Ethernet expansion card shuts down under heavy load (Remote gaming)

Framework Laptop 13 Linux
1

Which Linux distro are you using?

NixOS

Which release version?

25.05 (BUILD_ID: 25.05.810767.3bcc93c5f7a4)
(if rolling release without a release version, skip this question)

(If rolling release, last date updated?)

Which kernel are you using?

6.17.0 \#1-NixOS

Which BIOS version are you using?

3.05 (got scared of updating due to numerous issues seen with new BIOS update)

Which Framework Laptop 13 model are you using? (AMD Ryzen™ AI 300 Series, AMD Ryzen™ 7040 Series, Intel® Core™ Ultra Series 1, 13th Gen Intel® Core™ , 12th Gen Intel® Core™, 11th Gen Intel® Core™)

AMD Ryzen 7040 Series : AMD Ryzen 7 7840U w/ Radeon 780M Graphics

The issue only happens when the card is intensively used, I see it is getting a bit hot (I don’t have any way to measure precisely it’s temperature but I see it shutdown and reboot the lights, my router shows say that the network cable was disconnected)

I cannot reproduce the issue with the exact same Ethernet cable and my USB-C Thinkpad Gen 2 Ethernet Port (but the speed is capped at 1Gb/s instead of 2.5Gb/s)

I’ll be reaching out to support soon as I’m surprised this has not been reported by anyone yet, might be a faulty expansion card I got out of the box.

In my dmesg logs, I see :

[239280.611523] r8152 2-2:1.0 enp193s0f3u2: carrier on
[239288.036186] r8152 2-2:1.0 enp193s0f3u2: carrier off
[239291.875452] r8152 2-2:1.0 enp193s0f3u2: carrier on
[239770.083642] r8152 2-2:1.0 enp193s0f3u2: carrier off
[239773.923059] r8152 2-2:1.0 enp193s0f3u2: carrier on
[248759.266172] r8152 2-2:1.0 enp193s0f3u2: carrier off
[248763.106608] r8152 2-2:1.0 enp193s0f3u2: carrier on
[252453.345398] r8152 2-2:1.0 enp193s0f3u2: carrier off
[252457.185747] r8152 2-2:1.0 enp193s0f3u2: carrier on
[252469.473881] r8152 2-2:1.0 enp193s0f3u2: carrier off
[252473.313610] r8152 2-2:1.0 enp193s0f3u2: carrier on

To probably debug further, I’d need to enable maybe some kernel parameters to have a more verbose output from the driver r8152

2

Try using Realtek’s upstream r8152 driver to see if ti changes anything. It’s available as a DKMS module on the AUR, but I don’t know how you would get it for NixOS.

1 Like
3

I’ve noticed even my Phone sharing network via USB there are disconnection, I’m not sure if it’s using the same driver, I’ve used a different USB-A Expansion card the one on the left (and I did not have any disconnection with USB/Android connection share, I have to try to put the Ethernet expansion card into another slot before trying this, if I can reproduce the issue on all the expansion slots, then changing the driver would probably be the next step, if it stills happen, it’s probably hardware related or drivers shenanigans I have no clue)

4

The ethernet works best in the slot 1 or 3 (closest you screen)
Also, carrier on/off is more related to a faulty cable, or the device on the other end of the cable at fault.

1 Like
5

But this couldn’t be a faulty cable as using a USB-C dock with the same Ethernet cable there is no carrier drop (over 8 hours of the same use case, remote gaming)

6

Using the usb4 ports for a 2.5gbit nic seems kind of overkill XD. Hell even my fancy new 10Gbit usb nic doesn’t care what port it’s in (and could easily run with a fully spec compliant 650ma usb port).

Different nics can have different tolerance for sketchy cables so the cable is still quite possible a factor. As james said, carrier off/on mean the nic thinks the cable connected/disconnected.

1 Like
7

I’ll try multiples different cables then and see if I can still reproduce the issue with differents brands and cat(6, 6e, 7, 8 maybe), I’ve read that cat7 and cat8 are just scams nowadays, no one really needs them.

EDIT : Just curious also what do you have as a 10GB/s USB NIC ? @Adrian_Joachim

8

The whole joke about 2.5Gbit is that it can run on some pretty terrible cable (as long as it got 4 pairs), at least cat7 isn’t exactly a scam just massive overkill for most uses, not too sure about cat8 but don’t think that matters jet as there isn’t really anything faster than 10Gbit available for for regular 4-pair twisted-pair networking. In this case it may even just be the connector (cable or nic side) that doesn’t make proper contact or something.

Got one of those fancy new realtek rtl8159 based adapters, payed a bit more than I would have liked for it but I was just so curious XD. Apart from needing out of tree drivers I am pretty impressed with the thing.

1 Like
9

I use a 10Gbps usb4/thunderbolt nic with SPF+ fibre cables. No cable problems with fibre cables.

1 Like
10

Well that’ll definitely require the back ports. But for something as simple as a 2.5Gbit nic pretty much anything should be fine.

More like different problems with fiber cables.

11

Regarding cable types for copper networking.
It really comes down to cable lengths, bps needed, and rf interference.
But in general:
Cat5e : 1 gbps
Cat6: 10 gbps
Cat7: 10 gbps in noisier rf interference environments. Can be placed closer to mains cables without problems.

You should not need anything better that cat6 for home. I use single mode fibre instead, but only because it’s easier for me.

12

I only recommend the back ports because the usb controller on them appears to be more reliable, at least on my FW16 it is, and the FW13 uses similar chips on its back ports.

13

Not just similar, the same just with different power muxing.

Man I wish I had a way to get fiber in the right places XD

And 2.5Gbit, 5e is rated for 100mhz, 2.5Gbit is exactly 100mhz.

14

Hi.
While the carrier on/off generally would point to a cable problem. I have experience of writing drivers and firmware for nic cards.
There are edge cases, where the nic firmware would reset itself, fairly silently, and depending on how fast that is, it may result in a carrier off/on.

2 Likes