Weird issue with r8169: shutdown on carrier comeback

Weird issue with r8169: shutdown on carrier comeback

[Tanguy Ortolo]

Hello,

I am experiencing a weird computer issue that is at least partly linked 
to the r8169 driver: the computer shuts down when the Ethernet cable is 
pulled off and plugged again. Or when the switch goes down and up again.

To be more specific, the computer is a [Trigkey Key-N100][1] running 
Debian Trixie. That computer has two Gigabit Ethernet controllers:
     $ lspci | grep Ethernet
     01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)
     02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)

[1]: https://devhome.corp.adobe.com/docs/default/component/ethos-flex/docs/devhome/prerequisites/

One of them is configured, and when I pull off its Ethernet cable and 
plug it again after a few seconds (or if I reboot the switch it is 
connected to), something simulates a power key press (log from 
systemd-logind: “Power key pressed short”). Even though I configured 
logind to ignore such events, one second after this, the computer shuts 
itself down brutally, as if experiencing a power loss.

After a few experiments, I determined that:
* it happens on both Ethernet interfaces of that computer;
* it happens only on _configured_ interfaces: in particular, it does not
   happen if I unplug the Ethernet cable, run `ip link set enp1s0 down`
   and plug the cable again;
* it does not happen with the proprietary driver r8168.

I am not really sure the r8169 driver is at fault here; it sounds more 
like a very weird hardware issue in specific conditions, which are met 
when using it. Anyway, I though you deserved to know, in case it could 
be useful. Please tell me if there is anything else I could do to 
further diagnose that issue.

Regards,

-- 
Tanguy Ortolo

Re: Weird issue with r8169: shutdown on carrier comeback

[Heiner Kallweit]

On 2/2/2026 6:00 PM, Tanguy Ortolo wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I am experiencing a weird computer issue that is at least partly linked to the r8169 driver: the computer shuts down when the Ethernet cable is pulled off and plugged again. Or when the switch goes down and up again.
> 
> To be more specific, the computer is a [Trigkey Key-N100][1] running Debian Trixie. That computer has two Gigabit Ethernet controllers:
>     $ lspci | grep Ethernet
>     01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)
>     02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)
> 
> [1]: https://devhome.corp.adobe.com/docs/default/component/ethos-flex/docs/devhome/prerequisites/
> 
> One of them is configured, and when I pull off its Ethernet cable and plug it again after a few seconds (or if I reboot the switch it is connected to), something simulates a power key press (log from systemd-logind: “Power key pressed short”). Even though I configured logind to ignore such events, one second after this, the computer shuts itself down brutally, as if experiencing a power loss.
> 
> After a few experiments, I determined that:
> * it happens on both Ethernet interfaces of that computer;
> * it happens only on _configured_ interfaces: in particular, it does not
>   happen if I unplug the Ethernet cable, run `ip link set enp1s0 down`
>   and plug the cable again;
> * it does not happen with the proprietary driver r8168.
> 
> I am not really sure the r8169 driver is at fault here; it sounds more like a very weird hardware issue in specific conditions, which are met when using it. Anyway, I though you deserved to know, in case it could be useful. Please tell me if there is anything else I could do to further diagnose that issue.
> 

Thanks for the report. Interesting issue .. The network driver (r8169) has no link to the input system.
Therefore it's likely your network manager which is causing this behavior. Maybe r8168 is different in what
network notifications it sends. But hard to say w/o knowing what the network manager looks at to detect
link-down/-up events.

> Regards,
> 

Re: Weird issue with r8169: shutdown on carrier comeback

[Tanguy Ortolo]

Hello,

Thank you for the quick reply.

Heiner Kallweit, 2026-02-02 18:25+0100:
>Thanks for the report. Interesting issue .. The network driver (r8169) has no link to the input system.
>Therefore it's likely your network manager which is causing this behavior.

I doubt it, the network is simply managed by Debian's ifupdown. Nothing 
fancy like NetworkManager for instance. By the way, I tried after 
switching to systemd-networkd, and the issue remains.

(I also tried after enabling ifplugd, which deconfigures the interface 
when a carrier loss is detected, and that does avoid the problem, just 
like when I do the same manually: shutdown only happens when I re-plug 
the cable into an interface that is still configured.)

I would more likely suspect something weird in the motherboard itself. 
But this is indeed very hard to tell. I reported the issue to the 
manufacturer as well (Trigkey), but I am not sure they will reply. I do 
not see how the r8169 driver could be responsible for that issue, I 
think it merely creates conditions in which some hardware bug appears.

But since r8168 does not trigger that issue, I felt I should report it 
just in case it could be useful. Do not waste too much time on this. :-)

Regards,

-- 
Tanguy Ortolo