Slackware and r8168/r8169 modules

I've been installing Slackware on a few machines lately here at home, an old laptop, my gaming desktop, a cubieboard and I'm running into troubles. I've had similar problems with network drivers before and am wondering why it occurs.

Slackware has r8169 module loaded in huge for realtek RTL8111/8168B on asustek p8p67 and other motherboards. This works as far as pinging local machines, though nothing past that. I have to download r8168 modules and load them, then I have internet. This has been going on I believe since kernel 2.6.x or so.

root@mediasrv:~#lspci -vk
Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 06)
Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. P8P67 and other motherboards
Flags: fast devsel, IRQ 17
I/O ports at c000 [size=256]
Memory at da104000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=4k]
Memory at da100000 ("" "") [size=16k]
.....
Kernel driver in use: r8169

I've looked around on this for a bit recently and all I could find were people trying to guide others through network setups.

Being unable to access hosts beyond the local network is most likely a routing or DNS issue. It is quite unlikely that a malfunctioning network driver would affect only packets going through a router.

Could you post the output from ifconfig, route -n and cat /etc/resolv.conf on a system experiencing these problems?

Originally Posted by Ser Olmy Being unable to access hosts beyond the local network is most likely a routing or DNS issue. It is quite unlikely that a malfunctioning network driver would affect only packets going through a router. Could you post the output from ifconfig, route -n and cat /etc/resolv.conf on a system experiencing these problems?

I'm just asking if anyone knows why the incorrect drivers are being included. I've got my networking issue resolved, perhaps I should have been more clear. Thanks for replying though. I get responses from everything on my LAN, but not google. Yes it would appear to be a DNS issue, which is what caused me to pull my hair out at first. IP addresses don't respond beyond the router. Changing to module r8168 fixes the issue. Maybe I should submit a bug?

root@slackbook:/ #ifconfig eth0
eth0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 192.168.0.8  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 192.168.0.255
        inet6 fe80::216:d4ff:fed4:3873  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 00:16:d4:d4:38:73  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 605913  bytes 790311730 (753.6 MiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 570  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 402092  bytes 52382870 (49.9 MiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

root@slackbook:/# route -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
0.0.0.0         192.168.0.1     0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 eth0
127.0.0.0       0.0.0.0         255.0.0.0       U     0      0        0 lo
192.168.0.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 eth0
192.168.0.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 wlan0

root@slackbook:/# cat /etc/resolv.conf
# Generated by NetworkManager
nameserver 208.67.222.222
nameserver 208.67.220.220
nameserver 24.177.176.38

I added what you'd asked for just for the hell of it. The machine is currently accessing the internet with no change but the kernel modules. Originally I used 192.168.0.1(AP) as my nameserver, which works but I like OpenDNS.

I have 3 ASUS P8Z68 boards and a P8Z77 board all using the R8169 driver for the motherboard Ethernet port. All have additional network cards. The ones with additional network cards using Realtek components also use the R8169 driver. They are running Slack64 13.37 and Slack64 14.0 with the generic kernel.

I have a non-simple network setup with multiple LANS, VMs, special firewall rules, and such running in production for the last year. So I can't say with 100% certainty that the motherboard Ethernet port using the R8169 driver that comes with Slackware can access the Internet through an external router. Too many other components are involved in my setup.

If you're using an external router with a simple out-of-the box Linux setup I can't see why the driver would impact the router's ability to route packets.

However...

I did have a great deal of difficulty getting the P8Z68 boards to "cooperate" regarding video and other basics (such as booting ). It took me several weeks to get things working. I recall obtaining a driver from Realtek during this process but I don't remember if it was needed in the final setup. My configuration notes are not available to me right now.

What finally solved the issues for me was a BIOS update that ASUS made available during this time period. You may want to make sure you're running a current BIOS on the ASUS board.

as far as i know is that bug a known one befor kernel 3.x
im on a 8168B card.. works ok for me, could be nicer..

i think in the current kernel or in 3.11.x all rtl8168 devices are included in the 8169 driver, aka fixed.

It's a current BIOS. Like I said, it didn't work with the supplied r8169 driver. I downloaded (on another machine, of course) the r8168 driver and when I swap them out everything functions.

I'm also using kernel 3.11.5 on the affected machine. It doesn't work with the supplied huge and generic kernels on the 13.37 or 14.0 64-bit CD's. I have to manually add the module for r8168 to get my internet functioning correctly. Really weird and has been an ongoing issue for at least a year with every release I've tried. 2.6 branch kernels work I think, can't remember and I'm not checking :\

well i think you should report this upstream aka the kernel mailing list as bug.. looks like thay a) have not yet added you card or b) not correctly.

Here's a possible fix, even tho it is a few years ago:
http://adam.rosi-kessel.org/weblog/2...k-down-problem