Unable to network install on natty

[James Page]

Binary package hint: debian-installer

I've been testing cobbler network installations and have run into the following problem;

Installation of lucid servers using the attached preseed works just fine; however using exactly the same preseed with natty fails; the installer starts OK however when it gets to device detection the link drops and the installer no longer has a network link and fails.

I've also attached the syslog from the failed installation - I get the same issue on both i386 and amd64 installs.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: debian-installer (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-server 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-server x86_64
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu Apr 14 17:43:12 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Beta amd64 (20110413)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Vostro 1220
MemoryUsage:
 total used free shared buffers cached
 Mem: 3054632 3006056 48576 0 70124 2551304
 -/+ buffers/cache: 384628 2670004
 Swap: 3107836 0 3107836
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_GB:en
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-server root=UUID=b0846a5c-6aaf-4bee-9533-b668dd46aaba ro quiet
SourcePackage: debian-installer
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 10/15/2009
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 1.3.0
dmi.board.name: 0X482M
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvr1.3.0:bd10/15/2009:svnDellInc.:pnVostro1220:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn0X482M:rvr:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr:
dmi.product.name: Vostro 1220
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[James Page (james-page)]

Note that the apport information attached to this bug report is from an identical Dell Vostro 1220.

[James Page (james-page)]

The network drops around these lines:

Apr 14 11:03:32 net/hw-detect.hotplug: Detected hotpluggable network interface eth0
Apr 14 11:03:32 kernel: [ 117.190306] r8169 0000:09:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
Apr 14 11:03:32 kernel: [ 117.194490] r8169 Gigabit Ethernet driver 2.3LK-NAPI loaded
Apr 14 11:03:32 kernel: [ 117.194515] r8169 0000:09:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
Apr 14 11:03:32 kernel: [ 117.194568] r8169 0000:09:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
Apr 14 11:03:32 kernel: [ 117.194642] r8169 0000:09:00.0: irq 44 for MSI/MSI-X
Apr 14 11:03:32 kernel: [ 117.195080] r8169 0000:09:00.0: eth0: RTL8168d/8111d at 0xffffc9000065e000, 00:26:b9:14:09:67, XID 081000c0 IRQ 44
Apr 14 11:03:33 check-missing-firmware: no missing firmware in /dev/.udev/firmware-missing

[James Page (james-page)]

I just tried this with Maverick as well; network configuration is just fine and install completes OK.

[Sándor Rácz (raczsanyi)]

Bug confirmed on a Lenovo Thinpad L520.
The same netinstall scenario works fine on a VMware virtual machine.
Tried with Lucid: install completes with no errors.

[Sándor Rácz (raczsanyi)]

I managed to solve the problem: it was caused by the lack of realtek network card firmware in the boot.

I repackaged the initrd.gz with the "firmware-realtek_0.32_all.deb" included and now network is OK, the install procedure completed sucessfully.

See also: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-firmware/+bug/804671

[John Sopko (sopko)]

Had the same problem on a Dell 2650 Server and a Dell workstations both with a Broadcom ethernet chip.
Very annoying, works with 10.04 but not 11.04. I manually added the IP several times to keep the install
going I do not understand the fix mentioned by Sandor. Below are the 2 network cards and the install
syslog messages. After the install things seem to work fine.

% lshw -C network
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
  *-network:0
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: NetXtreme BCM5703X Gigabit Ethernet
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 6
       bus info: pci@0000:03:06.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 02
       serial: 00:0f:1f:70:02:98
       size: 1Gbit/s
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 66MHz
       capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.116 duplex=full firmware=5703-v2.25a ip=152.2.128.97 latency=64 mingnt=64 multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=1Gbit/s
       resources: irq:28 memory:fcd10000-fcd1ffff

% lshw -C network
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
  *-network:0
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: NetXtreme BCM5705 Gigabit Ethernet
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 01
       serial: 00:10:18:0b:00:22
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 66MHz
       capabilities: bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.102 firmware=5705-v3.11 ip=152.2.131.168 latency=64 mingnt=64 multicast=yes

Jul 13 13:56:29 net/hw-detect.hotplug: Detected hotpluggable network interface eth0
Jul 13 13:57:15 kernel: [ 487.983861] tg3 0000:03:06.0: eth0: Tigon3 [partno(BCM95703A30) rev 1002] (PCIX:133MHz:64-bit) MAC address 00:0f:1f:70:02:98
Jul 13 13:57:15 kernel: [ 487.983876] tg3 0000:03:06.0: eth0: attached PHY is 5703 (10/100/1000Base-T Ethernet) (WireSpeed[1])
Jul 13 13:57:15 kernel: [ 487.983885] tg3 0000:03:06.0: eth0: RXcsums[1] LinkChgREG[0] MIirq[0] ASF[0] TSOcap[1]
Jul 13 13:57:15 kernel: [ 487.983894] tg3 0000:03:06.0: eth0: dma_rwctrl[769c4000] dma_mask[64-bit]
Jul 13 13:57:15 net/hw-detect.hotplug: Detected hotpluggable network interface eth0
Jul 13 13:57:27 kernel: [ 499.357380] tg3 0000:03:06.0: eth0: Failed to load firmware "tigon/tg3_tso.bin"
Jul 13 13:57:27 kernel: [ 499.357390] tg3 0000:03:06.0: eth0: TSO capability disabled
Jul 13 13:57:27 kernel: [ 499.467335] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready

[Sándor Rácz (raczsanyi)]

Hi John!

Try this link: http://tarique21.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/including-non-free-firmware-within-debian-netboot-images

Or this: http://raphaelhertzog.com/2011/03/14/missing-firmware-in-debian-learn-how-to-deal-with-the-problem

Sandor