How I fixed my WiFi and Ethernet issues

br_shadow · 5 February 2025 10:30

After updating to the latest stable release (2025-02-04), I encountered networking issues affecting both WiFi and Ethernet on my Manjaro system.

Symptoms

WiFi (`wlp4s0`) Issues:

WiFi could detect networks but would disconnect after connecting.
DHCP was failing, meaning no IP was assigned.
Manually setting an IP worked, but automatic connection did not persist.

Ethernet (`enp5s0`) Issues:

Ethernet was detected, but no IP was assigned via DHCP.
Running sudo dhclient -v enp5s0 showed “No DHCPOFFERS received”.
Switching to a static IP worked, but DHCP still failed.
r8169 driver loaded instead of r8168, causing instability.

Solution

Step 1: Fix WiFi by Resetting the Connection Profile

Delete the existing connection (to remove old settings):
```
sudo nmcli connection delete "Your_WiFi_Name"
```

Re-add the network manually:

sudo nmcli connection add type wifi ifname wlp4s0 con-name wifi-auto ssid "Your_WiFi_Name"
sudo nmcli connection modify wifi-auto wifi-sec.key-mgmt wpa-psk
sudo nmcli connection modify wifi-auto wifi-sec.psk "Your_WiFi_Password"
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

Reconnect to confirm success:
```
nmcli connection up wifi-auto
```

Result: WiFi connected successfully and remained stable.

Step 2: Fix Ethernet by Switching to `r8168` Driver

Remove the unstable r8169 driver:
```
sudo modprobe -r r8169
```
Install the correct driver for the current kernel (in my case, linux613):
```
sudo pacman -S linux613-r8168
```
Load the new driver manually:
```
sudo modprobe r8168
```
Restart NetworkManager:
```
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager
```

Step 3: Fix DHCP Issues

Check if dhcpcd was disabled:

systemctl status dhcpcd

If inactive, enable and restart it:

sudo systemctl enable --now dhcpcd
sudo systemctl restart dhcpcd

Manually obtain a DHCP lease to confirm it works:
```
sudo dhclient -v enp5s0
```

Ensure Ethernet (enp5s0) connects on boot:

sudo nmcli connection modify "Wired connection 1" connection.autoconnect yes

Disable dhclient conflicts:

sudo systemctl disable --now dhclient
sudo systemctl restart NetworkManager

Result: Ethernet now connects on boot and automatically receives an IP via DHCP.

Final Checks

After a reboot, I verified:
```
nmcli device status
ip addr show enp5s0
ping -c 4 8.8.8.8
```
Both WiFi and Ethernet work properly!

So in summary:

WiFi Issue: Old connection profile corruption → Fix: Remove and re-add the connection.
Ethernet Issue: Wrong driver (r8169 instead of r8168) → Fix: Install & load r8168.
DHCP Issue: Conflict between dhclient and dhcpcd → Fix: Enable dhcpcd, disable dhclient.
Post-reboot Stability: Ensure Ethernet autoconnect priority is set properly.

If you updated to Kernel 6.13 (or similar) and faced network issues, try switching to r8168, resetting WiFi settings, and enabling dhcpcd. Everything is now working smoothly after these fixes.

Hope this helps others facing similar issues!

Also, if it helps, here’s the inxi output for my system:

