Atl1c NIC Blues No More

[silly]

After installing v 2.0.6.2.1 Purple the PIAF web interface is not responding normally. See attached PDF. The Webmin web interface is fine.

I have no problems when I install v 1.7.5.7.1. I hope this looks familiar to someone.

Thanks

 

[darmock]

generally popup blockers does this or a bad cache file. Just finished installing a new copy of 206x purple while I am writing up the docs for the incredible-backup 2.0 and dont see the same problem with either firefox/chrome/ie. That being said I will reinstall from scratch a bare copy of PIAF 20621 purple YET AGAIN to prove it is not a bug in the software.


Tom

 

[darmock]

Below is a screen capture of a 20621 system I just finished installing works fine over here

 

[silly]

I figured other people would have reported a problem by now if it was a problem with the proggy. The install seems to run smoothly and if script or popup blocking was an issue it would also be an issue with 1.7.5.7.1 but that runs fine. I figure the problem is related to something particular to me. I have already tried installing on different hardware with the same results. I will try to reinstall with the firewall disabled. Something obviously does not seem to install properly. I was hoping someone else might have had the same problem and resolved it. Thanks anyway.

 

[darmock]

if it does not work out of the box without modification then this is the first report of this problem. Sorry..... I looked over everything and they appears to be no errors with the install from the logs. Can you get into http://yourip/admin

If so then it may be a php error Beyond that no idea.

If you run the install from the iso then after the reboot choose purple and then after the next reboot prior to doing anything to the box at all can you log in to the web interface using http://yourip ?

you should also look at the apache logs and see if there are errors there that may give you a clue.

Tom

 

[silly]

This is very likely PHP related

I can get the FreePBX web GUI running and it looks practically normal except for the logos at the top of the screen. I have been thinking this could have something to do with PHP but I have not investigated that hunch any further yet.

The same situation did exist prior to installing IncrediblePBX 3.

The Apache log does report some errors which could point to a solution. I have not figured it out yet. You will find the log attached.

Thanks for your help.

 

[silly]

Most of the apache errors are linked to a PHP call to a deprecated function called split and involve the variable $buffer.

 

[silly]

The version of PHP that is currently installed is 5.3.3. The split function is deprecated as of version 5.3. Do you think this could be the cause of my problem? Should I revert to pre-5.3 PHP?

 

[Hyksos]

Maybe I'm not following, you have a base piaf, most recent, with incredible (but tested before incredible and it did the same).

And you think this system, which is, if I'm following and according to you, the exact same system anyone would be running after grabbing the lastest piaf iso and installing it, you think you need to revert the PHP version on it?

If you install piaf from the latest ISO and right after the last reboot you load the webpage and it's broken... It cannot be the PHP, we ALL would have the same problem and we don't.

Your install has something and modifying the underlying software, hunting that problem this way, will only waste your time.

Did you check the page from another browser, another computer? And maybe just to be sure if it does it from every browser and computer, post a text file with the source code of the webpage extracted from the browser.

Messing with the distro itself, considering the most basic install is broken after the first reboot, makes NO sense.

Maybe you did modify the system and I'm assuming wrongfully.

EDIT: and a deprecated function means nothing else than a warning being thrown so that people know they SHOULD update their code. There is no runtime impact except the warning thrown by the interpreter of the language.

Edit2: maybe I'm pushing it, but could you post a screenshot of the problem, it seems you printed it out, which processes the page, I would like to see what you see in your browser.

 

[scorpio]

I'm running into this same issue and as Hyksos said don't get too crazy just yet changing PHP versions or anything like that.

As a complete newb, I installed 2.0.6.2.1 Purple with all the recommended settings. I logged into the web interface from my windows PC using chrome and nothing rendered properly (I too thought it was a PHP issue). I tried IE with the same results. I then tried from my linux box using chrome. Same problem. FreePBX also had issues but not quite as dramatic as the PIAF "home" page.

