Atheros AR8161[1969:1091] and AR8162 [1969:1090] mac address would change after powered off for a while

[Po-Hsu Lin]

CID: 201202-10508
CID: 201202-10511
CID: 201202-10527

The MAC address would change after you power off the system for a while (few days)

201202-10508 and 201202-10511 equipped with AR8162 [1969:1090]
201202-10527 equipped with AR8161[1969:1091]

I found this issue when trying to install 12.04.5 via PXE network installation.
The MAC address changing pattern is interesting, there is a common address they will change into - 00:13:74:00:00:00

This looks like a HW issue, but I'm not very confident about it.

Maybe not a big deal, but this issue would prevent these system from being selected into our SRU pool, the worse scenario is that this system is attached to a MAC-address-registered network (my dormitory network back into university require users to register they MAC address)

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: linux-image-3.13.0-32-generic 3.13.0-32.57~precise1 [modified: boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-32-generic]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-32.57~precise1-generic 3.13.11.4
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-32-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.6
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Aug 19 06:00:11 2014
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04.5 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20140807.1)
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: linux-lts-trusty
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

lspci output from 201202-10527

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

lspci output from 201202-10508
https://launchpadlibrarian.net/182685190/lspci

[Anthony Wong (anthonywong)]

Looks like a common issue:
http://serverfault.com/questions/437078/mac-address-changed
http://comments.gmane.org/gmane.linux.network/313360
http://www.computerbase.de/forum/showthread.php?t=953650

[Keng-Yu Lin (lexical)]

probably we have to ask Qualcomm. subscrubed chih.

[Liming Wang (wangliming)]

@Po-Hsu Lin

Does the mac address always change to valid address after booting into linux? If yes, so the linux driver seems well but the bios(or bootrom) can't get the valid address. So when does the bios get the valid address?

[Liming Wang (wangliming)]

@Po-Hsu Lin

Do you have any comments for my #6 questions?

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Hi Liming Wang,
I just checked this issue on 201202-10511, and yes its mac address changed to another valid address again
from 16:d7:b7:eb:83:44 to b6:b7:0d:39:89:b7

I think it would change if you power it off and leave it there for a while (a couple weeks, I guess)

I don't know when does the BIOS get the valid address, I can't see the mac address from the BIOS setup.
Tried with PXE boot, the new mac address (b6:b7:0d:39:89:b7) could be seen there.

[Liming Wang (wangliming)]

@Po-Hsu Lin

My question is that whether the linux driver is related with the issue?
If you don't install linux, and just power it on (not boot to linux) and power it off, does the mac address also get an invalid address? If yes, it seems that it's the hardware issue. Please help me to test. Thanks a lot!

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Hi Liming Wang,

Just verified again on the very same system.
It looks like it's hardware related, here is how I check it:

1. Power it on with adapter connected, select PXE boot on the Dell splash screen
2. Stop it with Ctrl + c and check the MAC address, then power it off
3. Reboot with adapter disconnected, select PXE boot again
4. Repeat step 2

On step 2, the MAC address didn't change (b6:b7:0d:39:89:b7),
however, after disconnecting the adapter, it changed to "00:13:74:00:00:00" again.

[Liming Wang (wangliming)]

@Po-Hsu Lin

Does "with adapter connected" mean connecting cable to network card? If yes, so
In your #10 comment, I concluded that:
1. "with adapter connected", the mac address is valid.
2. "after disconnecting the adapter", the mac address is invalid.

Is it right? If yes, I don't know what the problem of the bug means.

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Hi Liming Wang,
the adapter here is the power adapter.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Po-Hsu Lin, thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. Please execute the following command only once, as it will automatically gather debugging information, in a terminal:
apport-collect 1358704

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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