Re: Realtek RTL8169 Ethernet died?

[Ian Clark <mrrooster%gmail.com@localhost>]

On 19 November 2011 15:46, Mark Benson <md.benson%gmail.com@localhost> wrote:
> Hi,
>
[Snip network hardware failures]
>
> I'm lead to think this isn't a coincidence. Has anyone else got any 
> experience or input?
>
Have you checked the rest of your network hardware? Is everything
earthed correctly? it sounds like static's zapping something?

FWIW I've had this happen too, also to Realtek hardware (although I
suspect this is just due to the fact that everything cheap and
cheerful is realtek it seems), both with on board /and/ a standalone
PCI card.

This was on a machine that had never run NetBSD (It was running ubuntu)

Turns out it was crusty old hardware and I needed to replace a network
cable that was fine in certain orientations.....

For what it's worth, all my good NICs are intel, they work well, and
the desktop pro 1000 cards can be had fairly cheaply these days. I've
had issues with a heavly loaded realtek interface being unreliable.
(under windows, when talking to a netbsd box; blamed NetBSD for
ages... doh!!) and whilst they do usually work well, they're the most
problematic of all the NICs i've used over the years.

Cheers,

Ian