Hello, Gang:
First, due to going through medical hell since January 2021, I have not been active on this forum for some time now. And secondly, due to the foregoing, I have forgotten several matters having to do with FreeBSD, which I had installed on my office desktop.
Then, a couple of months ago, the motherboard in my office desktop up and died on me: it slowly stopped recognizing its SATA ports, one by one, until it could no longer see any of them. So.....I replaced the motherboard and CPU with a new, much more capable one and essentially rebuilt the hardware in that desktop, keeping the HDDs.
The new mobo is an Asus STRIX Z690A WIFI D4, now with 16 GB RAM.
I did not reinstall Win10, simply changing it so that it was "moved over" to the new mobo. Win10 works fine....well...at least as well as it ever did, anyway.
I had installed FreebSD ver 13-RELEASE-XX on a second HDD with the old mobo, and it took some playing around to get the new mobo to allow me to boot on that drive, but I finally succeeded. FreeBSD runs quite well, with one exception: it does not recognize nor activate the network adapter.
After checking the system in Win10, I find the following network adapters attached to that system:
Product Type Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller
Product Type Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (3) I225-V
Product Type Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX201 160MHz
Name D-Link AirPlus DWL-G520 Wireless PCI Adapter(rev.B)
I found and downloaded the FreeBSD drivers for all of the above, and extracted them all to my FreeBSD installation. There was a README file included with the Realtek driver:
Here it is:
=================================================================================
= Realtek 8169S/8169SB/8169SC/8168B/8168C/8168CP/8168D/8168DP/8168E/8168F =
= 8168FB/8168G/818GU/8168H/8168EP/8411/8168FP =
= 8101E/8102E/8103E/8401/8105E/8106E/8402 =
= 8125 Driver =
= for FreeBSD v4.x/5.x/6.x/7.x/8.x/9.x/10.x/11.x//12.x/13.x =
=================================================================================
This driver is modified by Realtek Semiconductor corp. and it has been tested OK
on FreeBSD v5.4, FreeBSD v6.4, FreeBSD v7.3, FreeBSD v8.0, and FreeBSD v9.0. To
update the driver, you may use method 1. If method 1 failed, you must use method 2
which is more complex.
Method 1:
1.Copy if_re.ko in "modules" directory to "/modules" directory and overwrite
the existing file.
2.Modify the file "/boot/defaults/loader.conf" and set "if_re_load" in "Network drivers" section to "Yes"
3.Reboot.
Method 2:
Because the FreeBSD kernel has default drivers to support RTL8139C and RTL8169S. To use the RTL8139C+, RTL8169SB, RTL8169SC, RTL8168B, and RTL8101E, you need to update your NIC driver by recompiling your FreeBSD kernel.
The main steps you have to doFreeBSDSrcDir means the directory of FreeBSD source code
and it may be "/usr/src/sys")
1. keep the orginal driver source code:
# cd /usr/src/sys/dev/re
# cp if_re.c if_re.c.org
# cd /usr/src/sys/modules
# cp Makefile Makefile.org
# cd /usr/src/sys/modules/re
# cp Makefile Makefile.org
# cd /usr/src/sys/i386/conf/
# cp GENERIC GENERIC.org
2. recompile your kernel (you must install your FreeBSD source code first !!)
# vim /usr/src/sys/i386/conf/GENERIC and delete re
# vim /usr/src/sys/modules/Makefile and delete re
# cd /usr/src/sys/i386/conf
# /usr/sbin/config GENERIC
(for FreeBSD 5.x/6.x/7.x/8.x/9.x)
# cd ../compile/GENERIC
(for FreeBSD 4.x)
# cd ../../compile/GENERIC
# make clean
# make depend
# make
# make install
# reboot
3. update the driver source code:
Copy the driver source code( if_re.c and if_rereg.h) into /usr/src/sys/dev/re
Copy the Makefile into /usr/src/sys/modules/re
4. build the driver:
# cd /usr/src/sys/modules/re
# make clean
# make
5. install the driver
(for FreeBSD 12 or later)
# cd /usr/obj/usr/src/<arch>.<arch>/sys/modules
# kldload ./if_re.ko
(for FreeBSD 11 or earlier)
# cd /usr/src/sys/modules/re
# kldload ./if_re.ko
6. configurate the static IP address
# ifconfig re0 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
7. configurate the IP address by DHCP
# /sbin/dhclient re0
The user can use the following command to change link speed and duplexmode.
1. For auto negotiation,
#ifconfig re<device_num> media autoselect
2. For 1000Mbps full-duplex,
#ifconfig re<device_num> media 1000baseTX mediaopt full-duplex
3. For 100Mbps full-duplex,
#ifconfig re<device_num> media 100baseTX mediaopt full-duplex
4. For 100Mbps half-duplex,
#ifconfig re<device_num> media 100baseTX -mediaopt full-duplex
5. For 10Mbps full-duplex,
#ifconfig re<device_num> media 10baseT/UTP mediaopt full-duplex
6. For 10Mbps half-duplex,
#ifconfig re<device_num> media 10baseT/UTP -mediaopt full-duplex
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I attempted to use their Method 1, but couldn't find the file if_re.ko anywhere on my FreeBSD system, even after searching for it with
I DID find a file if_re.c , which I first copied out to a directory I saved, and copied the file if_re.c which was included with the driver file I got from Realtek, then rebooted, but no joy.
Since what I tried did not work, I most certainly am not going to try their Method 2 at this point.
Might anyone here have any ideas about how I can activate any of my network adapters?
