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ozar
Premium
join:2008-04-13
USA
 ·Embarq
| Realtek RTL8111C Controller Compatibility Hey guys, I've already posted this on a couple of "Linux only" forums but nobody seems to know the answer, so figured it might not hurt to look for any potential help here, too.
I have a new motherboard due to arrive in a few days and am trying to determine in advance if I'll need to download and compile the r8168 driver from the Realtek website in order to have a working network connection, or if the r8169 driver included with the Linux kernel by default will now work with the RTL8111C LAN controller chip? I do know from other posts here and there that there were lots of problems a few months ago when trying to use the r8169 driver with that chip.
Do any of you happen to know if the r8168 driver has been merged with the r8169 driver in the most recent kernel releases, or would you happen to be running the 8111c chip and it's working well with the current r8169 driver?
Thanks in advance for any help.
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oz | |
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Cabal
Premium
join:2007-01-21
Boston, MA
1 edit | Re: Realtek RTL8111C Controller Compatibility Which motherboard? The Realtek (bleh) in my Gigabyte EP35-DS3L worked fine with both the 2.6.18 kernel included in Debian Etch and the 2.6.24 that is part of Etch And A Half (due in 4.0r4). I'm not sure *exactly* which chip it is, though, but it's probably not the 8111C, sorry.
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 01)
Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Unknown device e000
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 218
I/O ports at c000 [size=256]
Memory at f9000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at fa100000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities:
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Would you trust a brain surgeon with two years' experience? | |
| | ozar
Premium
join:2008-04-13
USA
·Embarq
| Re: Realtek RTL8111C Controller Compatibility Thanks for the info, Cabal.
I think the difference is in the B and C versions of the 8111, but not sure. The motherboard itself is the GA-X48T-DQ6:
»www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Mot···X48T-DQ6
It seems from what I've read that the r8169 driver in the kernel does not work well with the 8111C, but I'm hoping that perhaps the r8168 driver that was meant to run the 8111C has been merged into the r8169 driver that's included with the kernel.
Thanks again for your reply.
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oz | |
| 
shdesigns
Powered By Infinite Improbabilty Drive
Premium
join:2000-12-01
Stone Mountain, GA
·Atlantic Nexus
1 edit | I use the r8169 driver.
It has had problems over the last 2 years. Sometimes compiled as a module worked better, other times compiled in worked better.
My main issue was it would not negotiate a connection correctly on a warm boot. If I reset the switch it would work (unplugging the cable did not help.)
I checked 2.6.23 and it does not list 8111c in the source.
My other box with 2.6.25 has the 8111c listed in the driver.
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Scott Henion
Embedded Systems Consultant, shenion on #ATU @irc.freenode.net
SHDesigns home | |
| | ozar
Premium
join:2008-04-13
USA | Re: Realtek RTL8111C Controller Compatibility Ok, thanks a bunch, shdesigns. That's what I was hoping to hear.
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oz | |
| | | | | garywk
join:2001-03-06
Clarkston, WA
| Re: Realtek RTL8111C Controller Compatibility said by ozar  :Didn't work for me.  I installed Arch Linux with the 2.6.25.10 kernel and it used the r8169 driver. The connection does work on very rare occasions, but it fails after most reboots. The r8168 driver wouldn't compile for me, either. It's a terrible thing to say, but I had to install WinXP just to get back online to find a fix.  Still searching, but thanks to all that have replied. I have the RTL8111/R8168B chip in a Biostar A770 motherboard. It won't work with the 2.6.25-2-amd64 or 2.6.18-amd64 kernel (not recognized). It does work with the 2.6.24-1-amd64 kernel though. Well, at least most of the time anyway. If I try to do a packet capture with Wireshark on that interface I have to ifup/ifdown that interface again before it will work.
I have 2 NICs (2nd NIC not the same chipset) and both will stop carrying HTTP traffic under both the 2.6.18 and 2.6.25 kernels if I start up the Marvell NIC or do a packet capture under the 2.6.24 kernel. To fix that I have to ifdown the problem NIC under the 2.6.18 and 2.6.25 kernels. Under the 2.6.24 kernel I have to stop the capture and ifdown the Marvell NIC. As soon as I do that the other NIC starts sending/receiving normally again and then I can restart the Marvell NIC.
