Kali Linux - Wired connection failing unless machine gets restarted

Question

I am using the newest version of Kali Linux (2018.4) but I have the following unusual issue. If I boot my machine up with the ethernet cable plugged in, the eth0 interface works just fine. However, if I boot up with WiFi (no cable plugged in), and I try to plug the cable in after more than 30~ minutes of system uptime, the wired connection will fail.

It just says Wired connecting and then pops out Activation of network connection failed. The weirdest part is that it works successfully during the first 30 minutes, then I have to always restart the machine with the cable plugged in so I can use the wired connection.

I tried resetting the network manager:
/etc/init.d/network-manager restart

Also bringing eth0 interface down and then up, but no luck. Anyone has/had this issue?

• Kali is not running in a VM;
• System information: Linux kali 4.19.0-kali1-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 4.19.13-1kali1 (2019-01-03) x86_64 GNU/Linux

• Network card info:

  02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 15)
  03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 3165 (rev 79)
  

Here are the log entries from /var/log/syslog..

The moment I plug the cable in:

Jan 31 13:07:30 kali kernel: [ 9597.698217] r8169 0000:02:00.0 eth0: Link is Up - 1Gbps/Full - flow control off
Jan 31 13:07:30 kali NetworkManager[15820]: <info>  [1548936450.7691] device (eth0): carrier: link connected  

After a minute:

Jan 31 13:08:08 kali dhclient[16601]: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 4
Jan 31 13:08:12 kali dhclient[16601]: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7
Jan 31 13:08:19 kali dhclient[16601]: DHCPDISCOVER on eth0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 15
Jan 31 13:08:31 kali NetworkManager[15820]: <info>  [1548936511.9965] device (eth0): DHCPv4: grace period expired
Jan 31 13:08:31 kali NetworkManager[15820]: <info>  [1548936511.9966] device (eth0): state change: ip-config -> failed (reason 'ip-config-unavailable', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Jan 31 13:08:31 kali NetworkManager[15820]: <warn>  [1548936511.9979] device (eth0): Activation: failed for connection 'Wired connection 1'
Jan 31 13:08:31 kali NetworkManager[15820]: <info>  [1548936511.9984] device (eth0): state change: failed -> disconnected (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali NetworkManager[15820]: <info>  [1548936512.0206] dhcp4 (eth0): canceled DHCP transaction, DHCP client pid 16601
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali NetworkManager[15820]: <info>  [1548936512.0206] dhcp4 (eth0): state changed fail -> done
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali NetworkManager[15820]: <info>  [1548936512.0219] policy: auto-activating connection 'Wired connection 1' (dfe04dbc-7123-4a36-bf7b-6542c03b6c4c)
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali NetworkManager[15820]: <info>  [1548936512.0230] device (eth0): Activation: starting connection 'Wired connection 1' (dfe04dbc-7123-4a36-bf7b-6542c03b6c4c)
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali NetworkManager[15820]: <info>  [1548936512.0231] device (eth0): state change: disconnected -> prepare (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali NetworkManager[15820]: <info>  [1548936512.0235] device (eth0): state change: prepare -> config (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali NetworkManager[15820]: <info>  [1548936512.0240] device (eth0): state change: config -> ip-config (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali NetworkManager[15820]: <info>  [1548936512.0242] dhcp4 (eth0): activation: beginning transaction (timeout in 45 seconds)
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali NetworkManager[15820]: <info>  [1548936512.0259] dhcp4 (eth0): dhclient started with pid 17015
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali gnome-shell[1118]: Object NM.ActiveConnection (0x55a06d19cc70), has been already finalized. Impossible to get any property from it.
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1118]: == Stack trace for context 0x55a06bb70340 ==
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1118]: #0 0x55a06bf28610 i   resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/status/network.js:2045 (0x7f156c121890 @ 93)
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1118]: #1 0x7ffc37d73840 b   resource:///org/gnome/gjs/modules/_legacy.js:82 (0x7f15802b5de0 @ 71)
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1118]: #2 0x55a06bf28580 i   resource:///org/gnome/shell/ui/status/network.js:1854 (0x7f156c120e68 @ 138)
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1118]: #3 0x7ffc37d74b80 b   resource:///org/gnome/gjs/modules/_legacy.js:82 (0x7f15802b5de0 @ 71)
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali org.gnome.Shell.desktop[1118]: #4 0x7ffc37d75390 b   self-hosted:918 (0x7f15802f1230 @ 394)
Jan 31 13:08:32 kali gnome-shell[1118]: Object NM.ActiveConnection (0x55a06d19cc70), has been already finalized. Impossible to get any property from it.

Answer 1

_{I wasn't going to write this up as an answer, since it doesn't directly solve the problem as described, but I've decided I should, so that I can more easily expand on the information provided.}

There are problems using the r8169 driver with Realtek 8168/8111 cards.

The guide at https://www.unixblogger.com/how-to-get-your-realtek-rtl8111rtl8168-working-updated-guide/ will show you how to resolve the issue for Debian and Ubuntu, where they write,

The r8169 is loaded when the r8168 is not found on your system. This will give you a network and internet connection, but with the r8169 driver your RTL8168 card will be very unstable._"

Essentially, on these platforms it's just a case of adding the non-free repository and installing the correct driver. Once it's present, the r8169 driver will be ignored.

On other platforms (which may or may not include Kali) you may have to use the manual process described there, which is pretty much about downloading the r8168 driver from Realtek and building it locally. Unfortunately I can't help you with precise instructions for Kali as I don't have that to hand, but you might find equivalent solutions in the Kali repositories.