Several problems with Surface Pro 4

[george1421]

@jhuesser Since I’m ignorant of the surface pro, but is there an option to add extra usb stuff, like a usb nic or keyboard?

If the keyboard is unresponsive then the question is the kernel frozen or is the keyboard not recognized. I’m suspecting some unknown usb 3 controller between the kernel device.

[Quazz]

@george1421 OP is using a USB NIC since it doesn’t have one built-in. It also has a sort of keyboard dock which I’m guessing is what OP is talking about when he says it doesn’t respond.

[jhuesser]

Yeah, I’m using an USB nic. Keyboard is the origiginal surface case keyboard. This is the connector:

As is said, in the boot menu it works fine. But when it stops at the DHCP error and ask to press enter, it doesn’t respond.

[Sebastian Roth]

@jhuesser I’d guess this is either a case of Spanning Tree as George already mentioned (try connecting a dump mini switch between your Surface and the building switch) or we have a driver issue here with the USB NIC you are using. Can you please boot up a normal PC with ubuntu live CD, then after bootup plugin the USB NIC to that PC and run the following commands on a terminal:

lsusb
...
dmesg | tail
...

[jhuesser]

@Sebastian-Roth

I receive this output:

ubuntu-gnome@ubuntu-gnome:~$ lsusb
Bus 004 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 090c:1000 Silicon Motion, Inc. - Taiwan (formerly Feiya Technology Corp.) Flash Drive
Bus 003 Device 004: ID 045e:07c6 Microsoft Corp. 
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 046d:c046 Logitech, Inc. RX1000 Laser Mouse
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
ubuntu-gnome@ubuntu-gnome:~$ dmesg | tail
[   24.138016] cdc_ether 3-1.1:2.0 enx5882a88c3afd: renamed from eth0
[   24.169228] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): enx5882a88c3afd: link is not ready
[   24.169330] cdc_ether 3-1.1:2.0 enx5882a88c3afd: kevent 12 may have been dropped
[   24.169334] cdc_ether 3-1.1:2.0 enx5882a88c3afd: kevent 12 may have been dropped
[   24.169949] cdc_ether 3-1.1:2.0 enx5882a88c3afd: kevent 12 may have been dropped
[   24.170093] cdc_ether 3-1.1:2.0 enx5882a88c3afd: kevent 12 may have been dropped
[   24.170115] cdc_ether 3-1.1:2.0 enx5882a88c3afd: kevent 12 may have been dropped
[   25.990587] e1000e: eno1 NIC Link is Down
[   42.564105] cdc_ether 3-1.1:2.0 enx5882a88c3afd: kevent 12 may have been dropped
[   42.564191] cdc_ether 3-1.1:2.0 enx5882a88c3afd: kevent 12 may have been dropped
ubuntu-gnome@ubuntu-gnome:~$ 

I think the network stuff is right. With the same cable / ports etc. I’m able to image the desktop cable. Just put the USB nic in between the surface and the cable and the error shows up…

[Sebastian Roth]

@jhuesser Now I see. From what I remember (check out this post) the cdc_ether kernel module is not working nicely and therefore Tom and I decided to through it out kernel config. AFAIK there should be a patch added to the kernel that adds support for those 045e:07c6 and 045e:07ab Microsoft devices to the r8153 driver included in the kernel already. @Tom-Elliott do we still add this patch??

As well read through this and see if your DHCP config is fine.

[jhuesser]

@Sebastian-Roth Thank you. Will have a deeper look into it at work on monday.

[jhuesser]

@Sebastian-Roth Hi, so should i download the kernel you posted here?

@Sebastian-Roth said in Several problems with Surface Pro 4:

(check out this post)

As well read through this and see if your DHCP config is fine.

Should be correct. I can’t enable the config through the whole subnet, so i enter it manually for every host.

[Tom Elliott]

@Sebastian-Roth Yes, I still add the REALTEK_MICROSOFT VENDOR_ID and PCI_ID’s to the kernels.

[jhuesser]

@Tom-Elliott So no need to install the kernel here?

@Sebastian-Roth said in Several problems with Surface Pro 4:

@jhuesser Now I see. From what I remember (check out this post) the cdc_ether kernel module is not working nicely and therefore Tom and I decided to through it out kernel config.

[Tom Elliott]

If you’re in RC-8, you should have kernel 4.7.0, so no you wouldn’t need to update.

[jhuesser]

@Tom-Elliott I’m on RC-7 so i will update tomorrow, thank you!

[jhuesser]

So now I have Running Version 1.3.0-RC-8 SVN Revision: 5949. Created a upload-debug task. The image of the output is below. If i pull out the usb nix and putting it back in, it recognize, that somethig is pulled in, but pressing enter doesn’t work at any time.

[Sebastian Roth]

@jhuesser said:

If i pull out the usb nix and putting it back in, it recognize, that somethig is pulled in, but pressing enter doesn’t work at any time.

The last line (r8152 .... eth0 ...) looks promising. Kind of strange that nothing is happending after hitting enter. Possibly the keyboard is internally connected via USB as well and just screwed up by re-plugging the USB NIC?!? Does the system freeze completely after that? What if you use an external USB keyboard?

[jhuesser]

@Sebastian-Roth Yeah, but after r8152 .. eth0 nothing happens. The keyboard also doesn’t get recognized if i don’t pull out anything. The keyboard is connected via the Surface connector. If i pull it out and plug it in again it says:

usb 1-7: new full-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd

[Quazz]

The keyboard issue was also happening here , but as of yet no fix for it.

[george1421]

@Quazz said in Several problems with Surface Pro 4:

The keyboard issue was also happening here , but as of yet no fix for it.

It it clear that the keyboard is freezing or is the system locking up? If we add an external usb keyboard it is seen and is it usable?

[Tom Elliott]

I’ve just added a whole slew of keyboard drivers to the kernels. Can you try re-installing the 4.7.0 kernel and see if you can start using your keyboard again?

[jhuesser]

@Tom-Elliott Thank you very much! Downloaded the new kernels from the update kernel site, unfurtunally I’ve got the same error as above.

[Tom Elliott]

@jhuesser Is the keyboard still not working?