Pi 1 Model B about 2 years old with a Ethernet port damaged?

[dnaranjor]

This post will seem a little bit long, but I think the troubleshooting process definitely worth the reading.
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Current situation
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I have a RASPBERRY PI 1 MODEL B about 2 years old, which usually worked seamlesly out-of-the-box.

I used it as a headless Raspbian server connected via Ethernet port to my network, to provide services of Network Storage Device attached to a 3TB Samsung USB hard drive and DLNA Server to watch photos and movies or play music in TV's, Smartphones and tablets all around the house. Also, I have setted up a cron job to download the newspaper to have it at hand to read in my tablet, first thing every morning. Nice, Uh?

About 2 weeks ago, I noticed almost 50% packets dropped and an impossibility to start a remote SSH session in the Pi, so I decided to pull the plug to restart the device.

Big mistake: since that day, it is impossible to remotely connect to the Pi anymore.
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Troubleshooting
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1.- My first essay was disconnect the Pi and took it to my workshop. I've downloaded the new NOOBS Offline and network install
Version:1.4.1 Release date:2015-05-11, formatted the SD Card and reinstall Raspbian, starting from scratch.

I plugged an HDMI cable to a TV, connected a wireless Keyboard + trackpad combo with the supplied USB dongle and powered up the Raspberry, enjoying a completely normal Raspbian setup. After that and a sudo shutdown -h now command, unplugged the device and took it back to my home network, expecting to deploy everything again (yes, no raspbian backup available, I now).

To my surprise, the DHCP daemon refuses to obtain a valid IP from my network. BTW, my wireless router is configured to provide the Pi with a reserved IP address each time it accesses the net via DHCP.

2.- Next effort was to disconnect everything again, going back to the workshop. Plugged again the HDMI cable to a TV, connected the wireless Keyboard + trackpad combo with the supplied USB dongle and powered up the Raspberry.

To discard a network problem, I used an old Compact Wireless-G BroadBand Router factory defaulted (a Linksys WRT54GC) and a spare Ethernet cable to connect the Pi. Using a laptop connected wirelessly to this network, tried to ping (no luck) and SSH'd the Raspberry (also, no luck).

Curiously, the router LED assigned to the Pi was lit, showing the Router was connected to a device through that port. And the LED was flashing, indicating network activity over that port.

3.- Desperate, I've changed the UTP cable, the port, the power supply, the configuration files in /etc/dhcpcd.conf and /etc/networking/interfaces trying to force an static IP and/or dynamic IP, took it out of the case and clean it the dust, and restarted the device ad infinitum, without any luck at all.

I've checked the status of the Raspberry LEDs, which have the following behaviour :

ACT – D5 (Green, Blinking) SD Card Access
PWR – D6 (Red, Fixed) 3.3 V Power is present
FDX – D7 (Green, Fixed) Full Duplex (LAN) connected
LNK – D8 (Green, Blinking) – Link/Activity
LAN 100 – D9 (Yellow, Fixed) – 100Mbit (LAN) connected

You can check a picture in:

http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u127 ... -00160.jpg
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What should I do?
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Now, the big finale: Should I declare my RASPBERRY PI Ethernet port dead?

What else should I do?
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[DougieLawson]

Now, the big finale: Should I declare my RASPBERRY PI Ethernet port dead?

If you've tested the very latest Raspbian (or NOOBS/Raspbian) and it doesn't work then it may be time to get a RPi2B as an upgrade.

[FTrevorGowen]

Whilst I didn't investigate the issue to the same degree, my first Pi** failed in a similar fashion a few weeks ago. It had be used (mainly headless) to run a MoinMoin Wiki which I used to create and export my "Raspberry Pi" webpages. Initial symptoms were loss of network connectivity followed by failure to boot from both the original SDHC card and other, later images. After leaving it unpowered for a couple of days it seemed to recover but then I discovered that the wiki (data) and/or the USB drive it was corrupted. Visual inspection etc. of the USB socket led to the discovery that it's internal "divider" had become somewhat "wobbly" and I concluded that this had shorted to the pins of the unoccupied port and tripped the polyfuse(s)**. Subsequently I migrated the wiki data to a new USB stick and swapped the Pi for one of my B2's.
Trev.
** A B1, 256Mb with the USB polyfuses

[dnaranjor]

Now, the big finale: Should I declare my RASPBERRY PI Ethernet port dead?

If you've tested the very latest Raspbian (or NOOBS/Raspbian) and it doesn't work then it may be time to get a RPi2B as an upgrade.

I'm sorry, but what is a RPi2B? Did you mean one of the new versions of the Raspberry Pi devices? If that's what you mean, too bad I've lost my Pi!

I live in Caracas, Venezuela, and with the political and economical problems we have now, I'm pretty sure I'll have to resign myself to put my hands on another RPi in a not very near future.