I googled here and there and found absolutely nothing on this. Then I found your post and wanted to post my "mee too" but my account wasn't validated so for 3 days I kept coming back to see if your problem was resolved. Last night, after checking this thread again, I tried again from my laptop using chrome and <drum-roll> it worked!. Mostly. While the PIAF main page renders correctly, FreePBX isn't quite right. I don't have access to the machine right now to get a screen shot but basically the right hand pane renders all the way at the bottom of the page, below all of the content in the left hand pane.

So this seems like a browser issue but I'm not sure exactly what it is. A bad browser cache has been mentioned but I don't understand how the same problem would affect both IE (which I never use) and Chrome since they don't share caches. And how, if I had never accessed my PIAF install could the cached data for PIAF be bad? And what are the odds that the caches on both my windows and linux box were bad at the same time?

Unfortunately all I can suggest at this point is to not alter your PIAF install and look at your browser for now. I'm not 100% convinced that this is simply a browser issue, but I don't have much else to go on. I'll try to look at this tonight and report back if I find anything new.

Hyksos - I'll post screen shots of both the PIAF "home" page and my issue with FreePBX so you know exactly what we're talking about.

 

[scorpio]

<sigh>

So tonight, using my laptop the PIAF main interface rendered properly but I couldn't log into FreePBX (would authenticate but not load the page). I cleared my browser cache and restarted my browser and now PIAF main page and FreePBX don't render properly. Webmin does. Here are a few screen shots.

First, the PIAF main page. I "zoomed" my browser out so you see the whole page. At normal size you only see the alerts and have to scroll down for the stuff that should be in the right pane.

And here's FreePBX - first at normal size

zoomed out so you can see the right hand pane stuff at the bottom

So I'm at a loss as to why clearing my cache caused this to happen to my laptop. Why did it work before on my laptop but not my desktops. I didn't try IE on my laptop until the PIAF webpage broke and it doesn't work either. Like I said, webmin works great.

I've been scouring my logs and I can't find any errors. At a loss...

Silly, anything to report?

 

[scorpio]

A bit more info.

When I try to directly download any images in the welcome folder (for example http://192.178.1.10/welcome/m_logo.png) the images are "invalid" in any number of image viewing/manipulation programs. But, I copied them onto a thumb drive and they all display fine on that so there is something about sending the images that isn't working.

I've attached the welcome page source saved from my browser. While I've never looked at this source before, it looks o.k. The issue I believe is with the inability to send a valid image via apache. But again, webmin is fine. What's the apache configuration differences between webmin and say the welcome screen and FreePBX?

 

[silly]

Hey there! Welcome to my nightmare. I am reassured to see that I am not alone anymore. I guess two heads are better than one. At least we can share information and with a little help from the community we may get somewhere.

It has almost been a month for me since I first did the install and I must admit I am no further ahead. Let's compare notes. One of the first things I did when I encountered the problem is to try with different browsers from various machines. I get the exact same results as you do using ie and Chrome. The best results are with Firefox. With Firefox I get an almost normal FreePBX.

My analysis so far still leads me to believe that it is a PHP issue because Webmin works flawlessly in either browser. I am leaning away from a browser issue because ie, Chrome and Firefox all have the same issue from any machine and while I have this problem with server A running PIAF 2.0.6.2.1 Purple, I have no problem at all with server B sitting right next to server A and running PIAF 1.7.5.7.1 Purple.

I am starting to think that our installs may be slightly different from the rest of the crowd for other reasons. The install runs from the web and I am guessing different mirrors or repositories could be involved. Is it not possible that our PHP engine or configuration is slightly different from the masses? What if a mirror has a corrupted file?

Mirrors can vary with geographical locations. I am in Montreal. Where are you?

Maybe I am way out in left field. I have no clue at this point but I am trying to figure why just you and me so far have the very same problem. It does not make much sense if everybody installs the same code. I am thinking our install has something different and we may have to do a little digging.

Any comments or ideas welcome.....

 

[darmock]

Mirrors are just that mirrors sorry we do a binary compare on all of the mirrors once a week to ensure that the checksum ON ALL FILES is the same as the master mirror which is not public access. The only difference on the mirror files is the timestamp -- minutes only can be difference depending on how long it takes to sync the mirrors. It aint your php version sorry I was thinking out loud. Currently the PIAF dev team officially tests with the latest version of firefox windows/linux. Ward tests with chrome and the mac browser. We can't duplicate these problems in the lab using industry standard installs

For example HP laptop just home from the store with the latest firefox just installed no mods to it. We never ever add any software to this so it is an unmodified install.

