Realtek Driver 8169.0s2 won't run on Asus MB

[babydoc]

New Asus MB, M5A 78L-M LX Plus, has on board LAN chip, 10ECh/8168h, that will not run with driver 8168 0.2.1. Driver loads but cannot connect to LAN. (A plug in NIC with another chip does work.) I tried to see if this Realtec chip is supported by the driver, but I cannot interpret the series of versions as listed. Should this driver support this chip?

[babydoc]

trace file for r8169-0.1.2 (mr8169.ftf0

[babydoc]

I loaded a Linux distro (Mageia 2, 64 bit), to my Computer and the installation found the Lan controller that will not run with the eCS driver, 8168 0.2.1,and ran well with it when using Firefox. Mageia saw the controller as Realtek 8111/8168B PCI Express Ethernet Controller.

[David Azarewicz]

I would like to see the /var/log/kern.log file from your Linux installation. If you can zip that and attach it to this ticket, that would be great.

[babydoc]

Replying to dazarewicz:

I would like to see the /var/log/kern.log file from your Linux installation. If you can zip that and attach it to this ticket, that would be great.

I am a very new user of Linux so it took me some time to get the files from /var/log/kernel, but the six that were there are attached as a ZIP file. Remember that I also have a Realtek ethernet 100 MB controller plugged into the MB that uses the 8139 driver. I hope one of these files will help you.

[David Azarewicz]

There are only 2 files in log1.zip and both are just error logs and are useless. I need either the install log or a boot log.

[babydoc]

I could not find an install.log, so i sent boot.log and system.log. The system log was too big to send so I cut all entries from Feb 17. I hope this info helps you.

[David Azarewicz]

There is nothing about networking in the boot.zip. The syslog should be fine except that you have to actually put it into the zip file.

[babydoc]

new syslog from Megeia2

[David Azarewicz]

Thank you, that is the log I wanted.

Did you say that the 8168/8169/8111 hardware works with Linux, or not? According to the syslog, it is not working.

[babydoc]

Replying to dazarewicz:

Thank you, that is the log I wanted.

Did you say that the 8168/8169/8111 hardware works with Linux, or not? According to the syslog, it is not working.

Yes, it works fine in Linux (Mageia2, 64 bit). Because it does not work in eCS I have another Realtek PCI card plugged in and I had that one connected to my router when I last installed and Linux.

[babydoc]

I want to explain better what happened when I ran the R8169 driver on my MB with a Realtek LAN chip in eCS 2.1. I ran R8169 v.0.0.4, and then v.0.2.1. Firefox opened a page and then froze the computer, requiring a hard reboot. At first the cursor moved slowly in jerks for 2-3 moves, then everything froze. Thunderbird connected and downloaded 3 emails, then froze in the same manner.

I ran the eCS 2.2 Demo Beta CD which installed the R8169 v 0.2.1 driver. Firefox opened, tried to connect with its home page and froze the system, requiring a hard boot.I hope this information is useful in debugging the problem.

[babydoc]

Trap screen of R8168 0.3.1

[babydoc]

Using build 0.3.1 of R8169 on my Asus MB gave a Trap D in boot. A picture of the trap screen is attached.

[babydoc]

The output of RTLChipid.exe after unplugging the temporary R8139 card,

"Found Realtek NIC at bus 2:0:0: 10EC:8168 version 33 (RTL8168evl/8111evl)"

The MB is ASUS M5A 78L-M LX Plus. The instruction booklet says that the LAN has a Realtek RTL8111 PCIe Gigabit Controller.

[David Azarewicz]

Please try the 0.3.1 version which was just released.

[babydoc]

The 5/16/2013 ver 0.3.1 of R8169.OS2 does not work on this Asus MB with Realtek chip. Firefox cannot connect to the page and I cannot load router setup at 192.168.1.1. Here is trace file.

[David Azarewicz]

1. The 0.3.1 R8169 was release on 17-May-2013, not 16-May-2013. Get the current install package from the BetaZone.

2. The older driver can put the hardware into a bad state. Make sure you completely power off your system and remove the power plug for at least 30 seconds to reset the hardware.

[rbri]

Hi David,

i'm using the same MB and had faced the same problems with the old driver.
Have downloaded the new one yesterday and it seem to work here.
No problems so far.

Many thanks

RBRi

[babydoc]

David, Thanks for the great effort you have put into this project.

I download R8169.OS2 (0.3.1, 55,968 bytes)from the Mensys Betazone, which appears to be the same file I had tried yesterday from the eComstation Betazone. I let the MB sit without any power after it had run with no LAN driver and after I had installed the new driver. I turned the LAN chip off and on a few times in BIOS, as well as its boot ROM. It ran well from Linux on the same MB. It still does not work (FF cannot connect, I cannot ping my router). Have you got a utility that willslap the LAN chip upside its electronic head to clear its senses, or that can read its firmware to let you see if it is different from others of its kind? By the way, I tried all the various parameters in the protocol.ini to no avail.

[David Azarewicz]

Replying to rbri:

Hi David,

i'm using the same MB and had faced the same problems with the old driver.
Have downloaded the new one yesterday and it seem to work here.
No problems so far.

Many thanks

RBRi

Thanks for the feedback. I also have the same motherboard. It is what I used to do the debugging on.

[David Azarewicz]

Replying to babydoc:

David, Thanks for the great effort you have put into this project.

I download R8169.OS2 (0.3.1, 55,968 bytes)from the Mensys Betazone, which appears to be the same file I had tried yesterday from the eComstation Betazone. I let the MB sit without any power after it had run with no LAN driver and after I had installed the new driver. I turned the LAN chip off and on a few times in BIOS, as well as its boot ROM. It ran well from Linux on the same MB. It still does not work (FF cannot connect, I cannot ping my router). Have you got a utility that willslap the LAN chip upside its electronic head to clear its senses, or that can read its firmware to let you see if it is different from others of its kind? By the way, I tried all the various parameters in the protocol.ini to no avail.

Ok. I guess you have the correct warpin file. I suggest you re-run the R8169 warpin installer and reinstall the retail version. It does no harm to do this again as it only overwrites the existing files. Then use MPTS to uninstall and re-install the R8169 driver using only the defaults. Don't edit the PROTOCOL.INI or change anything that the MPTS does. Then reboot and see if it works. Your hardware has already been proven to work with this driver by several other people.

You can still do the above, but on second thought, the driver could be working just fine and it could be your TCPIP setup that is broken. I don't know how your setup is configured but it is acting like you don't have a default route setup.

[babydoc]

David, Thanks for the suggestion about the TCPIP setup. My temporary plug in LAN card was on route 0 and I could not even get tcpcfg2.cmd to set up route 1. I used MPTS to remove the driver for the plug in card and then the on board Realtek LAN chip worked with your updated driver. Thank you very much for solving this problem for me and all the others. I supose we should close this ticket as solved.