BTW, these are stock Debian kernel images. I've tried compiling the source code for the driver from realtek too, but it won't compile on my machine. | |
| 
piper_
join:2001-04-19
Buffalo, NY
3 edits | Works fine here out of the box (sidux)
piper@bongmaster:~$ infobash -v3
Host/Kernel/OS "bongmaster" running Linux 2.6.25-10.slh.1-sidux-686 i686 [ kde-full-piper-special - (200806151535) ]
CPU Info (1) AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ 512 KB cache flags( sse3 nx lm svm ) clocked at [ 2200.000 MHz ]
(2) AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200+ 512 KB cache flags( sse3 nx lm svm ) clocked at [ 2200.000 MHz ]
Videocard nVidia G71 [GeForce 7900 GS] X.Org 1.4.2 [ 1600x1200@50.0hz ]
Network cards Realtek RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller, at port: ee00
Processes 106 | Uptime 1:16 | Memory 251.8/2026.3MB | HDD ATA ST3320620AS,ATA ST3500630AS,ATA ST3320620AS Size 1140GB (49%used) | GLX Renderer GeForce 7900 GS/PCI/SSE2/3DNOW! | GLX Version 2.1.2 NVIDIA 177.13 | Client Shell | Infobash v3.01
also works fine out of the box using Dreamlinux, Mandriva, Sabayon, PClos, Bugnux in both hard drive installs and vbox
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proudly anti-micro$oft using sidux
| |
| ozar
Premium
join:2008-04-13
USA
·Embarq
| Thanks for the replies, garywk and piper_.
Mine is the RTL8111C, but I don't know if that matters. I've been reading about lots of others going through the same problems.
I've tried the 32-bit and the 64-bit versions of both, Arch and Ubuntu, and they both show to have a working connection, but none of them will actually transmit, or receive any data.
All works well in Windows XP, though.
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oz | |
| ozar
Premium
join:2008-04-13
USA
·Embarq
| Update...
I've tried just about everything I can think of, but nothing works. I've also found a patch to supposedly fix this, but it's for the 2.6.26-rc6 kernel:
»userweb.kernel.org/~romieu/r8169/2.6.26-rc6/
In the interim, I've finally got internet under Linux again, but the real problem (8111c chip & r8168/r8169 driver) remains unsolved.
After digging around in my spare parts box, I put a Cnet Pro200WL card in that uses the 'tulip' driver, and it didn't work. It showed as UP in ifconfig, but nothing would go up or down across the connection. I took it out and replaced it with a card that uses the 8139 Realtek drivers, and that worked. Had that failed, I was going to try the old standby, Linksys LNE100TX card that I have on hand.
Now all that's needed is a fix so the redundant card can be removed and I can use the default controllers on the new motherboard.
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oz | |
| | ozar
Premium
join:2008-04-13
USA
·Embarq
| Re: Realtek RTL8111C Controller Compatibility said by ozar :I took it out and replaced it with a card that uses the 8139 Realtek drivers, and that worked. Had that failed, I was going to try the old standby, Linksys LNE100TX card that I have on hand. I'm finding that Realtek chips and Linux don't mix well at all, at least for me.
The Realtek driven network card that I employed to temporarily fix the original problem started giving me connection issues, so I've now moved on to the Linksys card described above and all is well, at least until the real issue is fixed.
This last week of pure frustration has taught me to think carefully before purchasing any more hardware for my Linux box that is driven by Realtek drivers. When, and if they begin to show better support for Linux, I'll have another look at their efforts.
Thanks to all that replied! 
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oz | |
| | |
shdesigns
Powered By Infinite Improbabilty Drive
Premium
join:2000-12-01
Stone Mountain, GA
·Atlantic Nexus
| Re: Realtek RTL8111C Controller Compatibility I have had no real problems with realtek cards (other than the old 10mbit ones.)
My 2 r8169 cards work with no problems other than an occasional problem on warm boot (reset switch fixes issue.) My PC's are rarely restarted. They even support NAPI.
All my 10/100 realtek cards work flawlessly.
Gigabit cards have been a problem until recent kernels. the drivers are new. My Marvell Yukon did not work for a long time in linux.
PCI-E is also new.
Oh, the LNE100 is buggy, don't even attempt it. I find them to be the worst cards made.
What do you mean by "connection issues". Like I said I had problems with the realtek cards restarting on a warm boot. Switching between compiled-in vs module usually fixed it. Powering dow/up the switch seem to usually fix it (unplugging/plugging the cable did not.) They always worked on a cold boot.
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Scott Henion
Embedded Systems Consultant, shenion on #ATU @irc.freenode.net
SHDesigns home | |
| | | | ozar
Premium
join:2008-04-13
USA | Re: Realtek RTL8111C Controller Compatibility lol... the LNE100TX is working great for me, at least so far!
I'll probably keep using it until it gives problems, or until I get the onboard controllers to work.
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oz | |
| | |
Cabal
Premium
join:2007-01-21
Boston, MA
| said by ozar :said by ozar :I took it out and replaced it with a card that uses the 8139 Realtek drivers, and that worked. Had that failed, I was going to try the old standby, Linksys LNE100TX card that I have on hand. I'm finding that Realtek chips and Linux don't mix well at all, at least for me. Let's be fair, they don't work well in any OS.  I'm still using the Realtek on my Gigabye EP35-DSL until it gives me a reason to replace it, but everywhere else it's Intel's e1000 (PCI or PCI-E). 3com's 3c905 series were hot back in the 100 Mbit days, as well.
