r8169 net driver on CentOS 7.6

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ywfn
Posts: 13
Joined: 2018/05/15 02:13:29

r8169 net driver on CentOS 7.6

Post by ywfn » 2018/12/14 05:22:32

Anyone else having trouble with Realtek net chips that use the r8169 driver on CentOS 7.6?

So far, both systems I've upgraded that have r8169 networking have both become unusable after upgrading from 7.5 -> 7.6. Fortunately, I don't have too many systems with these Realtek net chips but I know they're popular on cheap motherboards and I'll be encountering a lot more later.

Don't see anything in the CentOS or RHEL bug tracker for 7.6 related to r8169.

ywfn
Posts: 13
Joined: 2018/05/15 02:13:29

Re: r8169 net driver on CentOS 7.6

Post by ywfn » 2018/12/14 05:54:27

Had to install kmod-r8168 from ELRepo to get a working net connection.

r8169 worked fine for this net chip in 7.5, looks like definitely some new breakage in 7.6 for this hardware:

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)
PCI ID: 10ec:8168

mashiro2004
Posts: 68
Joined: 2018/12/08 21:46:22
Location: Italy

Re: r8169 net driver on CentOS 7.6

Post by mashiro2004 » 2018/12/15 12:39:42

hi, on my notebook i've this driver:

01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)

I have a clean install of Centos 7.6.
Before install kmod-r8168 from Elrepo the issue was that the boot are very very slow and many broadcast errors and failed to get ip from dhcp. After 2 or 3 minutes after logon the network card get the ip and all full work, but with errors warning.

After the install of kmod-r8168 seems to be all in full working order.

Excuse me for my terrible english.

Regards

Simone

ywfn
Posts: 13
Joined: 2018/05/15 02:13:29

Re: r8169 net driver on CentOS 7.6

Post by ywfn » 2018/12/16 01:48:20

I had one computer that worked like you described after moving to CentOS 7.6. An r8169 kernel error soon after startup, fails to get an IP address via DHCP at first etc. Eventually it seemed to settle down and the link came up after roughly 3 minutes, but I'm not sure I'd trust it. Going back to CentOS 7.5 wasn't a realistic option, so I ended up replacing that motherboard with one that had an Intel net chip.

The second computer that this problem has hit (the rev 15 lspci I linked above) simply doesn't work at all. Net link goes up and down constantly, every few seconds, indefinitely. Replacing the motherboard wasn't an option here, so this is the one I installed kmod-r8168 on, and now works perfectly.

These chips are extremely common on cheap boards, so I'd expect a ton of people are going to be hit by this eventually - upgrade to 7.6 and networking is now dead.

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