# [Solved] USB NIC not appearing in ifconfig

## chix4mat

Hi all: 

Despite the fact that Gentoo acknowledges my USB NIC, I am not getting an eth0 listing in ifconfig: 

ifconfig: 

```
lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536

        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0

        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>

        loop  txqueuelen 0  (Local Loopback)

        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)

        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0

        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)

        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0
```

dmesg: 

```
[    0.435672] usbcore: registered new interface driver ax88179_178a

[    0.799691] ax88179_178a 6-1:1.0: usb_probe_interface

[    0.799692] ax88179_178a 6-1:1.0: usb_probe_interface - got id

[    1.112531] ax88179_178a 6-1:1.0 eth0: register 'ax88179_178a' at usb-0000:0c:00.0-1, ASIX AX88179 USB 3.0 Gigibit Ethernet, 50:3f:56:00:13:1d
```

The NIC uses ASIX's AX88179 chipset, requiring the ax88179_178a driver, which I built into the kernel (and which loads without error). I have the device plugged into a USB 3.0 port (which works), but I've also tested it in a USB 2.0 port and got no further. 

What am I missing? I actually figured that my Gentoo install was just borked, so I formatted and reinstalled it (yes, without Internet access on the PC... painful). 

Any help would be appreciated. 

Thanks!

----------

## NeddySeagoon

chix4mat,

What does ifconfig -a  show?

I'm surprised you get eth0 for a USB device and as you get eth0, I would expect udev to rename it to something horrible, so any attempt to bring up eth0 will fail as you don't have one.

```
dmesg | grep eth0
```

 may show what udev did.

----------

## chix4mat

 *NeddySeagoon wrote:*   

> What does ifconfig -a  show?

 

```
enp12s0u1: flags=4098<BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500

        ether 50:3f:56:00:13:1d  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)

        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)

        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0

        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)

        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536

        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0

        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>

        loop  txqueuelen 0  (Local Loopback)

        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)

        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0

        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)

        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

sit0: flags=128<NOARP>  mtu 1480

        sit  txqueuelen 0  (IPv6-in-IPv4)

        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)

        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0

        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)

        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0
```

I forgot that ifconfig showed only active devices. *slaps head*

 *Quote:*   

> dmesg | grep eth0 may show what udev did.

 

```
[    1.114298] ax88179_178a 6-1:1.0 eth0: register 'ax88179_178a' at usb-0000:0c:00.0-1, ASIX AX88179 USB 3.0 Gigibit Ethernet, 50:3f:56:00:13:1d

[    2.572940] systemd-udevd[1481]: renamed network interface eth0 to enp12s0u1
```

I tried renaming eth0 to enp12s0u1 in /etc/conf.d/net but that didn't do anything. Should I just install dhcpcd and try to configure the adapter that way?

Thanks for the help!

----------

## Hu

systemd-udevd already mangled the name to enp12s0u1 for you.  You can either disable network interface name mangling and go back to the predictable names (eth0, eth1, etc.) or you can change all your configuration files to use the udevd generated name.  If you do this, you may need to take care to plug in the device to the same port every time.  That name looks like it may encode the USB port number, in which case different ports would get different interface names.

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## chix4mat

 *Hu wrote:*   

> systemd-udevd already mangled the name to enp12s0u1 for you.  You can either disable network interface name mangling and go back to the predictable names (eth0, eth1, etc.) or you can change all your configuration files to use the udevd generated name.  If you do this, you may need to take care to plug in the device to the same port every time.  That name looks like it may encode the USB port number, in which case different ports would get different interface names.

 

I just accepted the mangling and do have a static IP working (and net in general). 

Thanks a ton guys, really appreciate it.

----------

