PVE 9 Realtek RTL8111 issues - Again

[Mreckted]

Hello all,

I have just run in to the famous issue with Realtek NICs that was common in PVE8 where you needed to use r8168-dkms kernel module instead of the default 8169, referenced in this thread:

https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/unable-to-install-r8168-dkms-for-realtek-nic.137727/

It seems like the issue was fixed in an older kernel update, however it's back in PVE9 with kernel 6.14.11-pve and my NIC randomly drops off requiring a restart.

To be clear, I am experiencing the issue of r8169 dropping connectivity, NOT the issue of having installed r8168 and then the update rendering it unable to work.

r8168-dkms is not available in the latest repos, (I have non-free-firmware tag on all Debian repos) and I tried to install the latest version i could find, however it does not work on this kernel.

Is there a way to build a .deb package r8168-dkms for pve9 / K 6.14.11-pve or a different name for a working r8168 package that anyone has come across?

I have erased and purged the r8168 and am back on r8169, and so have installed a USB NIC and bridged it to vrmb0 in order to stay online, but would like to go back to the integrated NIC if possible.
Some diagnostics:

pveversion
pve-manager/9.0.11/3bf5476b8a4699e2 (running kernel: 6.14.11-4-pve)

lspci -nnk | grep -A2 Ether
01:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 0e)
        Subsystem: Lenovo Device [17aa:3130]
        Kernel driver in use: r8169

EDIT: I wonder if the opt-in 6.17 kernel solves the issue? Is there anything i should consider before trying to update to 6.17?


TIA!

 

[ugimports]

I just added one of these to my system as an additional NIC to use with pfsense and was trying to get it to 1Gbps... i'll follow this thread now that it seems I'm not alone:

pveversion
pve-manager/9.0.10/deb1ca707ec72a89 (running kernel: 6.14.11-3-pve)

lspci -nnk | grep -A2 Ether
02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 15)
        Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:06bb]
        Kernel driver in use: r8169

ETA:
I tried compiling from source: https://www.realtek.com/Download/List?cate_id=584

Driver I tried:
GBE Ethernet LINUX driver r8168 for kernel up to 6.12

That didn't seem to help:

 lspci -nnk | grep -A2 Ether
02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 15)
        Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:06bb]
        Kernel driver in use: r8168

Not sure if it matters, but I'm connecting this to a Cisco Catalyst switch:

Cisco IOS Software, C3560 Software (C3560-IPBASEK9-M), Version 15.0(2)SE11, RELEASE SOFTWARE (fc3)

Port config:

interface GigabitEthernet0/43
 description proxmox1-eth1
 switchport access vlan 100
 speed 1000
 duplex full
!

I've tried speed auto as well on both switch and proxmox.

ethtool enx8cae4cb93fdd                            proxmox1: Tue Oct 21 22:59:50 2025

Settings for enx8cae4cb93fdd:
        Supported ports: [ TP    MII ]
        Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
                                1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
                                2500baseT/Full
        Supported pause frame use: No
        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
        Supported FEC modes: Not reported
        Advertised link modes:  1000baseT/Full
        Advertised pause frame use: No
        Advertised auto-negotiation: No
        Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
        Speed: Unknown!
        Duplex: Full
        Auto-negotiation: off
        Port: MII
        PHYAD: 32
        Transceiver: internal
        Supports Wake-on: pumbg
        Wake-on: g
        Current message level: 0x00007fff (32767)
                               drv probe link timer ifdown ifup rx_err tx_err tx_queued intr tx_d
one rx_status pktdata hw wol
        Link detected: no

More data...here's what proxmox sees when I set both sides to auto:

 ethtool enx8cae4cb93fdd                            proxmox1: Tue Oct 21 23:06:17 2025

Settings for enx8cae4cb93fdd:
        Supported ports: [ TP    MII ]
        Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
                                1000baseT/Half 1000baseT/Full
                                2500baseT/Full
        Supported pause frame use: No
        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
        Supported FEC modes: Not reported
        Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Full
                                100baseT/Full
        Advertised pause frame use: No
        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
        Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
        Link partner advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
                                             100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
                                             1000baseT/Full
        Link partner advertised pause frame use: No
        Link partner advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
        Link partner advertised FEC modes: Not reported
        Speed: 100Mb/s
        Duplex: Full
        Auto-negotiation: on
        Port: MII
        PHYAD: 32
        Transceiver: internal
        Supports Wake-on: pumbg
        Wake-on: g
        Current message level: 0x00007fff (32767)
                               drv probe link timer ifdown ifup rx_err tx_err tx_queued intr tx_d
one rx_status pktdata hw wol
        Link detected: yes