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Interested in open source engine management for your Subaru? | |
| ozar
Premium
join:2008-04-13
USA
·Embarq
1 edit | Some good news for r8111c controller users...
Realtek has posted an updated driver (07-17-08) on their site that might help some get their r8111c controller to work:
»www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/dow···=false#2
I'll be trying it later today to see if it works on my box.
Good luck to you all.
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oz | |
| ozar
Premium
join:2008-04-13
USA | Yippee... the new driver compiled and is working great as I type this!
Will report back if it should break after a reboot...
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oz | |
| | ozar
Premium
join:2008-04-13
USA
·Embarq
1 edit | Re: Realtek RTL8111C Controller Compatibility Update...
Have rebooted quite a few times now and things are still working, so guess I'll consider this issue resolved, at least for now. It'll still be better when it's fixed directly within the Linux kernel, though.
Thanks to all that replied.
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oz | |
| ozar
Premium
join:2008-04-13
USA
·Embarq
| * Just an update for anyone else having issues with this controller:
Something strange is going on, because now the link to the driver is showing the older driver that would not compile on Arch and lots of other distributions, and the driver date is showing July 18, 2008.
It appears that they may have pulled the 8.007.00 driver that was posted on July 17th, and put the older driver back up. Not sure why they may have done that, but I was never able to get the 006 version of the driver to compile at all, and apparently lots of others weren't either.
Maybe they'll repost the new driver in the next day, or two.
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oz | |
| ozar
Premium
join:2008-04-13
USA
·Embarq
| Just wanted to update this with another possible fix for anyone that might need it...
The issues described above were all fixed with the installation of the newest kernel (2.6.26), and the onboard 8111c network controllers are now working properly with the r8169 drivers already included with the new kernel.
Hope it helps someone.
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oz | |
| | nitzan
Premium,VIP
join:2008-02-27
 ·ViaTalk
 ·Comcast
| Re: Realtek RTL8111C Controller Compatibility I just got it fixed too!.. I tossed the motherboard in the trash and got another brand...
Seriously though, this piece of crap (Gigabyte board with a Realtek NIC) has cost me countless hours of troubleshooting mysterious problems. Anywhere from the NIC committing harakiri in the middle of the day, never to be found again until next reboot - to the motherboard not making nice with the hard disk which results in painful all-out 30 second freezes.
Interestingly enough - all other equipment the same - all problems were resolved by switching to another motherboard (non-Gigabyte, nVidia chipset, and NO REALCRAP NIC). The ironic thing is the new motherboard cost less than half of the original one, yet is absolutely problem free.
I guess these are all driver problems, and Linux doesn't play nice with GB and RT.. but to be honest I don't really care who's fault it is - point is boards with Realtek NICs seem to not work well with Linux. I have learned my lesson and will stay away from those in the future.
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Nitzan Kon, CEO
Future Nine Corporation | |
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shdesigns
Powered By Infinite Improbabilty Drive
Premium
join:2000-12-01
Stone Mountain, GA
·Atlantic Nexus
| Re: Realtek RTL8111C Controller Compatibility I would not blame realtek, I use them on most of my systems.
I have had problems with some cheap boards, seem they skimped on the MAC layer hw or used real odd interrupt routing.
Most likely it is the gigabyte MB interrupt logic. I have seen others with the same problem.
I have several ASUS MB's that had on-board Realtek NICs or used my RT boards. Never a problem.
I do use Intel boards in my server as it has the best performance and better driver.
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Scott Henion
Embedded Systems Consultant, shenion on #ATU @irc.freenode.net
SHDesigns home | |
| 
GILXA1226
Premium,MVM
join:2000-12-29
London, OH
clubs:
| I know you've gotten it fixed, but just wanted to let you know that I've got the exact same Motherboard and have gentoo running on it and I've never had an issue with any of the latest kernels in terms of drivers.
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We don't give a d@mn for the whole state of Michigan... we're from OHIO! O!H! ... I!O! | |
| | ozar
Premium
join:2008-04-13
USA
·Embarq
| Re: Realtek RTL8111C Controller Compatibility Yeah, for some it's been working all along, for some it only works intermittently, and for some it hasn't been working at all. I'm not at all sure why, though.
Actually, it did work for me on one particular boot, but not ever again after that until I used the new drivers on the Realtek site, and then again today after installing the new kernel.
Thanks for the reply.
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oz | |
| | | ozar
Premium
join:2008-04-13
USA | Re: Realtek RTL8111C Controller Compatibility Yeah, I was already aware of that bug.
I don't dual boot, so it doesn't apply to me anyway.
Thanks for the reply, though.
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oz | |
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