[dnaranjor]

Whilst I didn't investigate the issue to the same degree, my first Pi** failed in a similar fashion a few weeks ago. It had be used (mainly headless) to run a MoinMoin Wiki which I used to create and export my "Raspberry Pi" webpages. Initial symptoms were loss of network connectivity followed by failure to boot from both the original SDHC card and other, later images. After leaving it unpowered for a couple of days it seemed to recover but then I discovered that the wiki (data) and/or the USB drive it was corrupted. Visual inspection etc. of the USB socket led to the discovery that it's internal "divider" had become somewhat "wobbly" and I concluded that this had shorted to the pins of the unoccupied port and tripped the polyfuse(s)**. Subsequently I migrated the wiki data to a new USB stick and swapped the Pi for one of my B2's.
Trev.
** A B1, 256Mb with the USB polyfuses

Dear Trevor,

How can I tell if a problematic polyfuse is the responsible in my case? I'm somewhat skilled in electronics, but I don't have a lab available...

Do you believe is it possible to fix this problem with an approach like the one shown in this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJp-QAZFJbs

[FTrevorGowen]

Whilst I didn't investigate the issue to the same degree, my first Pi** failed in a similar fashion a few weeks ago. It had be used (mainly headless) to run a MoinMoin Wiki which I used to create and export my "Raspberry Pi" webpages. Initial symptoms were loss of network connectivity followed by failure to boot from both the original SDHC card and other, later images. After leaving it unpowered for a couple of days it seemed to recover but then I discovered that the wiki (data) and/or the USB drive it was corrupted. Visual inspection etc. of the USB socket led to the discovery that it's internal "divider" had become somewhat "wobbly" and I concluded that this had shorted to the pins of the unoccupied port and tripped the polyfuse(s)**. Subsequently I migrated the wiki data to a new USB stick and swapped the Pi for one of my B2's.
Trev.
** A B1, 256Mb with the USB polyfuses

Dear Trevor,
How can I tell if a problematic polyfuse is the responsible in my case? I'm somewhat skilled in electronics, but I don't have a lab available...
Do you believe is it possible to fix this problem with an approach like the one shown in this video? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJp-QAZFJbs

I doubt if the main polyfuse is the issue, however you don't have to physically replace it to test that hypothesis - just (carefully) arrange to power the Pi via the GPIO 5v & 0V pins thus, temporarily bypassing that polyfuse (and other protection). If, like my first Pi**, yours is a B1 with the (extra) USB polyfuses those can be replaced with shorting links (as was done as a result of the ECN0001 request****). Another common (USN/LAN) issue with early Pi's was failure of the LAN clocks Xstal - but this, IIRC, was usually an "early" failure when first trying to use the board.
In my case, I suspected "mechanical failure" of the USB socket, resulting in a temporary short which tripped the polyfuse (as such should).
Trev.
** http://www.cpmspectrepi.webspace.virgin ... _raspiblue (raspiblack - IIRC the USB polyfuses are visible on the left of the USB connector (to the right of the LEDS etc.)
**** http://elinux.org/RPi_HardwareHistory

[dnaranjor]

In my case, I suspected "mechanical failure" of the USB socket, resulting in a temporary short which tripped the polyfuse (as such should).
Trev.
** http://www.cpmspectrepi.webspace.virgin ... _raspiblue (raspiblack - IIRC the USB polyfuses are visible on the left of the USB connector (to the right of the LEDS etc.)
**** http://elinux.org/RPi_HardwareHistory

Dear Trevor,

Now you point my attention to that, when I was first unmounting the pi to inspecting it at my workshop, it restarted by itself when I was pulling out the USB external disk cable! So, maybe THAT is the issue!

Is there ant way to 'reset' the polyfuses?

[FTrevorGowen]

...
Dear Trevor,
Now you point my attention to that, when I was first unmounting the pi to inspecting it at my workshop, it restarted by itself when I was pulling out the USB external disk cable! So, maybe THAT is the issue!
Is there ant way to 'reset' the polyfuses?

Normally they "reset" themselves in 24 - 48 hours although, IRRC, in "extreme cases" it has been suggested to wait several more days than that (AIUI, if they're not fully reset they can re-trip at lower currents than their specified threshold). W.r.t. the 140mA USB polyfuses (if your Pi has them) they can be by-passed (removed & replaced by shorting links) since that was done in later Pi's (see a previous post for a link to more info.)
Trev.

[dnaranjor]

Hello, everyone!

I'm back with this issue, almost 17 months later, to add something else to my approximation to a solution.

After several back and forth travels to my workshop, my RPi finally stopped lit the network-related leds. Tired of trying to revive the board, my solution was to find a w-fi dongle and regain access to the network wirelessly.

I'd like to thank FTrevorGowen and DougieLawson who paid attention to this thread and guided me into the inner guts of my now impaired RPi.

Regards,
Dennis Naranjo
Santiago, Chile
www.dennisnaranjo.com.ve