Realtek NICs won't operate at 1000BaseT

Question

I have tried a Realtek 8139 and Realtek 8111 NIC on my 12.04 Ubuntu desktop machine. Neither will operate at 1000BaseT when I try to force it with ethtool.

Answer 1

I have the exact same issue and unfortunately, no one but you and I seem to recognize this is the problem behind the "slow wired connection" problems in all the blogs.

I have not found a solution other than plugging it into a 100Mb switch instead of a gigabit switch and running at 100 full duplex.

You can add to /etc/network/interfaces:

pre-up /sbin/ethtool -s eth0 speed 100 duplex full autoneg off

EDIT: Found a solution!!!

You can download and install an updated driver from this link

I am now (finally) at gigabit.