Comments on: A Much Simpler Fix for the r8169 “Link-Down” Problem

By: MetaYii

MetaYii — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:59:39 +0000

With slamd64, kernel 2.6.29.4, it recognized the card, loaded the module, but ifconfig reported "no such device". I came here and followed the hint, placing

/usr/sbin/ethtool -s eth1 autoneg off

at the beginning of the rc.inet1.conf file. It worked. I haven't tested in gigabit, because my desktop switch is 10 Mb., but I'll try later (I hope it gives me 1 gb).

By: Colin

Colin — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:39:44 +0000

Thank you! I've been searching for MONTHS on how to make my NIC built-in to my Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L motherboard work. I'll still monitor the connection for a couple of days but so far, so good.

The only better solution I can think of is if there was an option for the kernel module itself that would turn off auto negotiation.

By: Fremmed

Fremmed — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:33:20 +0000

I just encountered this very situation on one of my boxen, and I think I may have some new information.

I have two identical 8169 NICs (by C-net IIRC) and after about two weeks of continuous operation, with autoneg ON, running at gigabit, I suddenly get the link down problem, and have to turn autoneg off to get link detection again. however, if I swap the NIC for another, identical, card, I get autoneg operation again, for another couple of weeks (I'll make a note of the exact time from now on), at which time the same problem develops, until I switch back to the NIC that stopped working the last time!

By: plops

plops — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:11:45 +0000

I just installed a Slack12.2 on a laptop with said chipset : the 2.6.27.7-smp kernel wouldn't speak to the 100Base-T cable, mii-tool did not find anything...

Well, in fact the "workaround" is stupid : just boot with the damned cable plugged !

I don't do this normally because the box dual-boots with Vista by default and this bitch would destroy itself, in case it can reach any communication cable... I'll have to be double cautious :-(

Anyway, problem solved, thanks for the page.

By: Back on Ubuntu on a Dell Vostro 1510 | VT's Tech Blog

Back on Ubuntu on a Dell Vostro 1510 | VT's Tech Blog — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 19:04:28 +0000

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By: JWS

JWS — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 20:14:26 +0000

Thanks for this, it worked for me with the following steps:

Boot with cable in eth1 (and assign the ip to eth1 also in the interfaces-file)
When booted plug it into eth0 (change the interfaces-file, and restart network. link becomes ready)
Bring down eth1 (ifconfig eth1 down)
Link works again

(where eth0 and eth1 will be the first/second interface)

This is on a Gigabyte mobo with 2 Gigabit NICs, running Debian 2.6.18 kernel

Best way to solve this is just upgrading the kernel :)

By: Jorj

Jorj — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 12:21:34 +0000

rl8169 not work (((

By: Rafael Vuijk

Rafael Vuijk — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:39:35 +0000

Hard to believe though. It’s been so long :) At least the source from realtek gave me back 1000mbit for now. I hope not something else is still broken.

By: adam

adam — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:19:18 +0000

It turns out it was fixed in 2.6.26-rc5, so I’m all set.

By: Rafael Vuijk

Rafael Vuijk — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:14:07 +0000

Seems like the netdevice struct misses the member named 'owner'. Add #define SETMODULE_OWNER(dev) and it will compile.