZ] Atheros ALX driver : no more interface statistics

[sami]

This bug is a regression between 3.8 and 3.11 kernel.
Since the new 3.11 kernel, there is no more network statistics on ALX cards.

This has already been discussed here : http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.network/278595
But it seems not to be fixed.

My card is an Atheros AR8161

Here is an output of ifconfig:
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

gnome system monitor is also affected

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: linux-image-3.11.0-15-generic 3.11.0-15.23~precise1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.11.0-15.23~precise1-generic 3.11.10
Uname: Linux 3.11.0-15-generic x86_64
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version k3.11.0-15-generic.
AplayDevices:
 **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC663 Analog [ALC663 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.6
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC663 Analog [ALC663 Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: sam 2181 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'PCH'/'HDA Intel PCH at 0xf7a10000 irq 44'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC663'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0663,10431477,00100002'
   Controls : 31
   Simple ctrls : 14
CheckboxSubmission: 54021779511d0213081a2b1707bf951c
CheckboxSystem: 4c773cd91921f9618cc2f1893bc1a87a
Date: Sat Feb 1 11:18:13 2014
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
MachineType: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. N56VZ
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.11.0-15-generic root=UUID=e0784b72-afa1-4bdb-bc89-fef934982476 ro quiet splash video.brightness_switch_enabled=0 "acpi_osi=!Windows 2012" vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.11.0-15-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.11.0-15-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.79.10
SourcePackage: linux-lts-saucy
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 11/02/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: N56VZ.215
dmi.board.asset.tag: ATN12345678901234567
dmi.board.name: N56VZ
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrN56VZ.215:bd11/02/2012:svnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:pnN56VZ:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:rnN56VZ:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKCOMPUTERINC.:ct10:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: N56VZ
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.

[sami (miaousami)]

See also: http://superuser.com/questions/634317/ifconfig-isnt-showing-stats-for-an-alx-gigabit-card

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[sami (miaousami)]

Ubuntu 14.04 with kernel 3.13.0-24-generic is also affected

[penalvch (penalvch)]

sami, thank you for reporting this and helping make Ubuntu better. As per http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&m=N56VZ&os=30 an update to your BIOS is available (217). If you update to this following https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BiosUpdate does it change anything? If it doesn't, could you please both specify what happened, and provide the output of the following terminal command:
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date

Please note your current BIOS is already in the Bug Description, so posting this on the old BIOS would not be helpful.

For more on BIOS updates and linux, please see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs#Bug_reporting_etiquette .

Thank you for your understanding.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[sami (miaousami)]

Hi,
I haven't updated the BIOS because a lot of users report bugs with the new version of the bios.
Anyway this isn't a matter of bios version.

This bug should remain open until it has been fixed upstream and backported to ubuntu

[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Pending https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1275220/comments/5.

[sami (miaousami)]

Please read #7

[sami (miaousami)]

This bug is fixed as of Ubuntu 14.10beta2 which is shipping kernel 3.16.0-17-generic.
A backport would be welcome.
As a B plan we'll wait until LTS enablement stack provide 3.16 kernel (scheduled feb 2015).

[penalvch (penalvch)]

This bug is being closed because as per your comment https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1275220/comments/11 that the bug has been fixed in the latest development version of Ubuntu.

This is a significant bug in Ubuntu. If you need a fix for the bug in previous versions of Ubuntu, please perform as much as possible of the SRU Procedure [1] to bring the need to a developer's attention.

[1]: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates#Procedure