# Dell PE R610 NIC &FreeBSD 7.1



## Pisswiper (Dec 4, 2009)

I was working on Dell PE R610 new servers and the FreeBSD could not detect the NIC cards on the motherboard.

When I opened up the chasis, to my dismay I found that is has PCI Express 4X slots for external ethernet cards, tried look around in the market and could not find in any stores.

Has anyone encountered the same problem?

I am looking to find out if there are any PCI Express 4X or 8X dual port Interl cards available in the market that can work with FreeBSD on DELL PE R610. What changes do we have to make to get the external ethernet cards working?


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## Pisswiper (Dec 4, 2009)

correction..PCI Express 4x or 8x Intel Ethernet cards  in the last line..


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## DutchDaemon (Dec 5, 2009)

What does [cmd=]pciconf -lv[/cmd] say about what's in there now?


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## Pisswiper (Dec 23, 2009)

*command output*

Hello,

Sorry for the delayed reply, I have attached the command output file.


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## DutchDaemon (Dec 23, 2009)

http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=2419&highlight=BCM5709

Try 8-STABLE, perhaps.


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## VictorM (Dec 28, 2009)

610 is a gutted version of the larger Dell boxes. always start with updating the bios + esm. they don't support any indie os, so you're on your own afaik.


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## Pisswiper (Dec 29, 2009)

That is true, supported OS are few as per Dell.

Dell 1950s worked well with FreeBSD, these new ones Dell R610s don't.  This problem seems simple to solve, but while working with company specific applications that come with OS and in which you are not allowed to make changes, because of useless but required protocols and security, it becomes frustrating.  These things should not require so much effort.

To me it just felt as if manufacturers pushing new hardware down the consumers throat just as vista ...!!


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## Pisswiper (Jan 20, 2010)

OK, so I got Intel GB PCIe cards and FreeBSD installation was without any problems.

But now.....I have the server out in the field, the igb0 interface is working fine because I can remotely log into the machine but then the igb1 interface is not working............just not working. I have checked....n times, there's just a point to point connection on this interface...........replced the dell with another machine, the other end responds but when I connect anything to the Dell on igb1 it simply doesn't work. Attaching the ifconfig output

Thanks!


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## DutchDaemon (Jan 21, 2010)

The two interfaces look identical and active to me. Have you tried running a tcpdump on the 'faulty' one to see if anything passes? Are you sure the other end (switch/router) of the connection is ok, with the proper network settings (duplex/speed mismatches, that type of stuff)?


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## Pisswiper (Jan 27, 2010)

Hello, yes the two interfaces work fine.

However, the ssh performance is strange.........ping to the machine is regular however at the same time, ssh doesn't respond.

The response to ssh is intermittent, even when ssh times out , I can ping successfully to the machine! I have no idea what is wrong


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