"Executive Summary" of the failure, its cause, and the fix

   - My computer has one of the new RTL8125 chips (rev 0c) that Realtek
   revised to consume less power and achieve other goals, and it doesn't work
   exactly the same as previous revisions, so the driver in package r8125-dkms
   (version 9.011.00-4ubuntu1.1) doesn't work, and the new "9.015.00" driver I
   downloaded from the Realtek WWW site does work.
   - Here is a hardware report:
   Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8125 2.5GbE Controller [10ec:8125]
   (rev 0c)
   - For more info, see my Topic on discourse.ubuntu.com. It's an
   "article", built with help from ChatGPT, so there may some significant
   omissions or minor errors, but I think it's overall clear enough that other
   novices, like me, can see what needs to be done and probably work through
   the details.:

   https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/realtek-rtl8125-ubuntu-24-04-ethernet-
fix-r8125-new-driver-purge-r8125-dkms/59143


What I saw before and after making the one change that fixed the problem

This is what I saw before updating my computer with the new driver from
Realtek:

About 2 weeks ago I did:
james@NUC14Ess:~$ sudo apt install r8125-dkms
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
r8125-dkms is already the newest version (9.011.00-4ubuntu1.1).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 26 not upgraded.
james@NUC14Ess:~$

I consistently got "Activation of network connection failed", and I ran
some diagnostics:

james@NUC14Ess:~$ sudo ethtool -i enp1s0
[sudo] password for james:
driver: r8125
version: 9.011.00-NAPI
firmware-version:
expansion-rom-version:
bus-info: 0000:01:00.0
supports-statistics: yes
supports-test: no
supports-eeprom-access: no
supports-register-dump: yes
supports-priv-flags: no
james@NUC14Ess:~$ ip a
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group
default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host noprefixroute
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: enp1s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP
group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 48:21:0b:71:2b:f9 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: wlo1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UP
group default qlen 1000
    link/ether d0:65:78:a2:76:28 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    altname wlp0s20f3
    inet 192.168.1.35/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global dynamic
noprefixroute wlo1
       valid_lft 86198sec preferred_lft 86198sec
    inet6 fe80::d265:78ff:fea2:7628/64 scope link noprefixroute
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

Using the DKMS driver, I consistently got the Link light on my unmanaged
Ethernet switch, even while getting "Activation of network connection
failed". I already swapped cables and ports on my switch with one being
used successfully (always) by another Debian-based Linux computer.

*[ NOTE: This result above is misleading: it says enp1s0 is "UP" but it
doesn't actually work, even manually setting an IP address: ]*
james@NUC14Ess:~$ sudo dhclient -v enp1s0
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client 4.4.3-P1
Copyright 2004-2022 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit https://www.isc.org/software/dhcp/

Listening on LPF/enp1s0/48:21:0b:71:2b:f9
Sending on   LPF/enp1s0/48:21:0b:71:2b:f9
Sending on   Socket/fallback
xid: warning: no netdev with useable HWADDR found for seed's uniqueness
enforcement
xid: rand init seed (0x67828737) built using gethostid
DHCPDISCOVER on enp1s0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 3
(xid=0xedd55e2b)
DHCPDISCOVER on enp1s0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 5
(xid=0xedd55e2b)
DHCPDISCOVER on enp1s0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 10
(xid=0xedd55e2b)
DHCPDISCOVER on enp1s0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
(xid=0xedd55e2b)
^C
james@NUC14Ess:~$ cat /sys/class/net/enp1s0/carrier
1
james@NUC14Ess:~$ sudo ip addr add 192.168.1.155/24 dev enp1s0
james@NUC14Ess:~$ sudo ip link set enp1s0 up
james@NUC14Ess:~$ ping -c 4 192.168.1.1
PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 192.168.1.155 icmp_seq=1 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.155 icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.155 icmp_seq=3 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.1.155 icmp_seq=4 Destination Host Unreachable

--- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 0 received, +4 errors, 100% packet loss, time 3102ms
pipe 4
james@NUC14Ess:~$

Without changing anything but the driver, I fixed it

*In one session at the computer, without touching any cables or any other
LAN components, or making any other software changes or settings:*

Using my WiFi connection on the same computer, I downloaded and installed
the current driver from Realtek, purged r8125-dkms, and immediately
Ethernet started working, *I turned off the WiFi*, and it has continued
solid ever since this change:

james@NUC14Ess:~/Downloads/r8125-9.015.00$ sudo ./autorun.sh
[sudo] password for james:
Check old driver and unload it. rmmod r8125
Build the module and install
warning: the compiler differs from the one used to build the kernel
 The kernel was built by: x86_64-linux-gnu-gcc-13 (Ubuntu
13.3.0-6ubuntu2~24.04) 13.3.0
 You are using: gcc-13 (Ubuntu 13.3.0-6ubuntu2~24.04) 13.3.0
Skipping BTF generation for
/home/james/Downloads/r8125-9.015.00/src/r8125.ko due to unavailability of
vmlinux
Warning: modules_install: missing 'System.map' file.
Skipping depmod.
Backup r8169.ko.zst
rename r8169.ko.zst to r8169.zst.bak
DEPMOD 6.11.0-21-generic
load module r8125
Updating initramfs. Please wait.
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.11.0-21-generic
dracut-install: Failed to find module 'r8169'
/lib/modules/6.11.0-21-generic/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/realtek/r8169.zst.bak
Completed.
james@NUC14Ess:~/Downloads/r8125-9.015.00$ sudo apt remove --purge
r8125-dkms
[completed without errors]
james@NUC14Ess:~/Downloads/r8125-9.015.00$ sudo reboot

