Bug 199819

Summary:	Kernel version 4.15 breaks compatibility with Realtek 8111E
Product:	Networking	Reporter:	h4tsune (frank.oehler)
Component:	Other	Assignee:	Stephen Hemminger (stephen)
Status:	NEW ---
Severity:	normal
Priority:	P1
Hardware:	x86-64
OS:	Linux
Kernel Version:	4.15.1	Subsystem:
Regression:	No	Bisected commit-id:

Description h4tsune 2018-05-24 06:23:20 UTC

Starting at Kernel version 4.15, the connection is constantly lost, 
followed by reconnects. Kernel version 4.14.11-041411-generic still 
worked perfectly fine. I also tried the newest release, 4.17-rc6, 
the issue has not been resolved. 

My Mainboard:
MSI 970A-G43

Comment 1 h4tsune 2018-05-25 03:27:46 UTC

(In reply to h4tsune from comment #0)
> Starting at Kernel version 4.15, the connection is constantly lost, 
> followed by reconnects. Kernel version 4.14.11-041411-generic still 
> worked perfectly fine. I also tried the newest release, 4.17-rc6, 
> the issue has not been resolved. 
> 
> My Mainboard:
> MSI 970A-G43

The issue can be replicated in Windows 10 by installing the newest driver 
from Realtek version 10.26.328.2018. The Windows default driver version 
9.1.406.2015 did not suffer from that issue. In Windows, the issue is resolved 
by reverting back to the old driver or by using the new driver and disabling 
"Energy Efficient Ethernet" in device manager driver settings.

Trying to disable "Energy Efficient Ethernet" in Linux using 
"ethtool --set-eee enp5s0 eee off" returns
"Cannot get EEE settings: Operation not supported" 

Could the implementation of a malfunctioning new driver version into the 
Linux Kernel be the culprit?