NIC port doesn't work with linux | NotebookReview

tdbui83 Notebook Enthusiast

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Hi there....I'm trying to get a linux flavor on my notebook but I'm having problem getting the LAN port to work. Keep in mind everything works fine in Windows. The network card itself is a built-in Realtek RTL8168/8111 on my Compal HEL-80. I have installed ubuntu 6.10 and 7.04 and fedora 7 and all shows the network card driver installed and active but yet it does not recognize that a network cable is plugged in. I have tried a different router and same thing. Is there a problem with my network card and linux? How would I get this working properly?

Please help, thanks.

tdbui83, Jul 9, 2007

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jas Notebook Evangelist

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This is a known problem with the current Realtek NIC driver being distributed with the Linux kernel. From the following Gentoo wiki;

As of 27 May 2007, in kernel 2.6.21.3, you may experience the issues with the r8169 driver if you dual boot Windows on some systems. Windows by defaults disables the NIC at Windows shutdown time in order to disable Wake-On-Lan, and this NIC will remain disabled until the next time Windows turns it on. The r8169 driver in the kernel does not know how to turn the NIC on from this disabled state; therefore, the device will not respond, even if the driver loads and reports that the device is up. To work around this problem, simply enable the feature "Wake-on-lan after shutdown." You can set this options through Windows' device manager.

Edit: Problem with dual-booting with Windows exist also in 2.6.19.5 and 2.6.20.8 kernel, so it is safe to assume that it will concern all 2.6 kernels until the kernel developers update the drivers for RTL8168 to the version that will be able to turn on the NIC from disabled state. (Corey)

Second edit: Powering off and unplugging the machine for a few seconds (around 10 usually does it) seems to reset the card, so it will work in Linux again until you boot Windows again.

Click to expand...

I fixed this for myself on my laptops (Asus A8Js and Asus W7J), by following the first fix mentioned on the wiki. Boot into Windows. Go into either device manager and select the Realtek NIC driver, or into LAN Connections and do the same, (select the Realtek NIC driver). Then go to the advanced tab, and move to the Wake-on-lan after shutdown feature and enable it.

Good Luck..

jas, Jul 10, 2007

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jas Notebook Evangelist

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Sorry.. Contro's already posted the graphic version of fixing this problem in the thread entitled " Ubuntu 7.04 (Fiesty Fawn) on a W3J"

So you can click here see all of the steps graphically from page 4 of that thread. (thanks to contro's post...)

jas, Jul 10, 2007

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