Official Realtek Driver Binary 1.95 For 2.4.4 Release

jgnguyen123

@networkingmicrobe I have the same problem with the built-in RTL8168. In Windows driver, there's an option "Gigabit lite" that is to set to ON by default which reduces its speed to half. I suspect that might be be the default settting on the NIC. Not sure if there's an option to turn it OFF in pfSense.

m4nf47

@mikekoke said in Official Realtek Driver Binary 1.95 For 2.4.4 Release:

@stephenw10 said in Official Realtek Driver Binary 1.95 For 2.4.4 Release:
As jimp said in the other thread in 2.5 the FreeBSD package for this is in our repo. So you can simply do this at the command line:

pkg install realtek-re-kmod
then
echo 'if_re_load="YES"' >> /boot/loader.conf.local

Then reboot and check the boot logs for output from the new driver loading like:
re0: <Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller> port 0x1000-0x10ff mem 0xf7a00000-0xf7a00fff,0xf7900000-0xf7903fff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci1
re0: Using Memory Mapping!
re0: Using 1 MSI-X message
re0: ASPM disabled
re0: version:1.96.04
re0: Ethernet address: 00:0d:b9:37:30:10
Steve
I was forgetting to ask you something, in your opinion it is better to first remove the old driver for realtek that I had installed for 2.4.5, then update to 2.5.0 and finally install the new driver with the procedure you wrote above or I can do upgrade to 2.5.0 and then overwrite the old driver with the new one? Thank you.

Hi thread, long time no see! So I recently upgraded from 2.4.5 to 2.5.1 and started getting the dreaded watchdog timeout errors again after a couple of days, would completely hang my connection and force me offline. I noticed that the Realtek driver wasn't loading as before and can confirm that the above simple (pkg install) fix seemed to work for me. The key info to confirm that the driver is loaded is to run the kldstat command and also check the boot logs for the version line as shown above. Many thanks for sharing, fingers crossed this post might help someone else running crappy Realtek hardware on pfSense.

m4nf47

Just an update for anyone reading this old thread for older releases, there are much simpler instructions that worked for me on the 2.5.1 release, I now recommend avoiding any messy compilation and upload of drivers and just using the instructions here:

https://forum.netgate.com/topic/135850/official-realtek-driver-binary-1-95-for-2-4-4-release/168

cooljimy84

@m4nf47
same here, pkg remove and then install
tho i had to add the following to /boot/loader.conf
if_re_load="YES"
if_re_name="/boot/modules/if_re.ko"

aignatev

Version 1.96.04 for FreeBSD 13, if needed.

https://github.com/anignatev/if_re

j3roen

I'm running into this issue on PFSense 2.6. Does anyone have a working driver?

stephenw10

Do this:

pkg add https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:12:amd64/latest/All/realtek-re-kmod-197.00.pkg

Then do:

echo 'if_re_load="YES"' >> /boot/loader.conf.local
echo 'if_re_name="/boot/modules/if_re.ko"' >> /boot/loader.conf.local

Then reboot. Make sure it reports the new driver in the boot log.

Steve

A Former User

@j3roen
Loading and installing over the Webgui
Console or log in via SSH

pkg add https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:12:amd64/latest/All/realtek-re-kmod-197.00.pkg 
pkg install -f -y realtek-re-kmod-197.00.pkg

/boot/loader.conf.local
loader.conf.local and entries must be created by yourself

if_re_load=“YES” 
if_re_name="/boot/modules/if_re.ko"

stephenw10

You only need the 'pkg add' command to install it.

You don't need to do anything with the existing module if you have specified the path to the alternative module in the _name variable.

j3roen

Thanks all! :)

Oxyacetylene

I am having this same issue, but the repository listed above is giving me a 403 forbidden error. I am on pfSense 2.6 and just set up a new Zimaboard to use for a firewall. My WAN internet connection has dropped multiple times over the last 24 hours.

