No longer working on Ubuntu 20.04

[Q1tum]

This week my starTech USB ethernet adapter stopped working, after troubleshooting

sudo make
make -C /lib/modules/5.4.0-91-generic/build SUBDIRS=/tmp/AX88179_178A modules
make[1]: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-5.4.0-91-generic'
make[2]: *** No rule to make target 'arch/x86/tools/relocs_32.c', needed by 'arch/x86/tools/relocs_32.o'.  Stop.
make[1]: *** [arch/x86/Makefile:236: archscripts] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-5.4.0-91-generic'
make: *** [Makefile:30: default] Error 2

uname -r
5.4.0-91-generic

lsb_release -d
Description:	Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS

This was working for me in the past.

[gusarg81]

As far as I know, this driver is already included in the Kernel.

[Q1tum]

Thank you for your reply @gusarg81. Good to know that the driver is included in the Kernel.

It could be a hardware issue with the ethernet adapter. I will post an update when I have replaced the current one.

[gusarg81]

Your welcome. I just go to this post because I was searching for a solution for a problem with this device as well, which cause TX to freeze (only workaround is to down and up the device, but is not ideal).

[Q1tum]

I have another USB network adapter now (https://www.its-amazing.nl/ewent-ew1140-usb-3-0-3-1-gen-1-type-a-5000mbit-s-zwart-hub-concentratorew1140.html),

When I plugin the device I can see the following in dmesg:

[ 159.451161] ax88179_178a 2-1.3:2.1 (unnamed net_device) (uninitialized): Failed to write reg index 0x000d: -32
[ 159.461403] ax88179_178a 2-1.3:2.1 (unnamed net_device) (uninitialized): Failed to write reg index 0x000e: -32
[ 159.471903] ax88179_178a 2-1.3:2.1 (unnamed net_device) (uninitialized): Failed to write reg index 0x000d: -32
[ 159.482348] ax88179_178a 2-1.3:2.1 (unnamed net_device) (uninitialized): Failed to write reg index 0x000e: -32

[ 162.324307] ax88179_178a 2-1.3:1.0 eth0: register 'ax88179_178a' at usb-0000:00:14.0-1.3, ASIX AX88179 USB 3.0 Gigabit Ethernet, f8:e4:3b:0c:fb:dd
[ 162.404787] ax88179_178a 2-1.3:1.0 enxf8e43b0cfbdd: renamed from eth0

Still not working, but the lights on the modem (where the ethernet cable is connected) are working now.
It looks like the same issue reported here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kernel-package/+bug/1888877

[gusarg81]

I think you should report directly to Ubuntu. This repository last commit was 7 years ago. And, this driver is already in the kernel. So, I believe here is not the right place to report bugs about this driver.

And by the way, I have an adapter with that same chip (Ugreen AX88179 Gigabit Ethernet) and does work. Everytime that I connect to USB does show "Failed to write reg index" but then connects after a short time.

With this chip, the problem I have is TX transmit time out (https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1953554), but seems I've fixed it by installing mainline kernel (5.15.7), using this repo: ppa:tuxinvader/lts-mainline (and then install with sudo apt-get install linux-generic-5.15).
Maybe you can try.

PD: I have Ubuntu 20.04 server where I have this adapter.

[domWalters]

For anyone finding this in the future that has a similar problem, there appears to be a dependency issue with this driver as documented in these two questions:

• https://askubuntu.com/questions/1514158/ax88179-ethernet-adapter-not-working
• https://askubuntu.com/questions/1414192/driver-for-ax88179-gigabit-ethernet

The first suggestion on this question on stackexchange fixed the issue for me after I then unplugged and replugged the device:

• https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/706977/how-to-fix-an-apparenlty-missing-kernel-module-dependency-declaration