(Solved) Needing help in getting a NIC with a RTL8168E chipset working

[Henties]

I am trying to get  2 brand new D-Link DGE-560T PCIe Gigabit ethernet controllers working under Big Sur. These cards are using the Realtek RTL8168E chipset, which I understand is supported natively and OOB by macOS. 

I have tried various version of @Mieze's RTL8111.kext up to the latest V2.4.2 but no matter what I do these cards are just not recognised by Big Sur but both work very well under Windows 10 as well as Ubuntu 20.4 LTS.

Any help to get these cards working under Big Sur 11.6.1 will be much appreciated. 

 

Regards Henties

Edited October 29, 2021 by Henties
Added Ubuntu

[AkimoA]

Well back in time , as far as i can remember from Snow Leopard to High Sierra  it was very common to use   AppleRTL8169Ethernet.kext from Apple inside IONetworkingFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns. ( /System/Library/Extensions/IONetworkingFamily.kext ) 

 

But things changed since then as u know and we dont put stuff into S/L/E anymore but on the other hand for old ethernet drivers this was always a must do.

 

So my try would be create snapshot, install the old attached driver inside plugins folder of  (IONetworkingFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns) and give it another shot .

 

if the old dependencies are still there it might work if u do it correctly

 

 

RTL8169_macOS_10.13.2.zip

[Henties]

@AkimoA Great will give it a try, but the file that you provided is the RTL8169 version whereas what I seem to need is the RTL8168E version, will however look inside as it may actually extend "downstend" 🙂 to the 8168E as well. Was actually hoping for a solution that is immune to upgrading macOS.

 

Regards Henties

[Slice]

No, RTL8168E never worked natively. That's why Mieze made new driver. Strange it is not working for you.

I may recommend my Realtek LAN driver in the signature. It must work.

[AkimoA]

Well it seems i was still sleeping when reading , so forget the above  i somehow was reading 8169 

[Henties]

@Slice I tried your RealtekR1000SL.kext per your signature but it fails to load. I am using OC 0.7.5 nightly 22.10.2021.

I can not pick it up in IORegistry Explorer. Also with kextstat | grep RTL I get nothing

Hackintool picks it up as a DGE-528T Gigabit Ethernet Adapter whereas it is actually a DGE-526T, the attached file refers. 

But I must say it looks very promising. Maybe an OC-->Kernel-->Patch of sorts, together with a DeviceProperties entry would do the trick ? 

 

Edit:

 

@Slice @Mieze

 

In Windows the DGE-560T is recognised by the Vendor Id, Device Id and Subsys Id as embedded in this string:

 

\VEN_1186&DEV_4300&SUBSYS_4B101186&REV_06\4&63746cb&0&0s

 

Is there perhaps a way to get this NIC working via an OC kernel patch ?

I already tried but my knowledge is just too limited to expect a positive result.

 

Would be grateful for any help on this issue.

 

Greetings Henties

pcidevices.plist.zip

Edited October 23, 2021 by Henties
Added Window device id string

[Slice]

My kext failed to load because PCIID is not the same as the kext intended. Try to write your 0x43001186 into its info.plist.

[Henties]

@Slice Thank you so much for your tip, it turned out "golden" I should have thought about it myself, instead I was trying to accomplish the recognition of this NIC in OC, and failed dismally. Once I get my "BT wake from sleep" problem sorted out with Monterey, I will probably stay with it or at least use it more often.

Greetings Henties

[Henties]

@Slice Because your RTL1000SL.kext does not support some of the advanced features that I have become dependent upon over the years, I continued with some more testing with @Mieze 's RTL8100 as well as her version 2.4.2 RTL8111 kext.

 

Mieze's RTL8100 Kext

By plugging in the PCIID for my D-Link DGE-560T NIC I also got this working, however in my particular environment this kext is also lacking some features which I found useful over the years, one being its inability to operate in promiscuous mode, which I require for continuously monitoring network traffic. For many years now I am using a tiny, unobtrusive network monitor on my macOS desktops and which, if it can be avoided, I do not wish to loose. Checkout the screenshot to see what I mean. Without that "gadget" on my desktop it feels similar to driving a vehicle without a working speedometer.

 

Mieze's RTL8111 Kext

I also got this working, even with all it's advanced features, by plugging in the PCIID for my D-Link NIC, however the proviso being that it is the only PCIID present in the info.plist file of that kext as per: 

IOKitPersonalities-->RTL8111 PCIe Adapter->IOPCIMatch--> 0x43001186

Any other, space delimited PCIID values present and sharing the PCIID value with the one for the D-Link NIC, will not  be successful, making this "modified" kext usable only for the particular D-Link DGE-560T NICs I own.

 

Hoping this info will maybe be somehow useful to others on this board.

 

Greetings Henties

 

I forgot to mention that the DGE-560T is still configured as primary interface (en1). I am presently still relying on my inactive WiFi card for providing the (eno) network service, will change the configuration when time permits.

 

Edited October 29, 2021 by Henties