11.04 loads wrong driver for Realtek NIC
Two days ago, I freshly installed Ubuntu 11.04 on a new PC. I quickly discovered that my wired ethernet was disconnecting and reconnecting frequently. Since the connection had been stable when the machine was running Windows 7, I suspected that the problem was somewhere in Ubuntu.
I found the reason for the problem on Launchpad. My new PC has a Gigabyte Z68A-D3-B3 motherboard which includes an integrated Realtek RTL8111/8168B NIC. Ubuntu 11.04 is loading driver r8169 but, according to the Realtek Taiwan web site, the correct driver for this NIC is r8168. I had to download the correct driver source, make the new module, blacklist the wrong module, and force initramfs to load the new module. My network connection is now stable.
According to bug reports, this same problem has been affecting many Ubuntu users since at least 2007, and I saw where a bug fix was committed for Hardy, but it is still occurring in the latest Natty release. Why cannot this problem be fixed once and for all?
Thank you.
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- Tim Cuthbertson
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