Bug 342707 – LiveCD corrupted NIC NVRAM

• Product: Gentoo Release Media
• Status: RESOLVED NEEDINFO

[Description neybis 2010-10-26 06:24:23 UTC]

booted live cd. ran links and browsed to gentoo handbook. switched terminals, opened fdisk. rebooted (with links still open in other terminal) without making any changes to partition table and onboard NIC's NVRAM was corrupt. failed MAC loop back test. had to power off computer, unplug ethernet and power cable, take out CMOS battery, press power button to cycle the power, waited a few minutes, powered on and was working fine. seems to be similar to the e1000* drivers that were causing NIC issues a little while back.

Reproducible: Didn't try

Steps to Reproduce:
1.boot live cd
2.open links
3.switch terminals
4.reboot

Actual Results:  
NIC NVRAM was corrupt, NIC would not detect cable was plugged in

Expected Results:  
not corrupted the NVRAM. rebooted properly

[Comment 1 Jorge Manuel B. S. Vicetto (RETIRED) 2010-10-26 10:38:31 UTC]

Hi.

Is this about https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-850197.html ?
Please paste the exact ISO name you've used and or the link where you got it from.

[Comment 2 neybis 2010-10-26 18:40:42 UTC]

yes, that was me that posted that thread.

the iso i used was install-amd64-minimal-20101021.iso

heres the link:
http://mirrors.kernel.org/gentoo/releases/amd64/autobuilds/current-iso/install-amd64-minimal-20101021.iso

i am hesitant to try this again as I am worried I may not be able to repair my NIC's NVRAM if the issue does occur again. If it wasn't onboard i wouldn't mind : P i do apologize as this is the first bug I have ever submitted, if there is anything I am doing improperly please tell me.

[Comment 3 Jorge Manuel B. S. Vicetto (RETIRED) 2010-10-26 18:56:43 UTC]

Please don't use this CD again.
We'll check the kernel in the CD. If needed, someone from the kernel team may ask you for more info or some tests - but you'll be specifically asked for it.

[Comment 4 Mike Pagano 2010-10-26 19:46:16 UTC]

can you attach the output of lspci -v, please?

[Comment 5 neybis 2010-10-26 20:12:42 UTC]

how should I do this as I have been told not to use the gentoo live cd...will an lspci be sufficient from an ubuntu 10.04 live cd? I currently do not have linux installed

[Comment 6 Jorge Manuel B. S. Vicetto (RETIRED) 2010-10-26 20:30:40 UTC]

Do you have any other linux live-cd you can use?

[Comment 7 neybis 2010-10-26 20:43:18 UTC]

Created attachment 252101 [details]
lspci -v > lspci.txt

this is an lspci -v output into a lspci.txt from within Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Live CD

[Comment 8 neybis 2010-10-26 20:46:39 UTC]

Created attachment 252103 [details, diff]
sudo lspci -v > lspci.txt

noticed some access denied's, here is one from su account

[Comment 9 neybis 2010-11-01 02:05:48 UTC]

just an update, the issue may not be related to the live cd and was mere coincidence. the issue just happened again without booting the cd. could just be my onboard NIC is going out. motherboard was not even manufactured a year ago but i've seen crazier things happen. please keep me up to date as I am wanting to install gentoo on my new i7 and would like to use genkernel and not have to specify everything manually using an alternative live cd ;)

[Comment 10 Jorge Manuel B. S. Vicetto (RETIRED) 2010-11-27 23:20:21 UTC]

I'm adjusting the bug severity as it no longer seems to be related to the livecd.

@kernel:

Any feedback on this issue? Anything we (release) can do?

[Comment 11 Jorge Manuel B. S. Vicetto (RETIRED) 2011-09-14 15:37:12 UTC]

There's nothing we can do here without some info.

[Comment 12 neybis 2011-10-01 23:49:13 UTC]

The only thing I can say is that I have confirmed that the issue is hardware related. However, I never noticed this issue until I had used the Gentoo LiveCD. My guess?? Coincidence.