Network configuration/Ethernet

This article describes Ethernet specifics, general network configuration is covered in Network configuration.

Device driver

Check the status

udev should detect your network interface controller (NIC) and automatically load the necessary kernel module at startup. Check the "Ethernet controller" entry (or similar) from the lspci -v output. It should tell you which kernel module contains the driver for your network device. For example:

$ lspci -v

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Attansic Technology Corp. L1 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev b0)
 	...
 	Kernel driver in use: atl1
 	Kernel modules: atl1

Next, check that the driver was loaded by running dmesg | grep module_name as root. For example:

# dmesg | grep atl1

...
atl1 0000:02:00.0: eth0 link is up 100 Mbps full duplex

Skip the next section if the driver was loaded successfully. Otherwise, you will need to know which module is needed for your particular model.

Load the module

Search the internet for the right module/driver for your chipset. Some common modules are 8139too for cards with a Realtek chipset, or sis900 for cards with a SiS chipset. Once you know which module to use, try to load it manually. If you get an error saying that the module was not found, it is possible that the driver is not included in the Arch kernel. You may search the AUR for the module name.

If udev is not detecting and loading the proper module automatically during bootup, you can explicitly load the module at boot.

Tips and tricks

ifplugd for laptops

Tip: dhcpcd provides the same feature out of the box.

ifplugd is a daemon which will automatically configure your Ethernet device when a cable is plugged in and automatically unconfigure it if the cable is pulled. This is useful on laptops with onboard network adapters, since it will only configure the interface when a cable is really connected. Another use is when you just need to restart the network but do not want to restart the computer or do it from the shell.

By default it is configured to work for the eth0 device. This and other settings like delays can be configured in /etc/ifplugd/ifplugd.conf.

Note: netctl includes netctl-ifplugd@.service, otherwise you can use ifplugd@.service from the ifplugd package. For example, enable ifplugd@eth0.service.

Troubleshooting

Swapping computers on the cable modem

Some cable ISPs (Vidéotron for example) have the cable modem configured to recognize only one client PC, by the MAC address of its network interface. Once the cable modem has learned the MAC address of the first PC or equipment that talks to it, it will not respond to another MAC address in any way. Thus if you swap one PC for another (or for a router), the new PC (or router) will not work with the cable modem, because the new PC (or router) has a MAC address different from the old one. To reset the cable modem so that it will recognise the new PC, you must power the cable modem off and on again. Once the cable modem has rebooted and gone fully online again (indicator lights settled down), reboot the newly connected PC so that it makes a DHCP request, or manually make it request a new DHCP lease.

If this method does not work, you will need to clone the MAC address of the original machine. See also MAC address spoofing.

Explicit Congestion Notification

Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) may cause traffic problems with old/bad routers . As of systemd 239, it is enabled for both ingoing and outgoing traffic.

To enable ECN only when requested by incoming connections (the reasonably safe, kernel default):

# sysctl net.ipv4.tcp_ecn=2

To disable ECN completely (to e.g. test whether ECN was causing problems):

# sysctl net.ipv4.tcp_ecn=0

Realtek no link / WOL problem

Users with Realtek 8168 8169 8101 8111(C) 8156B based NICs (cards / and on-board) may notice a problem where the NIC seems to be disabled on boot and has no Link light. This can usually be found on a dual boot system where Windows is also installed. It seems that using the official Realtek drivers (dated anything after May 2007) under Windows is the cause. These newer drivers disable the Wake-On-LAN feature by disabling the NIC at Windows shutdown time, where it will remain disabled until the next time Windows boots. You will be able to notice if this problem is affecting you if the Link light remains off until Windows boots up; during Windows shutdown the Link light will switch off. Normal operation should be that the link light is always on as long as the system is on, even during POST. This problem will also affect other operating systems without newer drivers (eg. Live CDs). Here are a few fixes for this problem.

Enable the NIC directly in Linux

Follow Network configuration#Enabling and disabling network interfaces to enable the interface.

Rollback/change Windows driver

You can roll back your Windows NIC driver to the Microsoft provided one (if available), or roll back/install an official Realtek driver pre-dating May 2007 (may be on the CD that came with your hardware).

Enable WOL in Windows driver

Probably the best and the fastest fix is to change this setting in the Windows driver. This way it should be fixed system-wide and not only under Arch (eg. live CDs, other operating systems). In Windows, under Device Manager, find your Realtek network adapter and double-click it. Under the "Advanced" tab, change "Wake-on-LAN after shutdown" to "Enable".

In Windows XP (example):

Right click my computer and choose "Properties"
--> "Hardware" tab
  --> Device Manager
    --> Network Adapters
      --> "double click" Realtek ...
        --> Advanced tab
          --> Wake-On-Lan After Shutdown
            --> Enable

Enable LAN Boot ROM in BIOS/CMOS

It appears that setting Integrated Peripherals > Onboard LAN Boot ROM > Enabled in BIOS/CMOS reactivates the Realtek LAN chip on system boot-up, despite the Windows driver disabling it on OS shutdown.

Disable USB AutoSuspend

When using Power Saving features, specifically USB Auto Suspend with TLP, the device can fail to load correctly, resulting in a NO-CARRIER state (tested with RT8156B), and no established link.

To resolve, add the device ID to the USB Denylist of your TLP configuration, and reconnect the device.

Broadcom BCM57780

This Broadcom chipset sometimes does not behave well unless you specify the order of the modules to be loaded. The modules are broadcom and tg3, the former needing to be loaded first.

These steps should help if your computer has this chipset:

Find your NIC in lspci output:

If your wired networking is not functioning in some way or another, unplug your cable then do the following:

# modprobe -r tg3
# modprobe broadcom
# modprobe tg3

Plug your network cable back in and check whether the module succeeded with:

# dmesg | grep tg3

If this procedure solved the issue you can make it permanent by adding broadcom and tg3 (in this order) to the array:

Regenerate the initramfs
Alternatively, you can create an :

softdep tg3 pre: broadcom

Realtek RTL8111/8168B

The adapter should be recognized by the module. However, with some chip revisions the connection may go off and on all the time. The alternative should be used for a reliable connection in this case. Blacklist , if is not automatically loaded by udev, you can explicitly load the module at boot.

Another fault in the drivers for some revisions of this adapter is poor IPv6 support. IPv6#Disable functionality can be helpful if you encounter issues such as hanging webpages and slow speeds.

Gigabyte Motherboard with Realtek 8111/8168/8411

With motherboards such as the Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3, booting with IOMMU off (which can be the default) will cause the network interface to be unreliable, often failing to connect or connecting but allowing no throughput. This will apply to the onboard NIC and to any other pci-NIC in the box because the IOMMU setting affects the entire network interface on the board. Enabling IOMMU and booting with the install media will throw AMD I-10/xhci page faults for a second, but then boots normally, resulting in a fully functional onboard NIC (even with the r8169 module).

When configuring the boot process for your installation, add iommu=soft as a kernel parameter to eliminate the error messages on boot and restore USB3.0 functionality.

MicroStar Motherboard with Realtek 8111/8168/8411

With motherboards such as the "MicroStar B450M MORTAR TITANIUM", unpluging/pluging Ethernet cables or restarting router's DHCP server would cause to enter a downshifted status, and downgrade the 1000 Mbit/s Ethernet speed to 100 Mbit/s. The kernel log will show:

In this case, restart the adapter (set it down and up). For example:

# ip link set dev enp34s0 down
# ip link set dev enp34s0 up

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gollark: I have one of the actual e-ink kindles. They're quite cool, though horribly insecure.

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