Arch Linux

qibi20

Member

Registered: 2021-09-15

Posts: 4

[SOLVED] Can't load network module at boot

Hello,

for some reason the module for my Ethernet is not loaded at boot anymore. I think virt-manager somehow messed it up, but it's just a guess.

So every time after boot i have to load the module for the Ethernet manually via

modprobe r8169

Is there any way to fix this so the module gets loaded automatically again?

I checked the wiki and created a file

/etc/modules-load.d/r8169.conf

with the text

r8169

but it does not work.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Kernel … th_systemd

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Last edited by qibi20 (2021-09-15 14:00:23)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,302

Re: [SOLVED] Can't load network module at boot

The usual cause here is because you installed a variant of r8168 previously, which contains a blacklist which prevents autoload.

You might want to in general check the relevant modprobe.d directories under /etc/ and /usr/lib

Last edited by V1del (2021-09-15 13:29:21)

qibi20

Member

Registered: 2021-09-15

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] Can't load network module at boot

modprobe.d under /etc/ is empty.

modprobe.d under /usr/lib contains the file r8168.conf with the content

 blacklist r8169 

just as you said.

What would be a possible fix, could i just remove this file?

Last edited by qibi20 (2021-09-15 13:40:25)

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,302

Re: [SOLVED] Can't load network module at boot

No, remove the r8168{,-lts} package.

Or rather you could but it would come back when the relevant r8168 package gets updated which will generally happen on every kernel update.

Last edited by V1del (2021-09-15 13:43:23)

qibi20

Member

Registered: 2021-09-15

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] Can't load network module at boot

I removed the r8168 package and r8169 gets loaded at boot again.

Thanks!

Do you know why r8169 gets blacklisted? And is there any long-term solution?

V1del

Forum Moderator

Registered: 2012-10-16

Posts: 25,302

Re: [SOLVED] Can't load network module at boot

That is the long term solution. The r8168 package exists because there are/used to be chipsets that had a problem with the newer r8169 driver included in the kernel and r8168 is provided as an alternative in case that one happens to be unstable. Which apparently was the case for you at least once otherwise you'd not have needed the r8168 package in the first place. In theory all NICs supported by either should be properly supported by the r8169 driver that's in the kernel.

Don't forget to mark as [SOLVED] by editing the title line in your first post.

Last edited by V1del (2021-09-15 13:58:17)

qibi20

Member

Registered: 2021-09-15

Posts: 4

Re: [SOLVED] Can't load network module at boot

r8168 does not work for me though. Only r8169 does.

Marked it as SOLVED!