3 Raspberries out of 15 have issues with Ethernet port

[nonaromona]

Hello,

Our company needed 15 little devices. We have ordered 15 raspberry pies and send them away to different countries to our clients. We have installed our software and so checked the devices before sending them away. As many as 3 of them were broken on arrival, in more detail, it was the Ethernet port that has been broken. The devices were in their cases and well packed. They work fine as in the power led is on, but no Ethernet connection takes place.

Is the Ethernet port very fragile? Could simple "shaking/vibration" break the port? Did you have similar issues?

Thanks,
Nano

[joan]

I find that an unlikely statistic.

Did you pack them in the original packaging for shipment?

[drgeoff]

When you use the word "broken", do you mean physical damage or do you mean that the ethernet connection doesn't appear to work?

The power LED being on does not signify that a RPi is working. It simply means that some power is being applied, but not necessarily enough for the RPi to run. Did you also provide the power supplies or did you let the recipients provide them?

[redhawk]

Do you have any photographic evidence of the damaged LAN ports and the box they arrived in??

To be honest the LAN port seems pretty study to me the USB ports however don't feel too secure though although I would expect them to survive transport.

Richard S.

[jamesh]

Hello,

Our company needed 15 little devices. We have ordered 15 raspberry pies and send them away to different countries to our clients. We have installed our software and so checked the devices before sending them away. As many as 3 of them were broken on arrival, in more detail, it was the Ethernet port that has been broken. The devices were in their cases and well packed. They work fine as in the power led is on, but no Ethernet connection takes place.

Is the Ethernet port very fragile? Could simple "shaking/vibration" break the port? Did you have similar issues?

Thanks,
Nano

Sounds very odd indeed. A number of questions. If 20% of Raspi's had Ethernet problems, I am sure we would have heard about it before now. They are not at all fragile.

1. Where did you get them from?
2. Do the Pi's all boot to the command prompt?
3. What are the exact symptoms?
4. Can you confirm they used to work when you set them up, but failed after you sent them out yourselves?

[mikerr]

Ethernet ports in general are quite robust...

but a few years back I had a client with a few of their ethernet ports stopped working, all in the same lab (not Pis)

Investigating I found one pin was actually broken off inside each socket - asking around I found someone who said "this cable we use is often quite hard to plug in"
- I took that cable back with me to stop them using it again !

[jamesh]

Ethernet ports in general are quite robust...

but a few years back I had a client with a few of their ethernet ports stopped working, all in the same lab (not Pis)

Investigating I found one pin was actually broken off inside each socket - asking around I found someone who said "this cable we use is often quite hard to plug in"
- I took that cable back with me to stop them using it again !

That sounds like a 'very good point'. I'd suggest to the OP to check for exactly this circumstance.

[nonaromona]

Many thanks for the replies. The pies are on their way back to us from three separate locations so will update when I know more. Bought from RS, and was put in cases before they are shipped. The reason why we suspected the ethernet port was that one of our pies had ethernet pin problems which we rectified by pushing the pins back to position.

However, more generally, the problem reported by our customers are that when the ethernet and power are plugged in, only the red light is showing indicating power. No other light activities and ethernet is not working. These are new pies that are less than few months old.

We have tested every single one to work with the power supply before shipping them together - so we think this has to do with the shocks / vibrations during shipments? We do package them well though.

[GTR2Fan]

However, more generally, the problem reported by our customers are that when the ethernet and power are plugged in, only the red light is showing indicating power. No other light activities and ethernet is not working. These are new pies that are less than few months old.

But are they actually booting up the installed OS? If not, the only LED that lights is the red power LED. That could be down to a damaged or badly seated SD card.

[nonaromona]

However, more generally, the problem reported by our customers are that when the ethernet and power are plugged in, only the red light is showing indicating power. No other light activities and ethernet is not working. These are new pies that are less than few months old.

But are they actually booting up the installed OS? If not, the only LED that lights is the red power LED. That could be down to a damaged or badly seated SD card.

Thanks for the tips - I will check as soon as I have received it back. I guess the best way to check whether the OS is booting up is using the monitor since ethernet is not working?

[hk1963]

Well, dumb things happen so better ask explicitely: Were the Pis switched on with a SD card inserted containing a bootable OS?

[klricks]

Were they shipped with the SD cards installed? The card slot connector is probably the weakest point of the RPi.

[nonaromona]

Well, dumb things happen so better ask explicitely: Were the Pis switched on with a SD card inserted containing a bootable OS?

Yes, they were. As mentioned above, all tested fine before shipments.

[nonaromona]

Were they shipped with the SD cards installed? The card slot connector is probably the weakest point of the RPi.

This is interesting - yes they were shipped with the SD cards installed with this case:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00D ... UTF8&psc=1

[GTR2Fan]

The SD cards may have wiggled loose in transit then. They need to be firmly seated to operate the mechnical switch in the card holders base for it to work.

[jamesh]

I say this was likely the SD cards coming lose in transit.

[nonaromona]

Thank you very much for all your assistance, which has been invaluable.

The SD card becoming loose turns out to be accurate, at least in 1/3. Is there any third party (e.g. $), or otherwise (e.g. duct tape) solution to allow shipping with the SD card already placed?

[FTrevorGowen]

Were they shipped with the SD cards installed? The card slot connector is probably the weakest point of the RPi.

+1
In my experience that's the only part of a Pi that's suffered "mechanical failure" (and an SD card adapter) :
http://www.cpmspectrepi.webspace.virgin ... ilure.html
(subsequently repaired and in use for 12 months+)
There have been occasional reports (some time ago) of USB/LAN crystal issues, but they've occurred on "initial delivery".
Trev.

[FTrevorGowen]

Thank you very much for all your assistance, which has been invaluable.
The SD card becoming loose turns out to be accurate, at least in 1/3. Is there any third party (e.g. $), or otherwise (e.g. duct tape) solution to allow shipping with the SD card already placed?

Our posts crossed. One possibility, perhaps more aesthetic than duct tape, might be a "blobs" of "loctight" or other "anti-tamper" "screwhead adhesive" applied at the "backend" (away from the contacts) of the card slot. Just a thought,
Trev.

[nonaromona]

Thanks, very helpful!

[GTR2Fan]

Having looked at the case design again, maybe a short strip of sticky-back draught excluder tape stuck inside the end of the 'bulge' that accommodates the card might do the trick. If it's permanently gently pushing on the end of the card, it's more likely to wiggle tight than wiggle loose.