Lenovo Thinkpad X270: ethernet shows up in dmesg but won't connect

[MassPikeMike]

I installed Debian buster on a Lenovo Thinkpad X270 with the non-free additions. Wireless network works fine, but Ethernet doesn't get an IPv4 address. I see the PCI device:

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# lspci | grep -i eth
00:1f.6 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection I219-LM (rev 21)

I see stuff in dmesg:

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# dmesg | grep e1000e | head
[    2.658336] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[    2.658337] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[    2.681037] e1000e 0000:00:1f.6: Interrupt Throttling Rate (ints/sec) set to dynamic conservative mode
[    2.876998] e1000e 0000:00:1f.6 0000:00:1f.6 (uninitialized): registered PHC clock
[    2.958740] e1000e 0000:00:1f.6 eth0: (PCI Express:2.5GT/s:Width x1) 8c:16:45:01:ff:92
[    2.958741] e1000e 0000:00:1f.6 eth0: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Connection
[    2.958828] e1000e 0000:00:1f.6 eth0: MAC: 12, PHY: 12, PBA No: FFFFFF-0FF
[    2.959443] e1000e 0000:00:1f.6 enp0s31f6: renamed from eth0

I see an entry with an IPv6 address inifconfig:

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# ifconfig
enp0s31f6: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet6 fe80::7b2c:5354:80b6:6a8e  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 8c:16:45:01:ff:92  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 23  bytes 1808 (1.7 KiB)
        RX errors 286  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 285
        TX packets 155  bytes 26944 (26.3 KiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0
        device interrupt 16  memory 0xe1200000-e1220000  

...but there is no IPv4 address, and I don't know how to interpret what I am seeing from nmcli:

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# nmcli device show enp0s31f6
GENERAL.DEVICE:                         enp0s31f6
GENERAL.TYPE:                           ethernet
GENERAL.HWADDR:                         8C:16:45:01:FF:92
GENERAL.MTU:                            1500
GENERAL.STATE:                          70 (connecting (getting IP configuration
GENERAL.CONNECTION:                     Wired connection 1
GENERAL.CON-PATH:                       /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveCo
WIRED-PROPERTIES.CARRIER:               off

Although "WIRED-PROPERTIES.CARRIER: off" appears, at this time the green light was on below the laptop's ethernet connector and on the router port it's connected to.

But then I tried to run nmcli device connect, and things got worse:

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# nmcli device connect enp0s31f6
Error: Connection activation failed: (40) Carrier/link changed.

# nmcli device connect enp0s31f6
Error: Failed to add/activate new connection: Connection 'enp0s31f6' is not available on device enp0s31f6 because device has no carrier

After that, the state shown by nmcli changed from 70 to 20, and the green light went out!

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# nmcli device show enp0s31f6
GENERAL.DEVICE:                         enp0s31f6
GENERAL.TYPE:                           ethernet
GENERAL.HWADDR:                         8C:16:45:01:FF:92
GENERAL.MTU:                            1500
GENERAL.STATE:                          20 (unavailable)
GENERAL.CONNECTION:                     --
GENERAL.CON-PATH:                       --
WIRED-PROPERTIES.CARRIER:               off

However, after a few minutes the green light turned back on, and the GENERAL.STATE returned to being 70.

New messages that seem relevant keep appearing in the log file several times a minute:

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[ 2020.975224] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): enp0s31f6: link becomes ready
[ 2024.000228] e1000e: enp0s31f6 NIC Link is Up 10 Mbps Full Duplex, Flow Control: Rx/Tx
[ 2024.000239] e1000e 0000:00:1f.6 enp0s31f6: 10/100 speed: disabling TSO
[ 2066.170972] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): enp0s31f6: link is not ready
[ 2101.811538] e1000e: enp0s31f6 NIC Link is Up 10 Mbps Full Duplex, Flow Control: Rx/Tx
[ 2101.811547] e1000e 0000:00:1f.6 enp0s31f6: 10/100 speed: disabling TSO
[ 2101.811661] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): enp0s31f6: link becomes ready
[ 2104.845624] e1000e: enp0s31f6 NIC Link is Up 10 Mbps Full Duplex, Flow Control: Rx/Tx
[ 2104.845634] e1000e 0000:00:1f.6 enp0s31f6: 10/100 speed: disabling TSO

I have had no success with two different routers and two different known good Cat6 cables.

Is there anything this could be other than a hardware problem?

[ruwolf]

Can you show exact PCI identifier of the device?

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lspci -nn | grep -i eth

Also Ethernet level state of device?

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sudo ethtool enp0s31f6

[MassPikeMike]

Thanks very much for thinking about this!

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# lspci -nn | fgrep -i eth
00:1f.6 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation Ethernet Connection I219-LM [8086:156f] (rev 21)

When the green light is on and GENERAL_STATE is 70, ethtool shows:

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# ethtool enp0s31f6
Settings for enp0s31f6:
	Supported ports: [ TP ]
	Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 
	                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 
	                        1000baseT/Full 
	Supported pause frame use: No
	Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
	Supported FEC modes: Not reported
	Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 
	                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 
	                        1000baseT/Full 
	Advertised pause frame use: No
	Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
	Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
	Speed: 10Mb/s
	Duplex: Full
	Port: Twisted Pair
	PHYAD: 1
	Transceiver: internal
	Auto-negotiation: on
	MDI-X: on (auto)
	Supports Wake-on: pumbg
	Wake-on: g
	Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)
			       drv probe link
	Link detected: yes

But once I try and fail to connect and the green light goes off and GENERAL_STATE becomes 20, ethtool instead shows:

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# ethtool enp0s31f6
Settings for enp0s31f6:
	Supported ports: [ TP ]
	Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 
	                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 
	                        1000baseT/Full 
	Supported pause frame use: No
	Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
	Supported FEC modes: Not reported
	Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full 
	                        100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full 
	                        1000baseT/Full 
	Advertised pause frame use: No
	Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
	Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
	Speed: Unknown!
	Duplex: Unknown! (255)
	Port: Twisted Pair
	PHYAD: 2
	Transceiver: internal
	Auto-negotiation: on
	MDI-X: Unknown (auto)
	Supports Wake-on: pumbg
	Wake-on: g
	Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)
			       drv probe link
	Link detected: no

[ruwolf]

Maybe more information about your computer could help (BIOS/UEFI version, Linux kernel version, etc.)

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inxi -MrSxz

also, if Energy-Efficient Ethernet is enabled:

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sudo ethtool --show-eee enp0s31f6

[MassPikeMike]

I pulled the hard drive out and popped it in an identical X270, and the ethernet worked fine.
I installed Windows 10 on this X270, and the ethernet always claimed "No internet" even on a known good router port.
Therefore I presume this was a hardware failure of some sort.

[CwF]

I pulled the hard drive out and popped it in an identical X270, and the ethernet worked fine.

Good going! It just goes to show there is no such thing as too much hardware...