Raspberry Pi 3 Ethernet connection keeps dropping requiring reboot

Frogmella · December 22, 2017 at 7:56 PM

This must have been covered before but a search didn't turn up anything relevant. Seems everyone uses wi-fi. My network is wired, Pi wi-fi is much too slow.

Whatever I am streaming (fibre broadband about 35mbps) from whichever add-on, at some point between 2 mins and 25 mins the wired ethernet connection drops and the Pi has to be completely rebooted to restore it. Literally every time, and this is quite a new occurance, I don't remember it happening at all under v17.5. I have replaced the router and the network cable and have completely reinstalled LibreELEC and all the (still working) addons with no improvement.

It's driving me crazy.

I have read that USB shares the network in some way but I only have a combined Rii keyboard mouse attached and that is switched off once the stream begins to prevent accidental keypresses.

Can any kind souls offer any suggestions that might alleviate my problem? (I'm not a linux guy so keep it simple please)

Thanks in advance for any help.

bromerzz · December 22, 2017 at 8:02 PM

My view is very different. The first choice is always a wired ethernet connection. WIFI for a pi is not the first choice.

**Klojum** · December 22, 2017 at 8:18 PM Official Post

In my view, using wifi is the last resort. RPi3's internal wifi is there only for the simple things like music mp3's.

Other than that, ethernet is the preferred method.

bubblegum57 · December 22, 2017 at 8:46 PM

Quote from Frogmella

Whatever I am streaming (fibre broadband about 35mbps) from whichever add-on

so which addon is it? sounds like the source is the problem.

Frogmella · December 22, 2017 at 8:47 PM

For goodness sake, can't you guys keep on topic. No wonder this forum is so bloated with people posting irrelevant replies like these. This isn't a chat room. Jeez.

bubblegum57 · December 22, 2017 at 9:20 PM

Quote from Frogmella

For goodness sake, can't you guys keep on topic. No wonder this forum is so bloated with people posting irrelevant replies like these. This isn't a chat room. Jeez.

why won't you say which addons?

**Klojum** · December 22, 2017 at 10:09 PM Official Post

Quote from Frogmella

For goodness sake, can't you guys keep on topic.

Okay, let's keep on topic: if you are streaming videos via addons in any illegal manner, this topic will be closed immediately as per LibreELEC's forum rules. Which you of course have read upon registration here.

So, which addons are you using?

Normally we also ask for full and unedited kodi debug log files for all problems encountered. Where is your log file?

Frogmella · December 23, 2017 at 12:51 PM

I would never knowingly do anything illegal, but my understanding is that there is still considerable legal doubt about what is, and is not, legal in this field. In my view it's better to keep such a can of worms firmly closed, why go looking for trouble?

And of course I didn't read the forum rules, only the monumentally anally-rententive ever do. I'm a nice guy, never nasty to anyone (unless they really ask for it), so its not a problem.

Lets get back to the original post.

I would surmise that my issue has nothing to do with the stream source, as the problem occurs on all streams from all sources at any reasonable definition. And, the problem has only materialised recently. It didn't occur at all before the 17.6 update, using the same sources.

I'm afaid don't know where my Kodi debug logfile lives, how to identify it, or even how to extract it, in order to send it in.

I was hoping this was a well known issue that already had an answer( like "change setting x to y"). It appears I am to be disappointed.

**HiassofT** · December 23, 2017 at 1:57 PM

First thing to check is to make sure you are using an adequate power supply. The official 5.1V 2.5A one is known to work fine.

Even small voltage dips can cause the USB network chip to "fall off the bus" or lock up.

When this has happened you could try to enable wifi in LE settings, this should allow you to get access to the RPi again and provide logfiles. Use the LE Settings addon or Samba method as described in the wiki how_to:provide_logfile [LibreELEC] - these methods include the system logs which are important to diagnose your issue (a kodi log alone won't be enough).

so long,

Hias

Frogmella · December 23, 2017 at 2:52 PM

Thanks Hias, will do.

I am using the official power supply that came with the Pi. Sounds like it might benefit from a multimeter test just in case it has developed a fault.

I have installed the log file addon and can now read the file on screen, a lot of errors mainly CCurFile timeouts.

I also found a Kodi add on stream that didn't falter, the Bible Teachers Broadcast Network, that went on and on and on, no matter how much I wanted it to stop. You couldn't make it up.

Frogmella · December 23, 2017 at 7:09 PM

Although I have a Pi branded power supply and limited testing implies it's OK, I am going to replace with a new one to be sure. The network drops seem to be happening more frequently (it's now simply unusable) and the diversity of sources employed when failure occurs implies my problem is hardware based, The power supply has to be favourite in view of Hiassoft's comments (#9 above) his description fits exactly what I am seeing happen. All network communication dies suddenly and can only be reinstated by a full reboot.

bubblegum57 · December 23, 2017 at 7:25 PM

May, I suggest, that you go back to the version where it did work. I think you can Just drop the tar file in the update file & reboot.

If it works then, it would indicate problem with the version of Libreelec.

If it doesn't work on an older version, I would assume a hardware problem

wisdomtooth · January 21, 2018 at 10:21 AM

I'm pretty sure this is a bug in Libreelec 8. I've been having it since its alpha and beta versions. Posted it many times in forums, to no avail. I'm running it in an Asrock ION 330 HTPC, which worked fine with version 7. In fact, it still does! Every now and then, when a new version 8 release comes through I try it again to see if it's been fixed, but… not this time (just tried 8.2.2). I've tested it in wired and wireless connections, again, to no avail. It drops after a certain amount of packets come through. It's not really a time thing, but a qty thing. Proof of that is that the same happens downloading addons, and the connection doesn't drop unless you start streaming or downloading something.