Comment 1 for bug 326891

I see the same problem on my MSI Wind U100.
The wired port works on 2.6.27-9. It gives the following dmesg | grep 8169 when booted without cable connected:
[ 4.362683] r8169 Gigabit Ethernet driver 2.3LK-NAPI loaded
[ 4.362723] r8169 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
[ 4.362753] r8169 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 4.362773] r8169 0000:01:00.0: unknown MAC (37a00000)
[ 4.363680] eth0: RTL8169 at 0xf883c000, 00:21:85:dc:69:42, XID 34a00000 IRQ 221
[ 39.349290] r8169: eth0: link down

In 2.6.27-11, it seems to think a cable is connected even though none is:
[ 4.842325] r8169 Gigabit Ethernet driver 2.3LK-NAPI loaded
[ 4.842363] r8169 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
[ 4.842392] r8169 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 4.842412] r8169 0000:01:00.0: unknown MAC (37a00000)
[ 4.843241] eth0: RTL8169 at 0xf883c000, 00:21:85:dc:69:42, XID 34a00000 IRQ 221
[ 40.633048] r8169: eth0: link up

Also if I remove the module with "sudo modprobe -r r8169", then try to reload it, I get:
[ 402.682627] r8169 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
[ 422.383316] r8169 Gigabit Ethernet driver 2.3LK-NAPI loaded
[ 422.383401] r8169 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 16 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
[ 422.383449] r8169 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
[ 422.383487] r8169: probe of 0000:01:00.0 failed with error -22

In both cases, the received dropped packets count constantly increases up regardless if a cable is connected or not.

Output of lspci:
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)
02:00.0 Network controller: RaLink Device 0781