Case of the Broken Linux Driver (Lenovo USB 2.0 Ethernet 10/100 dongle)

We had a customer that was in process of migrating from ZenWorks to SCCM and XP to Windows 7. However there was still XP out there being deployed through a ZenWorks 7 deployment solution. Instead of WinPE the solution is built around a Linux boot image and various bash scripting to deploy the appropriate images. However when a new model came around – The Lenovo Carbon X1 – the Linux boot image failed to detect the USB-only Ethernet dongle – preventing the boot image from copying OS images from the Netware share. Lenovo didn’t provide a Linux driver either – However their tech support did advise us to use the Linux driver available here:

http://www.asix.com.tw/download.php?sub=driverdetail&PItemID=105

Followed the instructions for compilation included in the readme – but still device was not making a connection. To verify my hardware was not faulty I tested in Windows machine and it worked fine with the Windows drivers from the same site.

Compiling & installing showed no errors:

make install
su -c “cp -v asix.ko /lib/modules/3.6.0-rc7-1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/usb && /sbin/depmod -a”
‘asix.ko’ -> ‘/lib/modules/3.6.0-rc7-1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/usb/asix.ko’

modprobe asix -v displayed:
/lib/modules/3.6.0-rc7-1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/usb/asix.ko

dmesg displayed no errors, but included message:

usbcore: registered new interface driver asix

The output of lsusb showed us:

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 08ff:2683 AuthenTec, Inc.
Bus 001 Device 014: ID 17ef:7203 Lenovo
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 04f2:b240 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0489:e031 Foxconn / Hon Hai

The output of modinfo asix

filename: /lib/modules/3.6.0-rc7-1-desktop/kernel/drivers/net/usb/asix.ko
license: GPL
description: ASIX AX8817X based USB 2.0 Ethernet Devices
author: David Hollis
srcversion: 3EB00488E36F8F5659BEFBB
alias: usb:v0B95p7E2Bd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v0B95p772Bd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v05ACp1402d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v13B1p0018d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v0421p772Ad*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v0DB0pA877d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v0B95p772Ad*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v125Ep180Dd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v0B95p7720d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v1631p6200d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v1189p0893d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v07AAp0017d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v6189p182Dd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v0411p003Dd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v0557p2009d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v08DDp90FFd*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v07B8p420Ad*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v0B95p1720d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v07D1p3C05d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v2001p3C05d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v2001p1A00d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v0846p1040d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v077Bp2226d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v050Dp5055d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v14EApAB11d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v1737p0039d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v077Bp2226d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
alias: usb:v0B95p1780d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*in*
depends:
vermagic: 3.6.0-rc7-1-desktop SMP preempt mod_unload modversions 686
parm: msg_level: override default message level (int)
parm: bsize:Maximum transfer size per bulk (int)

Rebooting/reinserting device did not have any affect. After inserting device get this in dmesg – should have also seen detail about network interface being added…

[ 6133.758891] usbcore: registered new interface driver asix
[ 6514.502110] usb 1-1.3: USB disconnect, device number 14
[ 6515.701128] usb 1-1.3: new high-speed USB device number 15 using ehci_hcd
[ 6515.801403] usb 1-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=17ef, idProduct=7203
[ 6515.801413] usb 1-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[ 6515.801418] usb 1-1.3: Product: AX88772B
[ 6515.801423] usb 1-1.3: Manufacturer: Lenovo
[ 6515.801428] usb 1-1.3: SerialNumber: 58265D

Despite this one thing was clear – running command ip link to show network interfaces – there was no USB network interface!

Why is the driver not being detected?

We need to simply use the device ID from lsusb which was 17ef:7203 and verify this device code is contained in the driver source code.

Well it sure was missing…

To fix this I opened up asix.c and searched for the usb_device_id line of code, then inserted the Lenovo’s device Id we found earlier using lsusb

static const struct usb_device_id    products [] = {
     USB_DEVICE (0x04f1, 0x3008),
     .driver_info = (unsigned long) &ax8817x_info,
 }, {
    // Lenovo 10/100
    USB_DEVICE (0x17ef, 0x7203),
    .driver_info = (unsigned long) &ax88772_info,
}, {
     // ASIX AX88772B 10/100
     USB_DEVICE (0x0b95, 0x772b),
     .driver_info = (unsigned long) &ax88772_info,

Another go at re-compilation and re-install – and voila ! We have network in Linux.

You can use a similar process for devices that are not working in Linux – find a driver based on the same chipset and add your devices own ID. It may or may not work. Good luck, you’ll need it.