*Ethernet started working.*

james@NUC14Ess:~$
sudo ethtool -i enp1s0 [sudo]
password for james:
driver: r8125 version: 9.014.01-NAPI
firmware-version:
expansion-rom-version:
bus-info: 0000:01:00.0
supports-statistics: yes
supports-test: no
supports-eeprom-access: no
supports-register-dump: yes
supports-priv-flags: no
james@NUC14Ess:~$ find /lib/modules/$(uname -r) -name 'r8125.ko*'
/lib/modules/6.11.0-21-generic/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/realtek/r8125.ko.zst
/lib/modules/6.11.0-21-generic/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/realtek/r8125.ko
james@NUC14Ess:~$ sudo modinfo r8125 | grep -i filename
filename:
/lib/modules/6.11.0-21-generic/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/realtek/r8125.ko.zst
james@NUC14Ess:~$

NOTE: Apparently Realtek failed to update the text inside the actual driver
code to "9.015.00", so that is why, instead, we see
driver: r8125 version: 9.014.01-NAPI
... but at least we know it's later than "9.011.00-4ubuntu1.1", and it
works.

If this documentation is insufficient to show, without a doubt, that *a
driver update. later than the one in package r8125-dkms
(9.011.00-4ubuntu1.1) is actually required in order to get the RTL8125 **(rev
0c )** to work in Ubuntu 24.04.x*, please explain how it is insufficient,
and if I get further instructions as to how to provide sufficient evidence
(e.g. explicit, unambiguous, specific CLI commands -- remember, I'm a
newbie/novice/amateur) I will do what I can to try to help further.

Sincerely,

Jim Harris



On Wed, Apr 16, 2025 at 5:41 AM Jürg Häfliger <[email protected]>
wrote:

> If you want any kind of support from Ubuntu/Canonical, you need to
> install packages from the Ubuntu archive not from random PPAs or the
> internet.
>
> $ sudo apt install r8125-dkms
>
> If that doesn't get the NIC going, attach the output of dmesg from
> beginning of boot and we can take a look.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2100350
>
> Title:
>   Realtek RTL8125 rev 0c unsupported in Noble
>
> Status in Ubuntu:
>   Invalid
> Status in r8125 package in Ubuntu:
>   Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
>   Ethernet doesn't work on ASUS NUC 14 Essential with Intel Core 3 N355
>   CPU and Ubuntu 24.04.2 without patching it.
>
>   I got mine to work by following the instructions provided by Jeremy31
>   on my Topic
>
>   https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/rtl8125-2-5gbe-ethernet-port-not-
>   working-in-ubuntu-24-04/55551
>
>   Here is the series of commands I followed, and the NUC's Ethernet has
>   been working fine, at 1Gbps at least, ever since (about a week,
>   through several shutdown/reboots). I am not good enough at Linux to
>   understand what these commands did.
>
>   sudo apt install git
>   git clone https://github.com/notpeelz/r8125.git
>   cd r8125/src
>   make
>
>   Ignore some errors, then
>   zstd r8125.ko
>   sudo cp r8125.ko.zst /lib/modules/$(uname
> -r)/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/realtek/
>   echo "blacklist r8169" | sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/r8169.conf
>   sudo depmod -a
>
>   Reboot
>
>   Jeremy31 also commented, "It really isn’t up to ASUS as it is a
>   Realtek ethernet device and support has been added to newer upstream
>   kernels to support more of the RTL8125 variants in the r8169 kernel
>   module. I am not real familiar with r8169 but I wonder if they could
>   just pull all the recent upstream commits and have more devices
>   function with r8169 in the Ubuntu kernels"
>
>   System -> About: Ubuntu 24.04.2 LTS
>
>
>   In case this helps: There are many, _many_ similar complaints on many
>   forums etc.. I think, for example, this one on a Plugable device is
>   related:
>
>   https://support.plugable.com/t/wired-network-does-not-work-on-
>   ubuntu-24-04/25555
>
>   I wrote to them and they replied, in part, "As for our ethernet
>   adapters that use the Realtek chipsets we currently only use the
>   RTL8153B for our Gigabit ethernet adapter, and the RTL8156B for our
>   2.5 Gigabit ethernet adapter."
>
>   If I can help further, please call or text my smartphone at
>   651.440.4328, or email me.
>
>   IHTH
>
>   Jim Harris
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/2100350/+subscriptions
>
>

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2100350

Title:
  Realtek RTL8125 rev 0c unsupported in Noble

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/2100350/+subscriptions


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