How to set 10MB half duplex on a LAN port for RT-BE86U

[Chris12]

Just recently I ran into an issue that my TADO bridge was not connected anymore to the TADO cloud.
The bridge was using port 3 on my RT-BE86U router running Merlin 3006.102.4, and when configuring this router the bridge was working fine (no connection issues then).

I found out that the TADO bridge only supports a 10MB half duplex connection.

Can I somewhere set this fixed 'speed' on the LAN port? As auto negotiation does not seems to work anymore for this very old speed/duplex setting needed.
For now solved the issue by using an old 4p switch connected to the RT-BE86U, and the bridge itself is connected to the old switch.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Did something change just prior to this not working any more? e.g. a firmware update?

I would start by confirming that the LAN port still supports that speed (even though it did previously).

SSH into the router. Determine what interface the TADO was plugged into, e.g. eth1, eth2, etc. Then check its supported rates. For example:

# /usr/sbin/ethtool eth1
Settings for eth1:
        Supported ports: [ TP ]
        Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
                                1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
        Supported pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
        Supported FEC modes: Not reported
        Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
                                1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
        Advertised pause frame use: Symmetric
        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
        Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
        Link partner advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                                             100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
                                             1000baseT/Full
        Link partner advertised pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
        Link partner advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
        Link partner advertised FEC modes: Not reported
        Speed: 1000Mb/s
        Duplex: Full
        Port: Twisted Pair
        PHYAD: 8
        Transceiver: internal
        Auto-negotiation: on
        MDI-X: Unknown
        Link detected: yes

 

[Chris12]

I checked the port (eth3) to which the TADO was connected before, and the other ports (eth1/2/4) as well, they all give the below output:

Admin@RT-BE86U:/usr/sbin# ethtool eth3
Settings for eth3:
        Supported ports: [ TP ]
        Supported link modes:   10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Full
                                1000baseT/Full
                                2500baseT/Full
        Supported pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
        Supported FEC modes: Not reported
        Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Full
                                1000baseT/Full
                                2500baseT/Full
        Advertised pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
        Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
        Link partner advertised link modes:  10baseT/Full
                                             100baseT/Full
                                             1000baseT/Full
                                             2500baseT/Full
        Link partner advertised pause frame use: No
        Link partner advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
        Link partner advertised FEC modes: Not reported
        Speed: Unknown!
        Duplex: Half
        Port: Twisted Pair
        PHYAD: 25
        Transceiver: internal
        Auto-negotiation: on
        MDI-X: Unknown
        Link detected: no
Admin@RT-BE86U:/usr/sbin#

The TADO bridge is not connected anymore to this port (or the BE86U) at this moment.
So compared to your output I can see no Half Duplex support for any port (except for eth0, which is the 10G WAN port which has 100baseT/Half supported as well ). Or is there a specific setting that needs to be done to enable half-duplex for the LAN ports?

Also eth1 which has a wired connection to my mediaplayer is different:

Admin@RT-BE86U:/usr/sbin# ethtool eth1
Settings for eth1:
        Supported ports: [ TP ]
        Supported link modes:   10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Full
                                1000baseT/Full
                                2500baseT/Full
        Supported pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
        Supported FEC modes: Not reported
        Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Full
                                1000baseT/Full
                                2500baseT/Full
        Advertised pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
        Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
        Link partner advertised link modes:  10baseT/Full
                                             100baseT/Full
                                             1000baseT/Full
                                             2500baseT/Full
        Link partner advertised pause frame use: No
        Link partner advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
        Link partner advertised FEC modes: Not reported
        Speed: 1000Mb/s
        Duplex: Full
        Port: Twisted Pair
        PHYAD: 27
        Transceiver: internal
        Auto-negotiation: on
        MDI-X: Unknown
        Link detected: yes

 

[Chris12]

No firmware/config changes where done the last month.
Merlin version 3006.102.4 has been properly installed, immediately after initial asus setup.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I can't think why this would suddenly stop working for no reason. Your output suggests that eth3 doesn't support half duplex. So unless this a cable problem I'm out of ideas.

 

[Chris12]

Yeah, maybe when initially configuring the BE86 router, the TADO bridge was still showing correct data in the app when I checked?
During the summer no need for heating, so less attention the last few weeks/month for my heating system. Maybe it (bridge connection) was broke from the beginning, and I did not pay attention to it.

The same LAN cable and power supply is now used at the old switch, where the TADO bridge works fine. Everything is working again... happy wife, happy life!
Thanks for your help!

 

[Zuikkis2]

I can confirm that RT-BE86U does not support half duplex with stock firmware either. I have a TellStick Net that has 10M half duplex ethernet and it didn't work with RT-BE86U, no matter if Merlin or stock fw. Only solution was to add separate older router.

This was 10 months ago, so I think it's safe to assume it doesn't work in any firmware version.

 

[Ripshod]

Interesting. The RT-88U doesn't support half duplex either.
Is this a hardware limitation?

 

[RMerlin]

Try putting a cheap 5 ports network switch between the router and the device. It might better handle the handshake of that antique device