Solved Realtek NIC defaults to 10baseT

[Criosphinx]

Didn't really notice until today.

Output of ifconfig:

re0: flags=8843<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,SIMPLEX,MULTICAST> metric 0 mtu 1500
    options=8209b<RXCSUM,TXCSUM,VLAN_MTU,VLAN_HWTAGGING,VLAN_HWCSUM,WOL_MAGIC,LINKSTATE>
    ether 90:2b:34:68:b5:e6
    hwaddr 90:2b:34:68:b5:e6
    inet 192.168.1.86 netmask 0xffffff00 broadcast 192.168.1.255
    nd6 options=29<PERFORMNUD,IFDISABLED,AUTO_LINKLOCAL>
    media: Ethernet autoselect (10baseT/UTP <full-duplex>)
    status: active

pciconf -lv:

re0@pci0:3:0:0:    class=0x020000 card=0xe0001458 chip=0x816810ec rev=0x06 hdr=0x00
    vendor     = 'Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.'
    device     = 'RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller'
    class      = network
    subclass   = ethernet

I dual boot this PC and Windows show network speed at 1.0 Gbit and it works correctly.

Found a couple of old threads with a similar problem
Thread 63735
Thread 22664

ifconfig re0 media 100baseTX works but base if I use 1000baseTX it will not connect.

Is this a know problem of realtek cards or a bug?

 

[Criosphinx]

Now its working!

Right after I posted the topic I tried with another PC I have, also running FreeBSD 11.2. Its a much newer Ryzen but with the same Realtek NIC. Connected to the same router with the same cable booted and works fine, media at 1000baseTX

Reconnected the old one and to my surprise it also worked. The router must be doing something weird.

 

[nihr43]

Something inducing noise into the cable? Laying a network cable parallel to a power cable for a long stretch, or just an overlength cable will cause things to negotiate a lower speed.

 

[ShelLuser]

Reconnected the old one and to my surprise it also worked. The router must be doing something weird.

Sometimes it is possible for stuff to go haywire when both ends of the cable use auto-negotiation. It doesn't happen that often anymore with modern equipment but still does occasionally.

Although you did specify the media in your shared example you did not specify the options (full duplex) which in itself could still have caused negotiation issues.

So: what happens when you force the NIC into a specific media and mediaopts?

 

[Criosphinx]

I did ifconfig -m re0 and tried the supported media list, all of them work.

Now I'm sure it's(was) the router, a Nokia G-240W-B. Probably needs a reset to factory defaults but unless it does the same again I prefer to leave it as it is.