RTL8111/RTL8168 Network Connection Fix

[nausicaavow]

This is guidance for those with integrated Realtek RTL8111 series gigabit Ethernet, built in to motherboards such as the ASRock G41M-LE.

Ubuntu 8.10 (and may other versions) have been reporting problems with connectivity. Here is the solution in a walk-through format. You must be root (sudo su -).

1) Check to see if the r8169 module is loaded
-> lsmod | grep r816
r8168 41104 0
-> lspci -v
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 03)
Subsystem: ASRock Incorporation Device 8168
Kernel driver in use: r8169
Kernel modules: r8169

2) Download the official Realtek driver
Realtek RTL8111/RTL8168

3) Remove the r8169 module
-> rmmod r8169
-> mv /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/r8169.ko ~/r8169.ko.backup
( the ` is a backtick, it is not an apostrophe or single quote )

4) Build the new r8168 module for the kernel
-> bzip2 -d r8168-8.009.00.tar.bz2
-> tar -xf r8168-8.009.00.tar
-> cd r8168-8.009.00
-> make clean modules
-> make install

5) Rebuild the kernel module dependencies
-> depmod -a
-> insmod ./src/r8168.ko

6) Remove the r8169 module from initrd
-> mv /initrd.img ~/initrd.img.backup
-> mkinitramfs -o /boot/initrd.img-`uname -r` `uname -r`

7) Add r8168 module to /etc/modules
-> echo "r8168" >> /etc/modules

8) Reboot, You are done!

9) Examine that ONLY the r8168 module is loaded for the interface
-> lspci -v
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 03)
Subsystem: ASRock Incorporation Device 8168
Kernel driver in use: r8168
Kernel modules: r8168

If you need to, configure your /etc/network/interfaces for dhcp or static address then `sudo ifup eth0`

[eombah]

Thanks a lot, this saved me from buying a new network card for my brand new Dell Vostro 420.

One typo though:

5) Rebuild the kernel module dependencies
-> depmod -a
-> insmod ./src/rr8168.ko

should be:

5) Rebuild the kernel module dependencies
-> depmod -a
-> insmod ./src/r8168.ko

I guess I have to redo this for every kernel update that gets released?

-Bart

[nausicaavow]

Yes, unfortunately this will have to be done for each kernel upgrade. Luckily, it takes only a few minutes.

Thanks I will update the post

[Deflatarat]

Thanks for your post.

I am having trouble compiling the realtek driver. The directory:
/lib/modules/2.6.24-22-server/build
is missing on my system. The Makefile is trying to switch to that directory.

I am assuming that the driver tarball is expecting something in the build directory, probably kernel module sources. I already installed the linux-source-`uname -r` package. What package do I need to install?

I had to download individual .deb pkgs and transfer it to my linux box. Thank goodness for USB flash drives

[Deflatarat]

I should have searched some more before posting. But if you install the following two packages, the build directory will be there.

linux-headers-2.6.24-22-server_2.6.24-22.45_amd64.deb
linux-headers-2.6.24-22_2.6.24-22.45_all.deb

Or sudo apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r`, but my network was down

Replace version number with your `uname -r`. Mine was 2.6.24-22-server.

[cprofitt]

Why is the default kernel not identifying the right driver?

[Phiwum]

I'm afraid these instructions didn't help me.

I have a new HP Pavilion Intel Core2 Quad machine with the following onboard Ethernet controller:

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 02)
        Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device 2a6f
        Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
        Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 32 bytes
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 2298
        Region 0: I/O ports at e800 [size=256]
        Region 2: Memory at febff000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
        Region 4: Memory at f8ff0000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Expansion ROM at febc0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: r8168
        Kernel modules: r8168

As you can see, I'm using the r8168 driver (the latest one available from the realtek site).

The driver works for a while, but seems to crap out after a little while -- typically during a large download. ifconfig shows that the card is still up, but no packets are received. dmesg provides no information about the failure that I can see. You can see here the output of dmesg when I've loaded the module. There's nothing in dmesg about the card going down.

[67522.264022] eth0: no IPv6 routers present
[67988.801622] r8168 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
[67988.817782] r8168 Gigabit Ethernet driver 8.010.00-NAPI loaded
[67988.817830] r8168 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
[67988.817903] r8168 0000:02:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[67988.819477] r8168: This product is covered by one or more of the following patents: US5,307,459, US5,434,872, US5,732,094, US6,570,884, US6,115,776, and US6,327,625.
[67988.819482] eth0: Identified chip type is 'RTL8168C/8111C'.
[67988.819485] eth0: RTL8168B/8111B at 0xffffc20000646000, 00:1e:8c:4d:00:a8, IRQ 2298
[67993.042746] r8168: eth0: link up
[67994.040261] r8168: eth0: link up
[68003.988006] eth0: no IPv6 routers present

If I rmmod and modprobe r8168, then the card works normally (for a while).

I've also tried the r8169 driver (the one selected on a clean install of AMD64 Ubuntu 8.10), but the behavior is just the same. It works for a while and then silently fails.

Here's the output of ifconfig while the card is working.

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1e:8c:4d:00:a8  
          inet addr:192.168.1.3  Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.254.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::21e:8cff:fe4d:a8/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:116 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:128 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:14766 (14.7 KB)  TX bytes:72354 (72.3 KB)
          Interrupt:250 Base address:0x6000

I'm bumfuzzled. It's been a long time since I had any trouble getting an ethernet card to work on Linux, so I'm a bit disappointed with this problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks much.

[Elemaoh]

I seem to have the same problem. Ive tried every "Solution" on the forums, got no errors, still no access to online. Any other ideas?

[dargaud]

Thanks, your instructions worked great. How can I figure out when the issue will be fixed in the kernel ? By looking at the replacement of r8169 by r8168 at kernel.org or somesuch ? I'd like to avoid updating my kernel until this is fixed, so if anyone knows for sure, a note here would be appreciated.

[CFJ0]

I think that this should be included in Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop AND Server editions.
I am trying to run a server on a MB with Realtek RTL8111DL (ASRock G41M-LE) and its a pain to do this fix every time.