Arch Linux

Zer0

Member

From: Windsor, ON, Canada

Registered: 2006-08-25

Posts: 299

Realtek 816x/81x1 series NIC "No Link & WOL" Issues [Solution]

Today I stumbled across a situation that through me for a loop for quite a few hours.  If you have a Realtek 8168/8169/8101/8111 NIC card and are having issues getting it to work in Arch (or even other OS's) then you might be experiencing this problem.

I did a fresh install of XP today on my dual boot system with my custom XP CD which contains new drivers from DriverPacks "slipstreamer".  After my install.. I re-grubbed and booted up Arch.. too my surprise I had no more Network access.  Figuring I might have nuked something when messing with the Arch repair CD (to re install grub).. I looked over my config files but everything seemed to be fine.  So I rebooted my fresh install of Windows.. hmm network is working.

To assure myself that I wasn't going crazy,  I threw in my Arch repair CD again and loaded the network, no card detected.  I tried some other Live CD's (Bart PE, Puppy, Knoppix) and they were all a no go, but they had worked fine in the past.   So I reboot Windows and yup.. the Link Active LED lights up and my network is active.. What the heck is going on?  I am going crazy!

I searched google and eventually came up with something.. If you use official Realtek drivers in Windows dated post May 2007 there seems to be a feature (or bug) where to help disable Wake On Lan the driver disables the card whenever Windows is not running.  You will notice this because the Link light will only be on when Windows is loaded. The normal status of the Link light should be always on while the system is on (after or during POST) on these NICs.  I absolutely hate that these realtek drivers are doing this, as it somewhat affects the hardware.  You can boot Live CD's, different OS's, and maybe older Linux & DOS network apps till your blue in the face and never figure out what was going on.  It's like Windows took control of your NIC and wont let anyone else use it   But you can't blame MS on this one as their driver included with XP doesn't have this issue.. only the Newer Official Realtek ones.

Further scouring these forums results in posts showing that I'm not the only one Arch'er who has experienced this little known problem.  I had searched the forums earlier when I didn't have a solution but I came up with nothing (you really have to dig on this one).

So.. I've posted the known solutions to work in the Network Config Wiki.  If you have more solutions tested please add to it.  Normally I wouldn't announce something in the forums that I also posted in the WIKI but I had a pain finding a solution to this so I hope someone else will find it more easily.

Realtek No Link/WOL Issue - Network Config WIKI

Bapman

Member

From: Ottawa, Canada

Registered: 2007-09-02

Posts: 140

Re: Realtek 816x/81x1 series NIC "No Link & WOL" Issues [Solution]

Great Job !

I noticed that problem too and I was about to post ! I thought that my ethernet cable was crushed... But effectively it happened only when I first boot Windows (I booted it only twice in 2 weeks, that's why this problem did not bother me much) and another reboot under Arch solved the problem...
But I will try your solution when I am back home, it will be less boring than rebooting !

Thanks again

Zer0

Member

From: Windsor, ON, Canada

Registered: 2006-08-25

Posts: 299

Re: Realtek 816x/81x1 series NIC "No Link & WOL" Issues [Solution]

I just tried some more tests to confirm..

1) I booted windows, then shutdown.  I cold booted into Arch 3 times in a row and the Link light remained off and I could not use the NIC.

2) I booted windows, shutdown, then cycled the power to the mobo by removing power from the power supply (via unplug the power cable, or the switch found on some PSUs) for a min.  Then I re-applied power and cold booted.. right away the Link light was on and booting into Arch proved that it was working as expected.

3) Your right.. if you rarely use Windows then it might not be much of an issue.  I only use Windows about once a week to do some gaming, but being that I did a clean install of Windows I was constantly rebooting it when installing games / updates etc.  When I would boot back into Arch I was so mad and completely lost as to what was going on.

There are probably users who boot back and forth between Linux and Windows daily.. and I could see this being an issue for them.  This problems is head scratcher that's for sure.  Thanks for your input.

Last edited by Zer0 (2007-09-12 16:35:45)

christianmlong

Member

Registered: 2013-07-11

Posts: 1

Re: Realtek 816x/81x1 series NIC "No Link & WOL" Issues [Solution]

I was having problems with wake-on-lan on a Realtek 8168. The link light would not stay on in a poweroff state. It did, however, come on during POST.

Here's how I enabled wake-on-lan. In the BIOS, I enabled wake-on-lan, and, (this was the key) I disabled "Deep Sleep Control"