Slow wired internet connection on Realtek RTL8168-8111 (Rev 6)

Question

I keep on seeing issues people are having with their wireless. I am having an issue with being wired into my router. I installed Ubuntu 11.10 the other day, on my custom PC. The motherboard I have installed on this PC is an ASUS P8H61-M.

The issue I am having is with my speed. I have a dual boot, windows 7 and the new Ubuntu. On my Windows install I am getting test speeds from Speakeasy at 17Mbps and actual downloads around 2-3MB/s. With Ubuntu, I am getting test speeds from Speakeasy at 1.14Mbps and actual downloads around 60KB/s.

I have disabled IPv6 and am no using GoogleDNS for my DNS, but it hasn't resolved the issue. I have scanned my router (WRT54GS Linksys) to disable IPv6 connections, and I am not seeing any option for that. I cannot figure out why I am getting such sluggish internet connection. Any help to resolve would be great!

I performed an iconfig -a with these results:

mark@Mark-ASUS:~$ ifconfig -a
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr f4:6d:04:d1:2c:4e  
          inet addr:192.168.1.103  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::f66d:4ff:fed1:2c4e/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:21888 errors:0 dropped:21888 overruns:0 frame:21888
          TX packets:21068 errors:0 dropped:90 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:26348337 (26.3 MB)  TX bytes:2217140 (2.2 MB)
          Interrupt:46 Base address:0xc000 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:7 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:7 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:952 (952.0 B)  TX bytes:952 (952.0 B)

My specs are:

mark@Mark-ASUS:~$ sudo lspci -nn

04:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller [10ec:8168] (rev 06)
06:00.0 PCI bridge [0604]: ASMedia Technology Inc. Device [1b21:1080] (rev 01)

udev information:

KERNEL[11.351405] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.2/0000:04:00.0/net/eth0 (net)
UDEV_LOG=3
ACTION=add
DEVPATH=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.2/0000:04:00.0/net/eth0
SUBSYSTEM=net
INTERFACE=eth0
IFINDEX=2
SEQNUM=1542


UDEV  [11.363905] add      /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.2/0000:04:00.0/net/eth0 (net)
UDEV_LOG=3
ACTION=add
DEVPATH=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.2/0000:04:00.0/net/eth0
SUBSYSTEM=net
INTERFACE=eth0
IFINDEX=2
SEQNUM=1542
ID_VENDOR_FROM_DATABASE=Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
ID_MODEL_FROM_DATABASE=RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
ID_BUS=pci
ID_VENDOR_ID=0x10ec
ID_MODEL_ID=0x8168
ID_MM_CANDIDATE=1

dmesg information:

[    2.855982] r8169 Gigabit Ethernet driver 2.3LK-NAPI loaded
[    2.856366] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: RTL8168b/8111b at 0xffffc9000064c000, f4:6d:04:d1:2c:4e, XID 0c900800 IRQ 46
[   12.540956] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link down
[   12.540961] r8169 0000:04:00.0: eth0: link down
[   12.541173] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready

I took out a lot of information that did not pertain to eth0, because the previous edits wouldn't save. If I need any more information, let me know. I would love to get this resolved. The other issue I am noticing is sometimes my connection disconnects all together, for about a minute, then it reconnects.

Answer 1

I have the same Ethernet adapter and have updated the drivers already but that didn't fix the issue. I tried disabling IPv6 and that also didn't help... but after some digging I found a reference to the /etc/nsswitch.conf file and changing the order of the "hosts:" line.

Originally, it was in the order

hosts:          files mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] wins dns mdns4

I changed it so that dns came after files and after rebooting the difference was night and day - DNS lookups are much faster and websites load immediately instead of being stuck at "Sending Request..." in Chrome (or doing nothing in FF).

hosts:          files dns mdns4_minimal [NOTFOUND=return] wins mdns4

I'm not sure if this will affect anything else negatively but I haven't had any problems with it since - I am able to browse my local network and mount Windows shares without any problems at all.

I hope this is helpful!

Answer 2

I know this sounds stupid, I assure you I am not. I have been through an ocean of websites and forums seeking a solution to this problem. I have tried everything but to no avail. I came across one forum, sorry folks I didn't save the address, but in very broken English this one fellow said that when he powered down his computer, took out the battery, pushed the power button for thirty seconds rebooted into Ubuntu 11.10 (dual boot with Windows 7 Ultimate Fire x 64 bit) and his Realtek 8169 problem was solved and it was functioning properly. I don't know why I continued to peruse the reams of laughter and skepticism, but I found one other person resourceful (or weary) enough to try it and he said it worked. So, out of options, I TRIED IT. It worked. My Realtek 8169 driven network is now functioning properly and with the speed enjoyed in Windows 7.The "problem" has yet to be identified and I am a newb to Linux (sorry for the lack of technical proof). It worked for me. I can differentiate between slow, as it was painfully, and fast, as it is now.

Answer 3

I had the same problem with my Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 06). Looking at the output from ifconfig you have a lot of dropped packages. Changing to a driver from Realtek worked for me:

Realtek 8168 module issue

I believe you have to do this every time you install a kernel update. Also note the comment from Jonathan on the same page.

Answer 4

I have unplugged my PC multiple times (transport) and it never resolved the issue. http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/topic/lan-karte-funktioniert-nicht/#post-3005217 is the website I used to resolve the issue.