System:
  Host: desktop Kernel: 6.12.11-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 14.2.1 clocksource: tsc
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.2.5 tk: Qt v: N/A wm: kwin_wayland vt: 1 dm: SDDM
    Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: Gigabyte model: B550M GAMING
    serial: <superuser required> uuid: <superuser required> UEFI: American
    Megatrends LLC. v: F15c date: 05/12/2022
CPU:
  Info: 12-core model: AMD Ryzen 9 5900X bits: 64 type: MT MCP smt: enabled
    arch: Zen 3+ rev: 2 cache: L1: 768 KiB L2: 6 MiB L3: 64 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 3592 min/max: 550/4951 boost: enabled cores: 1: 3592
    2: 3592 3: 3592 4: 3592 5: 3592 6: 3592 7: 3592 8: 3592 9: 3592 10: 3592
    11: 3592 12: 3592 13: 3592 14: 3592 15: 3592 16: 3592 17: 3592 18: 3592
    19: 3592 20: 3592 21: 3592 22: 3592 23: 3592 24: 3592 bogomips: 177355
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm
Graphics:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 23 [Radeon RX 6650 XT /
    6700S 6800S] vendor: XFX driver: amdgpu v: kernel arch: RDNA-2 pcie:
    speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: DP-1 empty: DP-2, DP-3, HDMI-A-1,
    Writeback-1 bus-ID: 08:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:73ef class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: Elgato Systems GmbH Cam Link 4K
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid,uvcvideo type: USB rev: 3.0
    speed: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 4-3:2 chip-ID: 0fd9:0066 class-ID: 0102
    serial: 0006419AB1000
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.15 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.4
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: amdgpu
    unloaded: modesetting,radeon alternate: fbdev,vesa dri: radeonsi
    gpu: amdgpu display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: DP-1 model: Samsung LC34G55T serial: HNTXA09156 res:
    mode: 3440x1440 hz: 165 scale: 100% (1) dpi: 109
    size: 798x334mm (31.42x13.15") diag: 869mm (34.2") modes: max: 3440x1440
    min: 720x400
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: amd radeonsi platforms: device: 0 drv: radeonsi
    device: 1 drv: swrast gbm: drv: kms_swrast surfaceless: drv: radeonsi
    wayland: drv: radeonsi x11: drv: radeonsi
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6 compat-v: 4.5 vendor: amd mesa v: 24.3.4-arch1.1
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (radeonsi
    navi23 LLVM 19.1.7 DRM 3.59 6.12.11-1-MANJARO) device-ID: 1002:73ef
    display-ID: :1.0
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.303 layers: 4 surfaces: xcb,xlib,wayland device: 0
    type: discrete-gpu driver: N/A device-ID: 1002:73ef
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor wl: wayland-info
    x11: xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Navi 21/23 HDMI/DP Audio
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 08:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:ab28 class-ID: 0403
  Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio
    vendor: Gigabyte driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s
    lanes: 16 bus-ID: 0a:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487 class-ID: 0403
  Device-3: Creative Sound Blaster Play! 3
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB rev: 2.0 speed: 12 Mb/s
    lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-4:4 chip-ID: 041e:324d class-ID: 0300
    serial: YDSB1730409002591Z
  Device-4: Elgato Systems GmbH Cam Link 4K
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid,uvcvideo type: USB rev: 3.0
    speed: 5 Gb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 4-3:2 chip-ID: 0fd9:0066 class-ID: 0102
    serial: 0006419AB1000
  API: ALSA v: k6.12.11-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.2.7 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: pipewire-media-session status: active 3: pipewire-alsa
    type: plugin 4: pw-jack type: plugin
Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: speed: 5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 bus-ID: 04:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp4s0 state: down mac: 7e:c1:36:f0:00:ff
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: Gigabyte driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
    port: f000 bus-ID: 05:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp5s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: d8:5e:d3:32:cd:96
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 1-7:5 chip-ID: 8087:0029 class-ID: e001
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: 4C:44:5B:86:FD:75
    bt-v: 5.2 lmp-v: 11 class-ID: 6c0104
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 4.55 TiB used: 2.37 TiB (52.1%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Crucial model: CT1000P2SSD8 size: 931.51 GiB
    speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 tech: SSD serial: 2225E63DF9BA fw-rev: P2CR048
    temp: 42.9 C scheme: GPT
  ID-2: /dev/sda vendor: Seagate model: ST4000DM004-2U9104 size: 3.64 TiB
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: HDD rpm: 5400 serial: WW60G8YF fw-rev: 0001
    scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 915.53 GiB used: 495.77 GiB (54.2%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-2: /boot/efi size: 299.4 MiB used: 312 KiB (0.1%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: file size: 512 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2
    file: /swapfile
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 50.9 C mobo: 29.0 C gpu: amdgpu temp: 50.0 C
    mem: 48.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 0
Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB available: 31.24 GiB used: 6.29 GiB (20.1%)
  Processes: 498 Power: uptime: 2h 23m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform Init: systemd v: 257 default: graphical
  Packages: 2072 pm: pacman pkgs: 2041 pm: flatpak pkgs: 31 Compilers:
    clang: 19.1.7 gcc: 14.2.1 Shell: Bash v: 5.2.37 running-in: konsole
    inxi: 3.3.37

soundofthunder · 15 February 2025 11:17

Hi @br_shadow

Your post has been moved to a dedicated topic.

While your issue wasn’t strictly due to the referenced Update, once the procedures you kindly outlined have been reviewed by Moderation staff and other Members, they may indeed form the basis of a useful “Howto”, if you’re interested in taking it a step further;

‘Troubleshooting WiFi and Ethernet’ (or similar)?.

There’s always a place for properly researched, referenced, accurate and well presented information that will benefit the Community.

Of course, only if you have the time and inclination.
Either way, we appreciate your effort.

Regards.

nikgnomic · 15 February 2025 14:48

Forum does not allow first post to be marked as a solution

I suggest you edit 1st post and cut/paste the solution to a new comment that can be marked as a solution

cscs · 17 February 2025 20:38

I was under the impression most people dont need this anymore.
In whatever case network-r8168 is a profile in mhwd.

Why have them both installed?

nikgnomic · 18 February 2025 04:42

Manjaro Hardware Detection tool can install kernel headers and r8168 driver for each kernel version on system, and blacklist r8169 driver

sudo mhwd -i pci network-r8168

OR use Manjaro Settings Manager GUI:

manjaro-settings-manager -m msm_mhwd

Enable option in bottom left corner - Show All Devices

Look in section Network controller > RTL8111/8168/8411 for network-r8168

Right click on network-r8168 and select Install

Wired connection keeps dropping
Network configuration - Ethernet - Realtek_RTL8111/8168B | ArchWiki

Moilleadoir · 20 February 2025 05:16

I’m guessing that’s just a default. I seem to have both installed, but dhcpcd isn’t enabled. OTOH there is no dhclient service.