Bug#558316: netinstall fails with a Realtek RTL8169 Gigabit Ethernet card

[Emmanuel Blot <eblot.ml@gmail.com>]

Package: netinstall
Version: sorry, don't know how to obtain that info, see below for the
package reference and date.

Hardware:
   Intel D945GSEJT, Atom processor N270 @1.60Ghz, 1GB DDR2
   Technical specs:
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/17597/eng/D945GSEJT_TechProdSpec.pdf

Software:
  Debian netinstall dated 05-09-09 04:25, downloaded from
    http://ftp.nl.debian.org/debian/dists/lenny/main/installer-i386/current/images/netboot/
  Linux kernel: 2.6.26-2-486 #1 Wed Aug 19 05:40:02 UTC 2009

Issue:
  While starting up a network installation off the latest Debian
netinstall image, the installer subsystem is unable to retrieve an
address from the DHCP server, and the installation fails.
  It appears that the kernel is unable to send a single network packet
over the Realtek ethernet link:
  I've run a WireShark session on the DHCP server machine, and not a
single IP packet is emitted from the to-be-installed system, once the
initial PXE boot up sequence as completed.

  The hardware link and the DHCP server are ok, as the board (PXE
BIOS) has successfully been able to boot the pxelinux.0 then the
kernel image from the very same hardware/software installation. It
looks like the problem is somehow related to the linux kernel (the
realtek driver?)

  I've tried to unplug/plug the Ethernet link at various stages of the
installation process (to trigger a link down/up event), with no
success.


Additional information:

strings pxelinux.0 shows:
  PXELINUX 3.71 Debian-2008-09-06

lsmod shows that the r8169 module is loaded Ok

dmesg reports:
:eth0: RTL8169 at 0xf8820000, 00:1c:c0:xx:xx:xx, XID 281000c0 IRQ 219
"r8169: eth0: link down", while the physical link is actually plugged in:
  * status leds on Ethernet socket are green,
  * status leds on the peer switch device to which the device is
connected are green as well

lspci reports:
"01.00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 03)"


I don't think the issue is related to the environment, as on the very
same hardware environment and the same PXE/DHCP server, the Ubuntu
9.10 net installation successfully completes under the same
conditions.

Let me know if you need more details.