[Mageia-dev] Sudden problems with r8169 NICs ?

[Frank Griffin]

I updated cauldron this morning, and later rebooted my desktop.  My 
r8169 on eth0 is suddenly having problems, maybe due to the new kernel.  
The chipset is an r8169 variant:

Mar 23 15:58:23 localhost kernel: r8169 Gigabit Ethernet driver 
2.3LK-NAPI loaded
Mar 23 15:58:23 localhost kernel: r8169 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 
19 (level, low) -> IRQ 19
Mar 23 15:58:23 localhost kernel: r8169 0000:02:00.0: setting latency 
timer to 64
Mar 23 15:58:23 localhost kernel: r8169 0000:02:00.0: irq 41 for MSI/MSI-X
Mar 23 15:58:23 localhost kernel: r8169 0000:02:00.0: eth0: 
RTL8168d/8111d at 0xffffc900117fc000, 00:30:67:2f:0a:fc, XID 083000c0 IRQ 41

but it's been known for a year or more that this variant needs firmware, 
and it's already installed:

[root at ftgme2 rtl_nic]# pwd
/lib/firmware/rtl_nic
[root at ftgme2 rtl_nic]# ls
rtl8168d-1.fw  rtl8168d-2.fw

and this chip has been working under mageia from the beginning.  Now I get:

Mar 23 14:14:27 localhost draknetcenter[4777]: running: /sbin/ifup eth0 
daemon
Mar 23 14:14:27 localhost ifplugd(eth0)[5027]: ifplugd 0.28 initializing.
Mar 23 14:14:27 localhost kernel: r8169 0000:02:00.0: eth0: unable to 
apply firmware patch
Mar 23 14:14:27 localhost kernel: r8169 0000:02:00.0: eth0: link down
Mar 23 14:14:27 localhost kernel: r8169 0000:02:00.0: eth0: link down
Mar 23 14:14:27 localhost ifplugd(eth0)[5027]: Using interface 
eth0/00:30:67:2F:0A:FC with driver <r8169> (version: 2.3LK-NAPI)
Mar 23 14:14:27 localhost kernel: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not 
ready
Mar 23 14:14:27 localhost ifplugd(eth0)[5027]: Using detection mode: 
SIOCETHTOOL
Mar 23 14:14:27 localhost ifplugd(eth0)[5027]: Initialization complete, 
link beat not detected.

What changed ?  Previously, I would get:

Mar 19 14:09:47 localhost kernel: r8169 Gigabit Ethernet driver 
2.3LK-NAPI loaded
Mar 19 14:09:47 localhost kernel: r8169 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 
19 (level, low) -> IRQ 19
Mar 19 14:09:47 localhost kernel: r8169 0000:02:00.0: setting latency 
timer to 64
Mar 19 14:09:47 localhost kernel: r8169 0000:02:00.0: irq 40 for MSI/MSI-X
Mar 19 14:09:47 localhost kernel: r8169 0000:02:00.0: eth0: 
RTL8168d/8111d at 0xffffc9001179c000, 00:30:67:2f:0a:fc, XID 083000c0 IRQ 40

Mar 19 14:09:48 localhost ifplugd(eth0)[1770]: ifplugd 0.28 initializing.
Mar 19 14:09:48 localhost kernel: r8169 0000:02:00.0: eth0: link up
Mar 19 14:09:48 localhost kernel: r8169 0000:02:00.0: eth0: link up
Mar 19 14:09:48 localhost ifplugd(eth0)[1770]: Using interface 
eth0/00:30:67:2F:0A:FC with driver <r8169> (version: 2.3LK-NAPI)
Mar 19 14:09:48 localhost ifplugd(eth0)[1770]: Using detection mode: 
SIOCETHTOOL
Mar 19 14:09:48 localhost ifplugd(eth0)[1770]: Initialization complete, 
link beat detected.
Mar 19 14:09:48 localhost ifplugd(eth0)[1770]: Executing 
'/etc/ifplugd/ifplugd.action eth0 up'.