We have just received a Spectrum Digital DM8168 EVM (Rev. G). The board boots successfully out of the box using the images on the provided SD card, and we can monitor the boot over the serial console. A patch cable is used to connect the RJ45 at connector J10 to a multi-port network switch (an 8-port GigE D-Link switch).
We are seeing problems with the Ethernet interface. In U-Boot, the green link LED on the EVM turns on after approximately 10s. The indicator on the switch is amber and continously flickers, but the amber activity LED on the EVM remains off. Attempting a ping in U-Boot causes the green link LED to go out until the ping is reported as failed.
In Linux, the interface comes up during the boot. Attempting a ping usually fails, with the occasional successful packet (95%+ packet loss).
We have ruled out problems with the cabling or with the switch. At this point, we suspect there are hardware problems with the board. Are there any suggestions to further debug this issue? Otherwise, an RMA may be our next course of action.
Addtional software version info:
U-Boot 2010.06 (Jun 01 2011 - 12:30:57)
Linux dm816x-evm 2.6.37 #1 Wed Jun 1 12:18:59 IST 2011 armv7l unknown