Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

handy · 2012-01-01 05:59:57

I upgraded to kernel 3.1.6-1-x86_64 today & found later on that on reboot I rarely was able to connect to the internet.

I downgraded to kernel 3.1.5-1 & have thoroughly tested that the problem no longer exists.

Linux rightpc 3.1.5-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Dec 10 14:43:09 CET 2011 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2100 CPU @ 3.10GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

Last edited by handy (2012-05-05 01:03:09)

headkase · 2012-01-01 06:37:39

I probably won't be able to help much but some information I imagine would be useful:

How do you connect to the internet (wired or wireless)?

Are you using a proxy? DHCP or static IP?

Which kernel module(s) are used for your connection?

Can you manually bring the interface up in a terminal? And by this I mean it's not a higher-level program failing like gnome-network-manager?

For what it's worth, I'm on 3.1.6 now and my internet is working fine, wired connection (8139too kernel module).

Last edited by headkase (2012-01-01 06:40:25)

handy · 2012-01-01 06:47:52

headkase wrote:

I probably won't be able to help much but some information I imagine would be useful:

Thanks though I'm not too enthusiastic for testing at the mo'.

headkase wrote:

How do you connect to the internet (wired or wireless)?

Wired.

headkase wrote:

Which kernel module(s) are used for your connection?

No idea?

headkase wrote:

Can you manually bring the interface up in a terminal? And by this I mean it's not a higher-level program failing like gnome-network-manager?

I'm using the previous kernel at the moment & am so tired that I don't really want to reinstall & then check. Sorry (& its not from partying unfortunately).

headkase wrote:

For what it's worth, I'm on 3.1.6 now and my internet is working fine, wired connection (8139too kernel module).

I mainly posted this thread in case someone else was having the same problem it may collect some input.

I'm happy enough to wait for a kernel version that does work properly on my machine (providing I don't have to wait too long of course). Sorry for being a bit of a time waster, I do appreciate your effort though. I hope this year is satisfying for you.

[edit:] I just caught your edit.

I'm using static on the two machines in my office, just for the benefit of my NFS LAN & sharing the keyboard/mouse between the two machines with synergy, as my modem/router can occasionally dish out a different IP address. No Proxy.

Last edited by handy (2012-01-01 06:52:05)

KingX · 2012-01-01 16:12:18

Just for the sake of clarity, did you compile 3.1.6 on your own? or is it the stock 3.1.6-ARCH upgrade through pacman -Syu?

I am running 3.1.6 without issues on my desktop (wired) and laptop (wireless) but both are custom compiled kernels.

handy · 2012-01-01 21:43:15

Just the standard stable kernel from the Arch repo.

I've installed it on my other machine & there are no problems there at all.

This is what hwd says about the ethernet card:

RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller module: r8169

handy · 2012-01-05 22:48:10

I just installed the new kernel 3.1.7-1-ARCH x86_64, & I could do 6 reboots & have the internet functioning each time.

So it would seem that the problem that my machine had with the previous kernel has been solved.

(Though I won't be around for 4 days, for more serious testing, I know that there was no way I could have got 6 reboots & internet before the upgrade.)

handy · 2012-01-09 08:19:19

Just got back today & booted up this troubled machine & found that I had no internet or NFS again.

So I downgraded to the Linux 3.1.5.* & this time it made no difference. Still no network.

Now I'm going to have to go through the hardware it would seem - cable & NIC anyway.

The other machines in the house (1 Arch, the other OS/X) are having no problems.

[edit:] I just rebooted & finally got the internet, so I upgraded to linux 3.1.8.* , I'll see if this manages to help.

Of course I too am wondering if the kernel has anything to do with this problem now, as it could very well be just a matter of circumstances/timing that has made it look that way??

Time will eventually tell.

