Long story short, I built a new server using parts from two old Unraid servers. This particular one has a new case, USB drive from Server 1, HDDs from Server 1, and MoBo/CPU from Server 2. Put everything together and it started up fine, but seems unable to access the internet (I'm unable to access the appfeed and Plex wont start due to an internet error). I remember having similar issues with this Motherboard earlier so I'm attempting to match the same network settings that I used for that machine, but whenever I enter my changes and hit apply, it just reverts back to prior settings. Also of note, the MAC address field is blank.

Diagnostics attached

tower-diagnostics-20261002-1604.zip

The problem is that both onboard NICs on this board report the same MAC address. You can see it in the syslog: the Intel I225-V and the Intel I219-V show an identical MAC when they're detected. Unraid names its network interfaces by MAC address, so both NICs try to take the same name. One of them fails to rename (rename_eth121 ... File exists) and there's no eth0 at all. The Network Settings page applies to eth0, so Apply does nothing and the page goes back to the old values. That's also why the MAC address field is blank. This probably explains the network trouble you had with this board before too.

To fix it:

1. In the BIOS, disable the onboard NIC you don't use. Your cable is in the 2.5G Intel I225-V port, so disable the 1G Intel I219-V.

2. Shut down, put the flash drive in another computer, and delete (or rename) these two files: config/network-rules.cfg and config/network.cfg.

3. Boot again. Unraid will create new network settings with one NIC as eth0, using DHCP. Check your router for the IP it gets, or look at the local console.

4. Then set your static IP, gateway, and DNS under Settings > Network Settings, and check that they save. For DNS, use your router or a public DNS server. Don't use a DNS server that ran on one of the old servers.

If you need both onboard ports, the duplicate MAC has to be fixed on the board itself. A BIOS update might do it (you're on P1.40), or ask ASRock. Unraid can't reliably manage two NICs that share one MAC.

If you still have no internet after this, please post new diagnostics.

Is there any way to resolve this without going into BIOS? The issue here is the motherboard doesn't have any video outputs and I don't have a video card installed on the machine. I can get one, but it will take a couple days.

It was working before without updating BIOS. When I had trouble before, I was told on this forum to make changes to the network.cfg file which is how it had been running ever since. After completing the build for the new server, I moved the network config file (from server 2) onto the USB drive (for server 1) while only updating the IP Address to match.

Original network.cfg (for server 1)

# Generated settings:

IFNAME[0]="eth0"

DESCRIPTION[0]="Onboard"

PROTOCOL[0]="ipv4"

USE_DHCP[0]="no"

IPADDR[0]="192.xxx.xxx.160"

NETMASK[0]="255.xxx.xxx.0"

GATEWAY[0]="192.xxx.xxx.1"

DNS_SERVER1="8.8.8.8"

DNS_SERVER2="8.8.4.4"

USE_DHCP6[0]="yes"

DHCP6_KEEPRESOLV="no"

SYSNICS="1"

Original network.cfg (for server 2)

# Generated network settings

USE_DHCP="no"

IPADDR="192.xxx.xxx.210"

NETMASK="255.xxx.xxx.0"

GATEWAY="192.xxx.xxx.1"

BONDING="yes"

BRIDGING="yes"

DNS_SERVER1="8.8.8.8"

Modified new network.cfg

# Generated network settings

USE_DHCP="no"

IPADDR="192.xxx.xxx.160"

NETMASK="255.xxx.xxx.0"

GATEWAY="192.xxx.xxx.1"

BONDING="yes"

BRIDGING="yes"

DNS_SERVER1="8.8.8.8"

Edited October 3Oct 3 by johngalt

You shoudl be able to do it without the BIOS. Instead of disabling the I219-V in the BIOS, you can stop Unraid from loading its driver. Then Unraid sees only the I225-V, and the duplicate MAC no longer causes a problem.

1. Shut down the server and put the flash drive in another computer.

2. In the config/modprobe.d folder (it already exists), create a text file named e1000e.conf that contains only this line:

blacklist e1000e

This stops the driver for the 1G I219-V from loading. The 2.5G I225-V that you use has a different driver (igc), so it is not affected.

3. Delete config/network-rules.cfg. This file has two rules for the same MAC address, which is why the interface names are wrong. Unraid will make a new file with only the I225-V as eth0.

4. Replace config/network.cfg. Don't use the file you copied from server 2. It is in an old format, and Unraid has already reduced it to just SYSNICS="0". Your original server 1 file is fine as it is. It is in the current format and already has .160 as the static IP. Or, if you prefer, delete network.cfg and the server will use DHCP.

5. Boot. The server should come up at .160 (or at the DHCP address that your router shows). In Settings > Network Settings, check that eth0 now shows a MAC address and that your changes save. The server 1 file has bridging off. If you need bridging for Docker or VMs, you can turn it on there.

Copying network.cfg alone could not fix this. The problem is how the network interfaces are named, not the IP settings.

If you want to use the I219-V later, delete e1000e.conf. But the duplicate MAC will come back until it is fixed on the board (for example, with a BIOS update or help from ASRock).

If you still have no internet after this, please post new diagnostics.

Thanks, I actually got it up and running concurrently while you posted this solution. I went into the network rules file and just swapped eth0 and eth1, then was able to make the necessary changes in Network Settings and everything was up and running. I'm assuming your solution is the preferred method so will go in and make those updates so that I'm using the most recent format.

Update: Made JorgeB's updates and all is well. Had an issue with Appfeeds not loading but restarted the router and everything seems to be up and running as expected.

Edited October 3Oct 3 by johngalt