Ubuntu 24: kernel driver r8169 for Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller replaced by r8168-dkms

gistfile1.txt

- in Ubuntu (22.-24.) it looks like the R8169 is defective for said network card.
- it starts and works for a little, but then it fails - "network cable unplugged" says
- solution was found here:
  - https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/rtl8111-8168-8411-realtek-ethernet-controller-not-working-r8169-related/86593
    ```
    In the end the r8169 driver was indeed the problem.
    I followed these steps sunwire/dkms-r8168 Copr [https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/sunwire/dkms-r8168/] (without the secure boot steps) in order to install the r8168 driver.
    Then I followed these steps SLES 12 SP4 | Administration Guide | Managing Kernel Modules [https://documentation.suse.com/sles/12-SP4/html/SLES-all/cha-mod.html] in order to permanently blacklist the r8169 module.
    ```
- so, just installed `sudo apt install r8168-dkms` and re-bootted
  - I did not blacklist the r8169 module - yet - will need to do that if it does misbehave
    - to blacklist r8169 ... search
- apparently this is a well known problem - because the r8168-dmks installs the following files with the following content:
  - /usr/share/doc/r8168-dkms/README.Debian
    ```
    If you are using r8168-dkms because the in-kernel r8169 does not
    support your NIC or is not working properly, please check the
    following:
    
    * Have you tried a more recent kernel? The problem may be fixed
      there already. In that case the current r8169 driver may be
      ported back to an older kernel - please report a bug against
      the Debian kernel package where r8169 is not working as
      expected.
    
    * If no version of the in-kernel driver r8169 supports your NIC,
      please report this to the r8169 maintainers, so that this can
      be fixed:
    
        To: Realtek linux nic maintainers <[email protected]>
        To: Francois Romieu <[email protected]>
        Cc: [email protected]
    
      You may also wish to open a Debian bug report (against the
      src:linux package) and Cc that.
    
    
    If you want to switch back from r8168-dkms to the in-kernel r8169
    driver it is necessary to purge the r8168-dkms package,
    otherwise the blacklist for r8169 won't be removed.
    ```
  - /etc/modprobe.d/r8168-dkms.conf
    - this also means that, for the time being, r8169 must not be blacklisted
      ```
      # settings for r8168-dkms
      
      # map the specific PCI IDs instead of blacklisting the whole r8169 module
      alias	pci:v00001186d00004300sv00001186sd00004B10bc*sc*i*	r8168
      alias	pci:v000010ECd00008168sv*sd*bc*sc*i*			r8168
      
      # if the aliases above do not work, uncomment the following line
      # to blacklist the whole r8169 module
      #blacklist r8169
      ```
  
- other links:
  - https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-networking-3/rtl8111-8168-8411-realtek-ethernet-controller-not-working-4175727507-print/
  - https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=284338
  - https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=285421

- other public gists:
  - https://gist.github.com/gokceyucel/75040bc9048d953852e1
  - https://gist.github.com/rockavoldy/8e3898fc4547cf3c19788be8dd59934b

- commands used during investigation:
  ```
  ip a
  ip addr show
  sudo ethtool enp12s0
  inxi (not installed, not used, but recommented)
  sudo lspci -v
  sudo dmesg -w
  sudo dmesg | grep r8168
  sudo dmesg | grep r8168
  sudo dmesg | grep r8169
  sudo dmesg | grep enp12s0
  sudo rmmod r8169
  sudo modprobe r8169
  sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager.service
  sudo apt purge --auto-remove r8168-dkms
  lsmod
  lsmod | grep r8
  lshw -C NETWORK
  lspci -nnk
  lspci -vvv
  lspci -nnkbvmm
  ```