Anyone know Realtek LAN port settings?

[forumjoe]

From the Gigabyte website I've recently installed an updated Realtek driver for the LAN interface between my WinXP machine (GA-P55-US3L) and my Netgear ADSL router (DG834, wired). The connection works fine except that when I'm finished with using my PC for the day and I turn it off, the particular LAN port that it was on, on the router, now remains active, rather than being automatically turned off. So, does anyone know how to configure the Realtek LAN port to get this right?

The LAN driver is for Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller and essentially uses an 8111 chip on the motherboard. Its configurable settings can be found in:
Device Manager/Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller/Properties/Advanced tab, and are:
(the possible configuring for each property is either 'enabled' or 'disabled')

802.1Q/1p VLAN Tagging - disabled
Auto disable PCIe - disabled
Auto disable PHY - disabled
Checksum offload - Rx and Tx enabled
Flow control - enabled
Green Ethernet - enabled
Jumbo frame - disabled
Large send offload - enabled
Network address - not present
Shutdown wake-on-LAN - enabled
Speed and duplex - auto negotiation
Wake-on-LAN capabilities - pattern match and image ...
WOL and shutdown link speed - 100M bps first

I seem to recall that I had a similar problem a long time ago with the first driver I used. Unfortunately, I've no record of what I subsequently did, to get it right.

It would help if I knew what some of these terms meant in this context. Owing to the numbers of permutations possible, it's impractical to find out the effects simply by trial-and-error.

So, can anybody assist me on this?

[Lsdmeasap]

You want it to be disabled on the board when the PC is off correct?  If so, disable all the wake on lan and WOL options you mention, and disable PME event wake in the BIOS on the power options page

[forumjoe]

The BIOS setting will have no effect in this case, as I've had these settings 'correct' before and I've previously not needed to change anything in the BIOS. I've tried playing around with some of the more obvious Realtek port settings but to no avail.

I'm not sure what you mean by "on the board". What I want is that the used Ethernet channel, as depicted by the status of that on the frontpanel of the router, is turned off when the PC is powered off. It's equivalent, I think, to disabling the Realtek LAN Controller in Device Manager (the channel gets automatically re-enabled when the PC reboots later into Windows).

I've a gut feeling that this will eventually be sorted by the change of just one or two of those Realtek port settings, but gawd knows which. It'd helped if they weren't so cryptic.

[Gloup_Gloup]

Hi forumjoe,  

Firsly, check your cable. Have you a 5E or 6 category cable.

Category 5 cabling is most commonly used for faster Ethernet networks, such as 100BASE-TX and 1000BASE-T.
If you have 6 cabling is the best.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_5_cable

Download a Realtek drivers:
http://www.realtek.com/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=5&PFid=5&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false#RTL8111B/RTL8168B/RTL8111/RTL8168%3Cbr%3ERTL8111C/RTL8111CP/RTL8111D%28L%29%3Cbr%3ERTL8168C/RTL8111DP/RTL8111E%3Cbr%3ERTL8168E/RTL8111F

Secondly, in the property of NIC card or Onboard LAN, check
in Advanced Tab...
Speed and Duplex ... set to 1000 Mbps Full Duplex
Jumbo Packet... set to 9014 bytes if possibles (choose the more up level...)

Click Ok , maybe you have a obligation to reboot after change parameters...

Come again here with more infos... You use Firewall or cable wire (RJ-45)...

Gloup_Gloup

[forumjoe]

Lsdmeasap,

You were kinda right. In the end, I had no option but to merely experiment with the settings and found that changing "Shutdown Wake-on-LAN" from Enabled to Disabled did the trick. The requisite Ethernet channel indicator on my Netgear DG834 router now extinguishes (as indeed logically it ought to) when I turn off the PC (the router, of course, is always left powered up by me), and comes back on each time Windows reboots.

I've also changed "WOL and Shutdown Link Speed" from 100M bps to 10M bps, though frankly I've only a vague notion of what that does. Given that my ADSL line syncs at no more than 4M bps, I can't see much point in my having a 100M bps Ethernet connection, especially as it's a wired one and only about 1 metre in length. I've wondered for a long time whether this 100/10M bps setting has anything to do with my browser's (IE) apparent inability to sometimes not find a website from the address bar. When I try it a second time, it succeeds. Other than that, it's perhaps a minor bug in the router's firmware causing it.

I've also wondered about "Green Ethernet" in the Realtek LAN port's settings. Does that have a bearing on disabling the Ethernet channel when you turn off the PC? Without there being a set of plain-english definitions of these cryptic settings, there's no way of really knowing. I've searched the Web for this but found nothing. Realtek themselves don't seem to publish anything much about the settings.

Anyway, in case this proves useful to others in the future, these are the settings I'm now using:-

802.1Q/1p VLAN Tagging - Disabled
Auto Disable PCIe - Disabled
Auto Disable PHY - Disabled
Checksum offload - Rx and Tx Enabled
Flow control - Enabled
Green Ethernet - Enabled
Jumbo frame - Disabled
Large Send offload - Enabled
Network Address - Not Present
Shutdown Wake-on-LAN - Disabled
Speed and Duplex - Auto negotiation
Wake-on-LAN capabilities - Pattern Match and Magic Packet 
WOL and Shutdown Link Speed - 10M bps first

[Lsdmeasap]

I thought that would get it for you! 

I'm not sure what the option does you mentioned?   You could test for one week with it set one way, and then another week set the other way, and see if that affects the IE issue you mention.   if it doesn't then it could be something in the firmware of the router as you mentioned, or your ISP's DNS cache or whatever DNS you use, or it could just be the sites themselves, or an IE specific bug.   Many options to try and narrow that one down!

Green ethernet adjusts the power used based on cable lengths, during idle and low LAN usage, there's a little bit about it here
http://www.gigabyte.com/microsite/98/html/technology-guide-power-efficient-f.htm

And here at Realtek
http://www.realtek.com.tw/press/newsViewOne.aspx?NewsID=261&Langid=1&PNid=0&PFid=1&Level=1

http://www.realtek.com.tw/press/newsViewOne.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=0&PFid=1&Level=1&NewsID=173


Glad to hear you got your main concern sorted out though!   Post back anytime if you need more help with anything!

[forumjoe]

Lsdmeasap,

The "Green Ethernet" to which I was referring is not a utility, it's a setting for the LAN port. I think, anyway, that Green Ethernet in the LAN settings works only on certain variants of the Realtek 8111 chip and since mine's an 8111D, I don't think it's relevant. I've therefore now put that setting to Disabled.

Must admit I've not noticed anything different since changing the last of those LAN Port settings from 100M bps First to 10M bps First.

Many thanks, anyway, for inspiring me to experiment further with the Wake-On settings. Had you not done that I'd have still been scratching my head.

[Lsdmeasap]

What I mention isn't a utility either, it's a BIOS setting / feature of the onboard Realtek LAN 8111x (Any 8111 and newer too probably)

Glad I could help with the initial issue, I'm always happy to help!

[GMDemo]

Hi

The Shutdown wake-on-LAN - enabled setting should be set to disabled unless you want another computer on the LAN to be able to start or shutdown your computer. I'm surprised that Gigabyte has this setting enabled by default, I have just spent the last hour looking through the BIOS for a similar setting because my computer just kept turning itself on and wouldn't stay off.  You would normally find this setting in the BIOS but my BIOS has no such settings.

The WOL and shutdown link speed - 100M bps first setting will not make any difference to you unless other computers on the LAN are allowed to start up or shutdown your computer.

The green ethernet setting will reduce the amount of electricity your computer uses and should therefore be enabled.