[SOLVED] Troubleshooting RealTek RTL-8169 NIC Installation Issues in Proxmox Node

[bushev]

Hello,

I am experiencing difficulties in using a recently installed RealTek RTL-8169 Network Interface Card (NIC) in a Proxmox node. My system is running on Proxmox VE 8.1 (2023/Q4) with a 6.5 kernel.

I visited the RealTek driver download page (https://www.realtek.com/en/componen...0-1000m-gigabit-ethernet-pci-express-software) and noticed that the drivers are not supported on kernels higher than 6.4.

I expected that the driver would function out of the box, however, the NIC does not respond when an ethernet cable is connected. It consistently indicates the link as DOWN.

May I have missed any critical steps in the setup process? I would appreciate assistance in resolving this issue.

The debug output:

uname -r

6.5.11-7-pve

ip a | grep enp -A 1

2: enp3s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 98:b7:85:01:10:60 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: enp4s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 98:b7:85:01:10:61 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
4: enp66s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc pfifo_fast master vmbr0 state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 2c:f0:5d:76:55:61 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

cat /etc/network/interfaces

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

iface enp66s0 inet manual

auto vmbr0
iface vmbr0 inet static
        address 10.0.20.10/26
        gateway 10.0.20.1
        bridge-ports enp66s0
        bridge-stp off
        bridge-fd 0

iface enp3s0 inet manual

iface enp4s0 inet manual

iface wlo1 inet manual


source /etc/network/interfaces.d/*

lspci -v

42:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8125 2.5GbE Controller (rev 04)
        Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. [MSI] RTL8125 2.5GbE Controller
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
        I/O ports at 5000 [size=256]
        Memory at a2400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Memory at a2410000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
        Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
        Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable+ 64bit+
        Capabilities: [70] Express Endpoint, MSI 01
        Capabilities: [b0] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=32 Masked-
        Capabilities: [d0] Vital Product Data
        Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
        Capabilities: [148] Virtual Channel
        Capabilities: [168] Device Serial Number 01-00-00-00-68-4c-e0-00
        Capabilities: [178] Transaction Processing Hints
        Capabilities: [204] Latency Tolerance Reporting
        Capabilities: [20c] L1 PM Substates
        Capabilities: [21c] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0002 Rev=4 Len=100 <?>
        Kernel driver in use: r8169
        Kernel modules: r8169

modinfo r8169

filename:       /lib/modules/6.5.11-7-pve/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/realtek/r8169.ko
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8125b-2.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8125a-3.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8107e-2.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8168fp-3.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8168h-2.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8168g-3.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8168g-2.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8106e-2.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8106e-1.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8411-2.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8411-1.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8402-1.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8168f-2.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8168f-1.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8105e-1.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8168e-3.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8168e-2.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8168e-1.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8168d-2.fw
firmware:       rtl_nic/rtl8168d-1.fw
license:        GPL
softdep:        pre: realtek
description:    RealTek RTL-8169 Gigabit Ethernet driver
author:         Realtek and the Linux r8169 crew <netdev@vger.kernel.org>
srcversion:     DCB5722FE850C4DD6989B72
alias:          pci:v000010ECd00003000sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000010ECd00008125sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v00000001d00008168sv*sd00002410bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v00001737d00001032sv*sd00000024bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000016ECd00000116sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v00001259d0000C107sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v00001186d00004302sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v00001186d00004300sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v00001186d00004300sv00001186sd00004B10bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000010ECd00008169sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000010FFd00008168sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000010ECd00008168sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000010ECd00008167sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000010ECd00008162sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000010ECd00008161sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000010ECd00008136sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000010ECd00008129sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000010ECd00002600sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000010ECd00002502sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:        
retpoline:      Y
intree:         Y
name:           r8169
vermagic:       6.5.11-7-pve SMP preempt mod_unload modversions 
sig_id:         PKCS#7
signer:         Build time autogenerated kernel key
sig_key:        20:4A:0E:D5:14:C1:A2:98:9F:09:1A:F3:63:B7:A4:F3:FD:A6:88:6A
sig_hashalgo:   sha512
signature:      24:<redacted>:A5

dmesg | grep -i r8169

[    0.819299] r8169 0000:03:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003)
[    0.838024] r8169 0000:03:00.0 eth0: RTL8125B, 98:b7:85:01:10:60, XID 641, IRQ 152
[    0.838026] r8169 0000:03:00.0 eth0: jumbo features [frames: 9194 bytes, tx checksumming: ko]
[    0.838042] r8169 0000:04:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003)
[    0.853849] r8169 0000:04:00.0 eth1: RTL8125B, 98:b7:85:01:10:61, XID 641, IRQ 153
[    0.853852] r8169 0000:04:00.0 eth1: jumbo features [frames: 9194 bytes, tx checksumming: ko]
[    0.853868] r8169 0000:42:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0003)
[    0.869805] r8169 0000:42:00.0 eth2: RTL8125B, 2c:f0:5d:76:55:61, XID 641, IRQ 154
[    0.869807] r8169 0000:42:00.0 eth2: jumbo features [frames: 9194 bytes, tx checksumming: ko]
[    0.932436] r8169 0000:42:00.0 enp66s0: renamed from eth2
[    0.980406] r8169 0000:03:00.0 enp3s0: renamed from eth0
[    1.020415] r8169 0000:04:00.0 enp4s0: renamed from eth1
[    5.707459] r8169 0000:42:00.0 enp66s0: entered allmulticast mode
[    5.707491] r8169 0000:42:00.0 enp66s0: entered promiscuous mode
[    5.740405] RTL8226B_RTL8221B 2.5Gbps PHY r8169-0-4200:00: attached PHY driver (mii_bus:phy_addr=r8169-0-4200:00, irq=MAC)
[    5.940567] r8169 0000:42:00.0 enp66s0: Link is Down
[    8.776518] r8169 0000:42:00.0 enp66s0: Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full - flow control rx/tx
[  127.649795] r8169 0000:42:00.0 enp66s0: Link is Down
[  130.726597] r8169 0000:42:00.0 enp66s0: Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full - flow control rx/tx

Thank you.

 

[bushev]

Just as I thought, the NIC was working fine right from the start. The step I overlooked was that I needed to create a Linux Bridge and set it up to use the new NIC. Once I did this, it showed up as "Active" and the light began to flash!