Last edited by handy (2012-01-09 08:34:21)

andrew-wja · 2012-01-09 22:19:22

This looks like a problem I (and a bunch of others on here) had a little while ago, with the r8168 and r8169 drivers for that network chip (Realtek 8111). I fixed it by adding the following to /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf: "blacklist r8169", (minus the quotes) and then installing the r8168 driver from the AUR. It might work for you as well. Can you paste the output of "lspci | grep 816" and "dmesg | grep 816" just to be sure of which driver is loading?

handy · 2012-01-09 22:36:13

@andrew-wja: Thanks for your reply.

handy ~  $  lspci | grep 816
06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 06)

handy ~  $  dmesg | grep 816
[    0.629637] pci 0000:06:00.0: [10ec:8168] type 0 class 0x000200
[    1.281662] scsi2 : ahci
[    6.835268] r8169 Gigabit Ethernet driver 2.3LK-NAPI loaded
[    6.835284] r8169 0000:06:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
[    6.835319] r8169 0000:06:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[    6.835378] r8169 0000:06:00.0: irq 42 for MSI/MSI-X
[    6.835510] r8169 0000:06:00.0: eth0: RTL8168e/8111e at 0xffffc9000065a000, e0:69:95:e3:55:5a, XID 0c200000 IRQ 42
[    8.410027] r8169 0000:06:00.0: eth0: link down
[    8.410034] r8169 0000:06:00.0: eth0: link down
[   10.025694] r8169 0000:06:00.0: eth0: link up

andrew-wja · 2012-01-09 22:39:29

Ok, you appear to have the same piece of network hardware as I had when this happened to me. Try the following: edit (as root) /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf and add a line "blacklist r8169" at the bottom (the file is most likely empty with a comment or two at the top). Then install the package "r8168" from the AUR using yaourt/packer/whichever AUR helper you prefer, and reboot. That solved the problem for me!

handy · 2012-01-09 23:38:06

@andrew-wja: Thanks so much.

I added blacklist r8169 to the /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf file that I made in the past & installed the r8168 driver from AUR as you suggested & now I get the following:

handy ~  $  dmesg | grep 816
[    0.628816] pci 0000:00:1f.2: [8086:1c02] type 0 class 0x000106
[    0.629587] pci 0000:06:00.0: [10ec:8168] type 0 class 0x000200
[    1.281608] scsi3 : ahci
[    1.281674] scsi4 : ahci
[    7.133689] r8168 Gigabit Ethernet driver 8.027.00-NAPI loaded
[    7.133710] r8168 0000:06:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
[    7.133736] r8168 0000:06:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[    7.133805] r8168 0000:06:00.0: irq 42 for MSI/MSI-X
[    7.134055] eth%d: RTL8168B/8111B at 0xffffc90000650000, e0:69:95:e3:55:5a, IRQ 42
[    7.279441] 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.
[    7.279444] eth0: Identified chip type is 'RTL8168E/8111E'.
[    7.279445] r8168  Copyright (C) 2011  Realtek NIC software team <nicfae@realtek.com> 
[    8.381600] scsi 6:0:0:1: Direct-Access     Generic- Compact Flash    1.01 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0
[    8.919790] r8168: eth0: link down
[   11.318169] r8168: eth0: link up
[   11.928585] r8168: eth0: link up

I fairly confidently expect (after hearing what you have had to say; it also makes good sense) that this machine should now be free of the intermittent NIC related problems that it has been suffering from recently.

I'll give it a bit of work before I put this thread to bed with [SOLVED] in the title.

spctrl · 2012-01-10 00:13:35

I got this problem a while back.. I got rid of my (really) old TP cable and put a new cat-6 in, and that seems to have solved my problems. My symptoms were that the switch would have the corresponding port's light off, until it fell back to 100mbit connect rather than 1gbit and this caused dhcp to time out. I temporarily solved that by putting DHCPCD_ARGS="-q -b" in /etc/conf.d/dhcpcd to run it in the background so it would retry later after the switch and network card had agreed on a speed setting. Don't know if this is the same issue you are having, because this started to happen a lot earlier than the last kernel update for me.. Worth a mention anyway.

handy · 2012-01-10 09:55:18

Thanks spctrl, I expect that your info' may help someone else, though I think I'm in a different boat.

I'm only running 100/mbit & the info' that andrew-wja supplied about the realtek NIC's & Arch not supplying the correct driver for my NIC's chip set really does look like it is the answer (so far it is proving to be, but I'll give it another couple of days yet before I'll be 100% sure).

handy · 2012-01-10 09:56:06

double post for some unknown reason?

Last edited by handy (2012-01-10 10:09:47)

handy · 2012-01-13 06:25:10

Today, after the troublesome machine had been online for some hours it dropped both the NFS network & the ability to go online.

