Ubuntu Mate 20.04 LTS Down speed capping at 115-140 Mbps

Hello,

Been working through an issue for 6 months with Ubuntu Mate 20.04 LTS Down speed capping at 115-140 Mbps on Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller . Upload speeds are reaching 800 - 950 Mbps, but this doesn't really help for daily work and activity. I hoped a kernel or driver update would be made available to bring this adapter back to 1 Gbps FULL capability. This has not happened.

Assistance would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

Things tried to date that did not work:

  • NetworkManager config: MTU from Auto to 1500
  • NetworkManager config: Link negotiation from Automatic to Manual; speeds 100 Mb/s, 1 Gb/s, Duplex half and full
  • Connection priority: -999
  • IPv6 set to ignore
  • IPv6 set to disable
  • BIOS Firmware update HP-BIOS-F21_Rev_A--20201207
  • Installing r8168-dkms & and using r8168 driver in kernel instead of r8169 (had to revert)
  • Attempted to dowload drivers from Realtek and compile them, but the site would allow download of the Linux 64-bit driver.

Speed test - 2021-04-24

Internet speed test
015102050100+
791.6 Megabits per second
Testing upload...
129.2 Mbps download
792.0 Mbps upload
Latency: 8 ms
Server: Dallas

/etc/os-release

NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION="20.04.2 LTS (Focal Fossa)"
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
PRETTY_NAME="Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS"
VERSION_ID="20.04"
...
VERSION_CODENAME=focal
UBUNTU_CODENAME=focal

Kernel

Linux odenomen01 5.4.0-72-generic #80-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 12 17:35:00 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Last Full System Update
2021-APR-24

Hardware
Laptop: HP Omen 15-dc1057nr

description: Notebook
product: OMEN by HP Laptop 15-dc1xxx (7TK52UA#ABA)
vendor: HP
version: Chassis Version
serial: xxxxxxxxxxx
width: 64 bits
capabilities: smbios-3.2.0 dmi-3.2.0 smp vsyscall32
configuration: boot=normal chassis=notebook family=103C_5335KV HP OMEN sku=7TK52UA#ABA uuid=35434439-3338-365A-5A4C-040E3C8A6D6C

Output: sudo lshw -class network

*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: eno1
version: 16
serial: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
size: 1Gbit/s
capacity: 1Gbit/s
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=off broadcast=yes driver=r8169 duplex=full firmware=rtl8168h-2_0.0.2 02/26/15 ip=xxx.xxx.x.x latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=MII speed=1Gbit/s
resources: irq:17 ioport:3000(size=256) memory:84404000-84404fff memory:84400000-84403fff
*-network DISABLED
description: Wireless interface
product: Wi-Fi 6 AX200
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0
logical name: wlo1
version: 1a
serial: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=5.4.0-72-generic firmware=48.4fa0041f.0 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11
resources: irq:18 memory:84300000-84303fff

Network Manager -> system-connections -> Wired connection

[connection]
id=Wired connection 1
uuid=24e3e145-9cfa-382c-9bff-b2fc3c21a0a0
type=ethernet
autoconnect-priority=-999
interface-name=eno1
permissions=
timestamp=1619326632

[ethernet]
duplex=full
mac-address=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
mac-address-blacklist=
mtu=1500
speed=1000

[ipv4]
dns-search=
method=auto

[ipv6]
addr-gen-mode=stable-privacy
dns-search=
ip6-privacy=0
method=disabled

[proxy]

Output: ethtool eno1

Settings for eno1:
Supported ports: [ TP MII ]
Supported link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Full
Supported pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
Supported FEC modes: Not reported
Advertised link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Full
Advertised pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
Advertised auto-negotiation: No
Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
Speed: 1000Mb/s
Duplex: Full
Port: MII
PHYAD: 0
Transceiver: internal
Auto-negotiation: off
Cannot get wake-on-lan settings: Operation not permitted
Current message level: 0x00000033 (51)
drv probe ifdown ifup
Link detected: yes

AT&T Gateway information

Broadband Status
Broadband Connection Source ETHERNET

Broadband Connection Up
Broadband Network Type Lightspeed
Broadband IPv4 Address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Gateway IPv4 Address xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
MAC Address xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Primary DNS 68.94.156.9
Secondary DNS 68.94.157.9
Primary DNS Name
Secondary DNS Name
MTU 1500
Ethernet Status
Line State Up
Current Speed (Mbps) 1000
Current Duplex full

IPv6
Status Available
Service Type native IPv6
...
Primary DNS
Secondary DNS
MTU 1500

IPv4 Statistics
Receive Packets 580483905
Transmit Packets 200020423
Receive Bytes 763859425381
Transmit Bytes 100511329213
Receive Unicast 577451893
Transmit Unicast 200003413
Receive Multicast 3022927
Transmit Multicast 14887
Receive Drops 0
Transmit Drops 0
Receive Errors 0
Transmit Errors 0
Collisions 0
IPv6 Statistics
Transmit Packets 4311405
Transmit Errors 0
Transmit Discards 9132

1 Like

Hi @lonestarmate
Noticed you cite 5.4 kernel.

inux odenomen01 5.4.0-72-generic #80-Ubuntu SMP Mon Apr 12 17:35:00 UTC 2021 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Shouldn't it be 5.8 through the normal update methods? Since you posted at the end of april 2021?

uname -r
5.8.0-50-generic

Mention this because this thread seems very similar and suggests that a newer kernel might indeed fix this problem (as you suggested).