EDIT: I used pkg add https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:12:amd64/quarterly/All/realtek-re-kmod-197.00.pkg

2nd Edit: Once I installed this package the firewall behaved even worse. I went back in after a reboot and unchecked the option to disable hardware checksum offload. Rebooted again. Watching now to see if things are stable. I had checked this option to disable the offload as an attempt to fix the problem, before loading the driver.

Oxyacetylene

3rd Update: The driver didn't fix the problem. The WAN connection went down again in less than 24 hours. The LAN would still ping, but the web GUI would not load. I have pulled the Zimaboard out of service for now. The next attempt will be with a PCIe dual Intel NIC on the Zimaboard. This isn't really ideal but I am going to give it a shot.

stephenw10

Was it showing watchdog timeouts from the Realtek driver in the logs?

Are you sure the alternative driver was actually loading?

Oxyacetylene

@stephenw10 I definitely had the watchdog timeouts in the log. As far as the driver loading, I need to verify that. When I ran the pkg add command, in the output I saw the relevant lines indicating to load the driver, but to your point I need to actually look to see if the driver is loading. I'll try to do that soon and report back. Would I verify by just looking at the kernel modules? I work from home and the drops were causing me a big headache so I just pulled it for now, but I will try to set it up soon on the bench and see what's what.

stephenw10

Check the boot logs. The alternative driver shows the driver version on each NIC it attaches to like:

re0: <Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller> port 0x1000-0x10ff mem 0xf7a00000-0xf7a00fff,0xf7900000-0xf7903fff irq 16 at device 0.0 on pci1
re0: Using Memory Mapping!
re0: Using 1 MSI-X message
re0: ASPM disabled
re0: version:1.97.00
re0: Ethernet address: 00:0d:b9:37:30:10

gregeeh

I had manually installed Realtek Drivers on versions prior to 2.6 and assumed they just carried over to 2.6.

I have no /boot/loader/conf.local file and my /boot/loader.conf is:

[2.6.0-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.localdomain]/boot: cat loader.conf
kern.cam.boot_delay=10000
kern.ipc.nmbclusters="1000000"
kern.ipc.nmbjumbop="524288"
kern.ipc.nmbjumbo9="524288"
opensolaris_load="YES"
zfs_load="YES"
kern.geom.label.gptid.enable="0"
kern.geom.label.disk_ident.enable="0"
autoboot_delay="3"
hw.hn.vf_transparent="0"
hw.hn.use_if_start="1"
net.link.ifqmaxlen="128"
[2.6.0-RELEASE][admin@pfSense.localdomain]/boot:

So it appears the latest Realtek Driver is not installed.

Should I install it?

EDIT: kldstat

Id Refs Address                Size Name
 1   25 0xffffffff80200000  3aed878 kernel
 3    1 0xffffffff84089000     9860 opensolaris.ko
 4    1 0xffffffff84311000     1000 cpuctl.ko
 5    1 0xffffffff84312000     1400 wmt.ko
 6    1 0xffffffff84314000     8e10 aesni.ko
 7    1 0xffffffff8431d000      bf8 coretemp.ko
 8    1 0xffffffff8431e000    11aa8 dummynet.ko

stephenw10

@gregeeh said in Official Realtek Driver Binary 1.95 For 2.4.4 Release:

Should I install it?

Only if you're seeing a problem with the in-kernel driver.

If you do decide to add it the loader line should be added to /boot/loader.conf.local

gregeeh

@stephenw10 Thanks for your reply. Where is the best place to look for problems?

stephenw10

You won't have to look. When it fails it usually stops passing traffic entirely. But you can looks for log entries in the main system log showing watchdog timeouts from the re(4) driver.

Oxyacetylene

@stephenw10 I booted it up on the bench and sure enough, the new driver was not loading. I had thought that the message I saw during the package install meant that the needed lines were being added to the boot config, but that is not the case. I have now manually added the lines to /boot/loader.conf.local and verified the new driver module is loading at boot. I am going to put it back in service soon and will report back.