I have rebooted it a few times & left it off for an hour (well & truly cool down) & it still has the problem. Though from past experience I expect I will be able to shut it off overnight & tomorrow it will boot up to a network connection as per usual.

Pain in the RR's really.

Last edited by handy (2012-01-20 22:47:49)

handy · 2012-01-13 22:54:10

As expected this morning the machine booted with network functioning.

I wonder how long it will last this time?

handy · 2012-01-14 02:24:15

It just failed again. Network all gone after ~3.5 hours.

Last edited by handy (2012-01-14 02:24:41)

handy · 2012-01-20 22:24:05

I've been running a Win7 drive in the machine for a number of days now & there has been no network loss, so this is certainly starting to look like a system problem not hardware.

handy · 2012-01-21 11:57:03

Lost the LAN connection again after some hours, so I turned the machine off & sat the Win7 drive in it & connected it. Booted Windows & there was NO LAN available!

At last confirmation of a hardware problem.

So I searched in the shed & found another CAT-5 cable long enough, plugged it in & got instant LAN access in Win7.

I've used the Win7 system (its only job is to play Skyrim ) for some hours today. Still had LAN when I killed Skyrim. Connected the Arch drive up & have LAN. I'll leave it on overnight & see if I still have a LAN connection in the morning.

Hopefully I will.

P.S. @spctrl: I know you recommended to try replacing the cable earlier in this thread. I've been focussed on other things & dragged my feet on getting to that one.

handy · 2012-01-21 22:33:20

The machine maintained its connection to the LAN overnight, I'm confident enough that this problem is at last (so simply as is usual) [SOLVED] that I'll mark the thread as such.

handy · 2012-02-02 10:42:16

This boring saga continues, the problem wasn't fixed by the replacement cable, it is just plain intermittent.

I've ordered a new NIC, which really "should" solve the problem. If it does, then the machine goes back for a motherboard replacement, as it should be proof that the on-board network hardware is faulty.

handy · 2012-02-02 10:43:25

This boring saga continues, the problem wasn't fixed by the replacement cable, it is just plain intermittent.

I've ordered a new NIC, which really "should" solve the problem. If it does, then the machine goes back for a motherboard replacement, as it should be proof that the on-board network hardware is faulty.

handy · 2012-02-03 22:57:56

Installed the new NIC yesterday & have run the machine for about 20 hours now without losing the LAN. So thus far it is looking good.

I'll test it for a week before I mark this thread as solved (again). After which I'll send the machine back for a warranty motherboard replacement.

handy · 2012-02-27 23:50:30

The replacement NIC I bought turns out to have the same hardware on it!!! BUT, it is revision 06 as opposed to revision 01 & it has been OK. A few times I've booted & got no network but it has always given me connection on the next boot.

I think that people should avoid this hardware:

Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 01)

I'd stay away from any revision if possible, at least until the Linux driver works properly with it.

handy · 2012-05-05 00:58:42

The r8169 has become incompatible with the new kernel: 3.3.4-2-ARCH

Thankfully the r8168 driver now seems to be working (it works on boot-up).

I'm looking forward to being able put a [SOLVED] on this problem.

Last edited by handy (2012-05-05 00:59:32)

Arch Linux

#1 2012-01-01 05:59:57

Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#2 2012-01-01 06:37:39

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#3 2012-01-01 06:47:52

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#4 2012-01-01 16:12:18

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#5 2012-01-01 21:43:15

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#6 2012-01-05 22:48:10

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#7 2012-01-09 08:19:19

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#8 2012-01-09 22:19:22

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#9 2012-01-09 22:36:13

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#10 2012-01-09 22:39:29

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#11 2012-01-09 23:38:06

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#12 2012-01-10 00:13:35

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#13 2012-01-10 09:55:18

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#14 2012-01-10 09:56:06

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#15 2012-01-13 06:25:10

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#16 2012-01-13 22:54:10

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#17 2012-01-14 02:24:15

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#18 2012-01-20 22:24:05

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#19 2012-01-21 11:57:03

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#20 2012-01-21 22:33:20

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#21 2012-02-02 10:42:16

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#22 2012-02-02 10:43:25

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#23 2012-02-03 22:57:56

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#24 2012-02-27 23:50:30

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

#25 2012-05-05 00:58:42

Re: Kernel upgrade(s)/other cause? -> of no internet/LAN on boot? r8168:

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