USB ethernet dongles fail high speed tests

Framework Laptop 13 Linux
1

Which Linux distro are you using?
EndeavourOS

Which release version?
Last updated within this week.

Which kernel are you using?
6.19.9-arch1-1 (64-bit)

Which BIOS version are you using?
Unknown, but the laptop was purchased within this month.

Which Framework Laptop 13 model are you using?
AMD Ryzen™ AI 300 Series

This is not an issue with the ethernet expansion card sold by Framework. It is about other dongles.

I already had a 1Gbps usb ethernet adapter (usb c to ethernet). The exact adapter can be found on Amazon as ASIN B0F8BD6Y52. From my testing the adapter works fine on this os configuration. I ran a local speed test between two computers that had built in ethernet ports, and comparted between using the built in ports vs the adapter and there was no difference in the result of the speed test. So I assume something about how the framework laptop handles the usb adapter causes it to fail.

The speed test was done with iperf3. When starting the test on the framework laptop using the adapter, the test starts at the full 1Gbps and works for about a second, after which the data transfer rate drops to 0 and the adapter stops working until removed and replugged.

2

The FW13 has 4 slots. Try the nic adapter in each of the 4 slots.
Does it fail in all 4 slots, or does it work in some?
The reason for asking, is that different usb controllers work different slots. So know which slots work and which slots do not narrows down which usb controller is the problem.

1 Like
3

So, it looks like the RTL8156 found in the Framework USB dongle has two drivers available for it:

  1. Linux’s built in r8152 driver
  2. Realtek’s upstream r8152 driver (which is also a GPLv3 driver).

Since you are Arch Linux, you can try out Realtek’s upstream driver by installing the r8152-dkms package and see if that works. If you run into any issues, let me know.

4

This appears to have fixed the issue. By moving the usb c port to the slots near the trackpad it now works on both sides.

So it seems the usb ports when placed in the slots near the screen cannot sustain the full throughput of usb c. But when placed near the trackpad, they can support the full speed.