[OpenIndiana-discuss] Network (RTL8111/8168) not working properly on OpenIndiana 151a

[Robin Axelsson]

On 2011-12-29 10:53, Edward Martinez wrote:
> On 12/28/11 13:24, Robin Axelsson wrote:
>> After a fresh install of OI 151a I discovered that the network 
>> connection fails intermittently. Firefox stalls in OI, SSH sessions 
>> spontaneously get severed, internet/network availability goes on and 
>> off with this connection.
>>
>> Basically the behaviour is the same as when I was running earlier 
>> builds of OpenSolaris on a machine with the RTL8111DL chip. When 
>> asking the question on the Osol forums the reply was that this was a 
>> known bug and the recommendation was to get an Intel based NIC. Later 
>> I was informed that this bug was resolved in later builds of 
>> OpenSolaris. So when I upgraded to build 134, the RTL8111DL started 
>> working without problems. I even upgraded to OpenIndiana 148 and 
>> still no problems.
>>
>> Now I have replaced the motherboard on that system to a motherboard 
>> with the RTL8111E chip. Since my hard drive died I have done a fresh 
>> install of OI 151a on a new hard drive and once again this network 
>> bug has woken up from its apparently dormant state.
>>
>> Has someone accidentally put an old version of the rge driver into 
>> the OI distribution? If not, does anyone have any idea as to why this 
>> problem has come back?
>>
>> I tried to replace the rge driver with the gani 2.6.8 driver but the 
>> problem was slightly worse on the gani driver. Even my VMs hang when 
>> using the gani0 connection  (bridged networking on VBox).
>>
>> I have tried using an Intel network card with the e1000g driver and 
>> it has shown no problems whatsoever on my system.
>>
>> So is this problem fixable or will I have to use Intel NICs with my 
>> system?
>>
>> Robin.
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>   i have read it is troublesome to get the rge driver working. maybe,  
> the rge driver fixes do not cover the  RTL8112E chipset.
>
>   This article mentions a few work around for opensolaris, that may 
> apply to OI. However, i think you are better of using the intel nic 
> since you are not having problems.
>
>    http://sigtar.com/2009/02/12/opensolaris-rtl81118168b-issues/
>
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>

Yes, I've been to that page, in fact, it was this page that helped me 
find the gani driver. And it is the RTL8111E chip and _not_ the RTL8112E 
chip we are talking about here. Also, the Realtek controller show no 
problems in a Windows environment.