Hope this helps!

1 Like

Hi @Geus,

I had been waiting for system to pick up the 5.8 kernel as well, but it's not getting picked up during weekly system updates.

No non-mainline modifications to updates/sources for system that should directly affect the kernel.

Here is release & sources.list:

# cat /etc/lsb-release 
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=20.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=focal
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS"

# grep -v "^#" /etc/apt/sources.list
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal main restricted
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates main restricted
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates universe
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-updates multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security main restricted
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security universe
deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-security multiverse

Verified the system is still at 5.4 kernel

$ uname -r
5.4.0-72-generic

Verified a new kernel was not sitting out there and not in use for some reason:

$ sudo ls -lart /boot
total 413800
drwx------  3 root root      4096 Dec 31  1969 efi
drwxr-xr-x 25 root root      4096 Jul 23  2020 ..
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    184884 Aug 18  2020 memtest86+_multiboot.bin
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    184380 Aug 18  2020 memtest86+.elf
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    182704 Aug 18  2020 memtest86+.bin
-rw-------  1 root root   4749710 Mar 19 06:57 System.map-5.4.0-70-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    237850 Mar 19 06:57 config-5.4.0-70-generic
-rw-------  1 root root  11756288 Mar 19 07:01 vmlinuz-5.4.0-70-generic
-rw-------  1 root root   4750202 Mar 24 05:25 System.map-5.4.0-71-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    237851 Mar 24 05:25 config-5.4.0-71-generic
-rw-------  1 root root  11760384 Mar 24 05:29 vmlinuz-5.4.0-71-generic
-rw-------  1 root root   4750202 Apr 12 10:12 System.map-5.4.0-72-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root    237851 Apr 12 10:12 config-5.4.0-72-generic
-rw-------  1 root root  11760384 Apr 12 11:56 vmlinuz-5.4.0-72-generic
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root        24 Apr 16 06:15 vmlinuz.old -> vmlinuz-5.4.0-71-generic
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root        24 Apr 16 06:15 vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-5.4.0-72-generic
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root        27 Apr 16 06:15 initrd.img.old -> initrd.img-5.4.0-71-generic
lrwxrwxrwx  1 root root        27 Apr 16 06:15 initrd.img -> initrd.img-5.4.0-72-generic
drwxr-xr-x  6 root root      4096 Apr 16 06:16 grub
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  85778975 Apr 24 13:05 initrd.img-5.4.0-71-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root  85775444 Apr 24 13:06 initrd.img-5.4.0-70-generic
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 100660798 Apr 24 14:07 initrd.img-5.4.0-72-generic.old-dkms
-rw-r--r--  1 root root 100660513 Apr 24 14:16 initrd.img-5.4.0-72-generic

Hey @lonestarmate

meld is giving me the following difference between your /etc/apt/sources.list and mine:


Please add
deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal universe
and after that:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Any errors in the output then?

Please check the state of the linux-image-5.8.0-50-generic package with synaptic's search tool.
sudo apt-get install synaptic
sudo synaptic
Maybe you've put your 5.4 kernel on hold and forgot while troubleshooting your WIFI issues?

Or maybe try sudo apt install linux-generic-hwe-20.04 if you installed from an optical disk
Also see this: How-To Install Hardware Enablement Stack (HWE) on ver. 20.04 LTS

Hey @Geus,

Had synaptic PM installed. It shows 5.8.0-23 (generic/lowlatency) through 5.8.0-50 available.

Went the HWE 20.04 install route. Still not working...

# sudo apt install --install-recommends linux-generic-hwe-20.04

RC=0 in install, and no issues after reboot.

Hello again @Geus,

After rebooting into the 5.8.0-50-generic kernel, here is what the wired network device is running:

Hi @Geus,
nmcli connection settings for that device below:

Hi @Geus,

To make sure something was not wrong with switch or cable, plugged same cable on same switch into a completely unrelated system. Those tests consistently reported the below.

Hi @lonestarmate,
Understood from other thread you have running that this happens on two HP Omen laptops but not on another Dell laptop (as you also posted above in your last reply).
Problem also exists when using livecd, correct?

Unclear to me is whether it also happens when you boot to Windows from the M.2 w/ Win10 installed and run speedtest from there?

Hi @Geus,

These are dedicated Linux setups so no dual boot, but have put the original M.2 back in to do speedtest from Win 10. Both Win 10 and up to Ubuntu Mate 18.04.3 LTS worked on both HP Omen laptops for Gigabit up and down.

Initial livecd tests on 20.04.1 LTS exhibited the same behavior. Downloading a 20.04..2 LTS live iso tonight and will test that as well.

Have an HP DV7 7012NR as well w/ Gigabit running Ubuntu Mate 16.04.7 LTS with the same type of Realtek adapter. Speed test tonight on that system attached to same cable and same switch is below.

hp-dv7-7012nr-lab02:~$ cat /etc/lsb-release 
DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=16.04
DISTRIB_CODENAME=xenial
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 16.04.7 LTS"

hp-dv7-7012nr-lab02:~$ lspci -nn | grep -i ethernet
0b:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 07)

image

Thanks