Ken Gordon
First, due to going through medical hell since January 2021, I have not been active on this forum for some time now. And secondly, due to the foregoing, I have forgotten several matters having to do with FreeBSD, which I had installed on my office desktop.
Then, a couple of months ago, the motherboard in my office desktop up and died on me: it slowly stopped recognizing its SATA ports, one by one, until it could no longer see any of them. So.....I replaced the motherboard and CPU with a new, much more capable one and essentially rebuilt the hardware in that desktop, keeping the HDDs.
The new mobo is an Asus STRIX Z690A WIFI D4, now with 16 GB RAM.
I did not reinstall Win10, simply changing it so that it was "moved over" to the new mobo. Win10 works fine....well...at least as well as it ever did, anyway.
I had installed FreebSD ver 13-RELEASE-XX on a second HDD with the old mobo, and it took some playing around to get the new mobo to allow me to boot on that drive, but I finally succeeded. FreeBSD runs quite well, with one exception: it does not recognize nor activate the network adapter.
After checking the system in Win10, I find the following network adapters attached to that system:
Product Type Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller
Product Type Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (3) I225-V
Product Type Intel(R) Wi-Fi 6 AX201 160MHz
Name D-Link AirPlus DWL-G520 Wireless PCI Adapter(rev.B)
I found and downloaded the FreeBSD drivers for all of the above, and extracted them all to my FreeBSD installation. There was a README file included with the Realtek driver:
Here it is:
=================================================================================
= Realtek 8169S/8169SB/8169SC/8168B/8168C/8168CP/8168D/8168DP/8168E/8168F =
= 8168FB/8168G/818GU/8168H/8168EP/8411/8168FP =
= 8101E/8102E/8103E/8401/8105E/8106E/8402 =
= 8125 Driver =
= for FreeBSD v4.x/5.x/6.x/7.x/8.x/9.x/10.x/11.x//12.x/13.x =
=================================================================================
This driver is modified by Realtek Semiconductor corp. and it has been tested OK
on FreeBSD v5.4, FreeBSD v6.4, FreeBSD v7.3, FreeBSD v8.0, and FreeBSD v9.0. To
update the driver, you may use method 1. If method 1 failed, you must use method 2
which is more complex.
Method 1:
1.Copy if_re.ko in "modules" directory to "/modules" directory and overwrite
the existing file.
2.Modify the file "/boot/defaults/loader.conf" and set "if_re_load" in "Network drivers" section to "Yes"
3.Reboot.
Method 2:
Because the FreeBSD kernel has default drivers to support RTL8139C and RTL8169S. To use the RTL8139C+, RTL8169SB, RTL8169SC, RTL8168B, and RTL8101E, you need to update your NIC driver by recompiling your FreeBSD kernel.
The main steps you have to doFreeBSDSrcDir means the directory of FreeBSD source code
and it may be "/usr/src/sys")
1. keep the orginal driver source code:
# cd /usr/src/sys/dev/re
# cp if_re.c if_re.c.org
# cd /usr/src/sys/modules
# cp Makefile Makefile.org
# cd /usr/src/sys/modules/re
# cp Makefile Makefile.org
# cd /usr/src/sys/i386/conf/
# cp GENERIC GENERIC.org
2. recompile your kernel (you must install your FreeBSD source code first !!)
# vim /usr/src/sys/i386/conf/GENERIC and delete re
# vim /usr/src/sys/modules/Makefile and delete re
# cd /usr/src/sys/i386/conf
# /usr/sbin/config GENERIC
(for FreeBSD 5.x/6.x/7.x/8.x/9.x)
# cd ../compile/GENERIC
(for FreeBSD 4.x)
# cd ../../compile/GENERIC
# make clean
# make depend
# make
# make install
# reboot
3. update the driver source code:
Copy the driver source code( if_re.c and if_rereg.h) into /usr/src/sys/dev/re
Copy the Makefile into /usr/src/sys/modules/re
4. build the driver:
# cd /usr/src/sys/modules/re
# make clean
# make
5. install the driver
(for FreeBSD 12 or later)
# cd /usr/obj/usr/src/<arch>.<arch>/sys/modules
# kldload ./if_re.ko
(for FreeBSD 11 or earlier)
# cd /usr/src/sys/modules/re
# kldload ./if_re.ko
6. configurate the static IP address
# ifconfig re0 xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
7. configurate the IP address by DHCP
# /sbin/dhclient re0
The user can use the following command to change link speed and duplexmode.
1. For auto negotiation,
#ifconfig re<device_num> media autoselect
2. For 1000Mbps full-duplex,
#ifconfig re<device_num> media 1000baseTX mediaopt full-duplex
3. For 100Mbps full-duplex,
#ifconfig re<device_num> media 100baseTX mediaopt full-duplex
4. For 100Mbps half-duplex,
#ifconfig re<device_num> media 100baseTX -mediaopt full-duplex
5. For 10Mbps full-duplex,
#ifconfig re<device_num> media 10baseT/UTP mediaopt full-duplex
6. For 10Mbps half-duplex,
#ifconfig re<device_num> media 10baseT/UTP -mediaopt full-duplex
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I attempted to use their Method 1, but couldn't find the file if_re.ko anywhere on my FreeBSD system, even after searching for it with
find / -name "if_re.ko"
I DID find a file if_re.c , which I first copied out to a directory I saved, and copied the file if_re.c which was included with the driver file I got from Realtek, then rebooted, but no joy.
Since what I tried did not work, I most certainly am not going to try their Method 2 at this point.
Might anyone here have any ideas about how I can activate any of my network adapters?
Ken Gordon