Tested on our usual testing matrix of 32/64 purple/red on proxmox/vmware workstation 8.0/hardware/xen base PIAF 20621 install with no mods at all and cant duplicate the problem so it goes back that there is something different about your installs or the machines you are using to browse with, or that the hardware you are using to install PIAF 2062 onto is incompatible with Centos 6.2. While the last possibility is remote I have seen weird things happen with hardware and Centos 6.2

Also more people would have similar problems if this was a flaw with the base install or software contained within.

While the earlier version of PIAF seems to work and the current version does not according to your statement. There is no difference between the actual menu programs or versions at all.


So what could be different? Yes PHP is different between PIAF versions however that really does not make a difference. So it is back to hardware piaf is running on or the system you are using to browse with.


Beyond that ........


Tom

 

[scorpio]

While I guess it is possible, I would assume that we're *not* working from a corrupt install (I'm in Seattle, BTW).

Silly, what hardware are you running this on? What network chip/driver is CentOS using? You'll want to get comfortable with SSH if you're not already (I use putty on windows). There's probably a better way to determine which network interface you're running but I just:

cat /var/log/messages | grep eth

and look for something like:

11:42:29 pbx kernel: atl1c 0000:03:00.0: atl1c: eth0 NIC Link is Up<1000 Mbps Full Duplex>

where "atl1c" is the driver name.

For the record, I'm running this on a whitebox "nettop". Atom based unit with the Atheros L1 gigabit ethernet chip (atl1c driver). I've dug up some older posts regarding issues with this driver but nothing recent.

I'm guessing that there's an issue with this driver and it's ability to tx. It clearly can rx just fine since I downloaded a bunch of data during the install. I'm trying to locate a USB NIC interface to try to confirm this. Will post when I know more.

 

[blanchae]

I don't know if this has been mentioned before but have you tried various browsers? I routinely use 4 browsers depending on what server I'm talking to: Opera, Firefox, Chrome and IE. Some work well for one server and fail to display properly at another. Something else that can cause problems if you have zoomed in using your browser "CTRL +" function.

 

[scorpio]

O.K. I think this is a network interface issue. I just tested with a USB based ethernet interface and after a reboot things are working normally. I'm going out on a limb but I bet Silly will be running a variant of the atl driver. My guess is that the atl drivers still can't tx reliably.

I'll add that the reason my laptop appeared to work is that I potentially had the graphics from the PIAF welcome page cached already since I used the laptop when researching PIAF. When I cleared the browser cache those images were gone and it couldn't get them from my PIAF box because of the network issue.

I'll wait to see what network chip Silly is running before I tie a bow on this but that's a real bummer my built in chip isn't compatible with CentOS. I really thought I found the perfect PIAF hardware for a SOHO install...

Silly, if this turns out to be your issue as well, I can walk you thru disabling the built in NIC and configuring a second NIC if you need any help.

 

[silly]

Solved!

I started thinking you were on the right track from the moment you brought up the "Atheros L1 gigabit ethernet chip (atl1c driver)". I am using an ASUS motherboard with one of these NICs onboard.

I also happen to have a 3COM NIC on that system which the install left inactive. I activated it and the problem persisted as long as both NICs were active but when I deactivated the Atheros NIC everything started working normally.

Thanks for your help.

 

[scorpio]

Ha! Well, I'm glad your solution was so simple. My fix is simple too, but I first have to buy a USB->Ethernet adapter and that will mess up the whole feng-shui of the system.

For the record the network chip in the Foxconn nT425 mini Atom based "nettop" isn't compatible with CentOS. Now I know...

 

[silly]

I am thinking it may be a driver issue. I have another similar ASUS system running Trixbox on Centos 5.3 and with an "atl1e" driver I had to build myself from the source provided by ASUS. That has been working without any problems. Does your nettop come with a CD? There may be a Linux driver on it.