r8169 hangs after many "link up"

[Digulla-hepe]

I experienced mysterious hangs of the machine. No crash, no kernel panic, Alt+SysRq didn't work, NumLock was dead.

After some experiments, I found this recipe to reproduce the problem:

1. Download something large (like a big git repository) from another machine that is on the same gigabit LAN (you need quite some throuput).

In the syslog, you'll start to see messages like these:

Aug 5 14:27:48 adigulla kernel: [ 1491.908445] r8169 0000:03:00.0: eth0: link up
Aug 5 14:27:49 adigulla kernel: [ 1492.417302] r8169 0000:03:00.0: eth0: link up
Aug 5 14:27:49 adigulla kernel: [ 1492.556858] r8169 0000:03:00.0: eth0: link up
Aug 5 14:27:50 adigulla kernel: [ 1492.965761] r8169 0000:03:00.0: eth0: link up
Aug 5 14:27:50 adigulla kernel: [ 1493.135401] r8169 0000:03:00.0: eth0: link up
Aug 5 14:27:50 adigulla kernel: [ 1493.484479] r8169 0000:03:00.0: eth0: link up
Aug 5 14:27:50 adigulla kernel: [ 1493.644146] r8169 0000:03:00.0: eth0: link up
Aug 5 14:27:51 adigulla kernel: [ 1494.342378] r8169 0000:03:00.0: eth0: link up
Aug 5 14:27:51 adigulla kernel: [ 1494.432170] r8169 0000:03:00.0: eth0: link up
Aug 5 14:27:54 adigulla kernel: [ 1497.235083] net_ratelimit: 11 callbacks suppressed
Aug 5 14:27:54 adigulla kernel: [ 1497.235087] r8169 0000:03:00.0: eth0: link up

2. Now start something which hogs the hard disk (like building a linux kernel).

Eventually, the whole system will hang.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: linux-generic 2.6.38.11.26
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-11.48-generic 2.6.38.8
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-11-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.23.
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: adigulla 2087 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'Intel'/'HDA Intel at 0xf3ff8000 irq 55'
   Mixer name : 'Realtek ALC887'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0887,1043840b,00100202'
   Controls : 24
   Simple ctrls : 14
Card1.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:1 'NVidia'/'HDA NVidia at 0xf7dfc000 irq 17'
   Mixer name : 'Nvidia GPU 12 HDMI/DP'
   Components : 'HDA:10de0012,10de0101,00100100'
   Controls : 16
   Simple ctrls : 4
Date: Fri Aug 5 15:06:14 2011
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=58b8fc76-dcbe-4a54-81fe-f4c07457225d
IwConfig:
 lo no wireless extensions.

 eth0 no wireless extensions.
MachineType: System manufacturer System Product Name
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-11-generic root=UUID=7e4939e5-9658-4007-8eb0-3185046ffaac ro splash quiet vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-2.6.38-11-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-2.6.38-11-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.52.1
RfKill:

SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-04-28 (98 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 10/29/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: 0901
dmi.board.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: P7H55-M/USB3
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
dmi.board.version: Rev X.0x
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: Asset-1234567890
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Chassis Manufacture
dmi.chassis.version: Chassis Version
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvr0901:bd10/29/2010:svnSystemmanufacturer:pnSystemProductName:pvrSystemVersion:rvnASUSTeKComputerINC.:rnP7H55-M/USB3:rvrRevX.0x:cvnChassisManufacture:ct3:cvrChassisVersion:
dmi.product.name: System Product Name
dmi.product.version: System Version
dmi.sys.vendor: System manufacturer

[Digulla-hepe (digulla-hepe)]

I had the issue with kernel vmlinuz-2.6.38-10-generic. I tried with vmlinuz-2.6.38-11-generic but it has the same flaw.

Is there a newer version of r8169 which I can/should try?

[Digulla-hepe (digulla-hepe)]

Installing this kernel solves the issue: http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.0.1-oneiric/

I also had to update the NVIDIA driver using the version from this PPA: https://launchpad.net/~xorg-edgers/+archive/ppa/+packages?field.name_filter=nvidia&field.status_filter=published&field.series_filter=

Note that this is bleeding edge stuff. My system did boot and X did come up and so far, it seems to be stable.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Changing to fix released due to comment #3.