FriendlyELEC-Forum

I have an R6C running Frigate and while using eth1 (2.5Gb port using R8125 driver) I have had repeated failures where the network interface stops working. Unplugging and replugging the cable will sometimes bring it back online.

If I switch to the eth0 port (uses a different driver) the system is reliable, so it's specific to eth1.

I'm now running Debian Trixie from the FriendlyElec download page (had the same issues with Jammy.)

The version of the R8125 driver in the build is not the latest, and I believe there have been some fixes in the driver, so I'd like to try a new version of the driver to see if that solves the problem.

Is there a newer version of the driver available or can I build one? Or is there some other reason why it would be failing?

While there's not always anything useful in the syslog, I did see this on one occasion:

The issue is likely with the Realtek r8125 driver, not your setup. The “NETDEV WATCHDOG timeout” usually points to driver instability.

You can try installing a newer driver manually from Realtek or compiling the latest version, which often fixes these drops. Also check for kernel updates since newer kernels sometimes include improved support. If stability matters, sticking with eth0 for now is the safest workaround.