Failing RTL8127" on DGX Spark NIC

This seemed the closest category to the issue I am having. I’m looking for an RMA for my DGX Spark due to a NIC throttling to 100Mbps.

• DGX Spark purchased March 31, 2026 from Micro Center (fulfilled by Amazon)
• Original owner
• RTL8127 NIC advertised as 10GbE, but fails to maintain link above 100 Mbps with auto-negotiation
• Stable at 1 Gbps forced, drops at 2.5 Gbps forced
• Tested with multiple switches, cables, and ports—problem follows NIC
• Cat6a cable verified at 10G with other devices
• Running latest software/firmware
• NVIDIA DGX Spark Field Diagnostics tool reports PASS for all tests (logs on request; too large to attach
• Customer requests escalation to live agent for further review (who referred me here)

This is either a hardware issue with the NIC or a firmware/software issue with the DGX Spark, which is fully patched to the latest versions.

sudo dmidecode -s system-product-name
uname -a
1984225002774
NVIDIA_DGX_Spark
Linux sparky 6.17.0-1018-nvidia #18-Ubuntu SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Tue May 5 21:28:33 UTC 2026 aarch64 aarch64 aarch64 GNU/Linux

sudo lspci -vvv -s $(lspci | grep -i realtek | awk ‘{print $1}’)
sudo ethtool -i
sudo modinfo r8127
0007:01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 8127 (rev 05)
Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 0123
Physical Slot: 7
Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- SERR- <PERR- INTx-
Latency: 0, Cache Line Size: 64 bytes
Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 333
IOMMU group: 15
Region 0: I/O ports at 30000 [size=256]
Region 2: Memory at 6e900000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
Region 4: Memory at 6e940000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 3
Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=375mA PME(D0+,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
Status: D0 NoSoftRst+ PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
Capabilities: [50] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Address: 0000000000000000 Data: 0000
Capabilities: [70] Express (v2) Endpoint, MSI 01
DevCap: MaxPayload 512 bytes, PhantFunc 0, Latency L0s <512ns, L1 <64us
ExtTag- AttnBtn- AttnInd- PwrInd- RBE+ FLReset- SlotPowerLimit 0W
DevCtl: CorrErr+ NonFatalErr+ FatalErr+ UnsupReq+
RlxdOrd+ ExtTag- PhantFunc- AuxPwr- NoSnoop-
MaxPayload 512 bytes, MaxReadReq 256 bytes
DevSta: CorrErr+ NonFatalErr- FatalErr- UnsupReq+ AuxPwr+ TransPend-
LnkCap: Port #0, Speed 16GT/s, Width x1, ASPM L0s L1, Exit Latency L0s unlimited, L1 <64us
ClockPM+ Surprise- LLActRep- BwNot- ASPMOptComp+
LnkCtl: ASPM Disabled; RCB 64 bytes, Disabled- CommClk+
ExtSynch- ClockPM- AutWidDis- BWInt- AutBWInt-
LnkSta: Speed 16GT/s, Width x1
TrErr- Train- SlotClk+ DLActive- BWMgmt- ABWMgmt-
DevCap2: Completion Timeout: Range ABCD, TimeoutDis+ NROPrPrP- LTR+
10BitTagComp+ 10BitTagReq- OBFF Via message/WAKE#, ExtFmt- EETLPPrefix-
EmergencyPowerReduction Not Supported, EmergencyPowerReductionInit-
FRS- TPHComp+ ExtTPHComp-
AtomicOpsCap: 32bit- 64bit- 128bitCAS-
DevCtl2: Completion Timeout: 50us to 50ms, TimeoutDis- LTR+ 10BitTagReq- OBFF Disabled,
AtomicOpsCtl: ReqEn-
LnkCap2: Supported Link Speeds: 2.5-16GT/s, Crosslink- Retimer+ 2Retimers+ DRS-
LnkCtl2: Target Link Speed: 16GT/s, EnterCompliance- SpeedDis-
Transmit Margin: Normal Operating Range, EnterModifiedCompliance- ComplianceSOS-
Compliance Preset/De-emphasis: -6dB de-emphasis, 0dB preshoot
LnkSta2: Current De-emphasis Level: -3.5dB, EqualizationComplete+ EqualizationPhase1+
EqualizationPhase2+ EqualizationPhase3+ LinkEqualizationRequest-
Retimer- 2Retimers- CrosslinkRes: Upstream Port
Capabilities: [b0] MSI-X: Enable+ Count=64 Masked-
Vector table: BAR=4 offset=00000000
PBA: BAR=4 offset=00000800
Capabilities: [d0] Vital Product Data
pcilib: sysfs_read_vpd: read failed: No such device
Not readable
Capabilities: [100 v2] Advanced Error Reporting
UESta: DLP- SDES- TLP- FCP- CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF- MalfTLP- ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
UEMsk: DLP- SDES- TLP- FCP- CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF- MalfTLP- ECRC- UnsupReq+ ACSViol-
UESvrt: DLP+ SDES+ TLP- FCP+ CmpltTO- CmpltAbrt- UnxCmplt- RxOF+ MalfTLP+ ECRC- UnsupReq- ACSViol-
CESta: RxErr- BadTLP- BadDLLP- Rollover- Timeout- AdvNonFatalErr-
CEMsk: RxErr- BadTLP- BadDLLP- Rollover- Timeout- AdvNonFatalErr+
AERCap: First Error Pointer: 00, ECRCGenCap+ ECRCGenEn- ECRCChkCap+ ECRCChkEn-
MultHdrRecCap- MultHdrRecEn- TLPPfxPres- HdrLogCap-
HeaderLog: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
Capabilities: [148 v1] Virtual Channel
Caps: LPEVC=0 RefClk=100ns PATEntryBits=1
Arb: Fixed- WRR32- WRR64- WRR128-
Ctrl: ArbSelect=Fixed
Status: InProgress-
VC0: Caps: PATOffset=00 MaxTimeSlots=1 RejSnoopTrans-
Arb: Fixed- WRR32- WRR64- WRR128- TWRR128- WRR256-
Ctrl: Enable+ ID=0 ArbSelect=Fixed TC/VC=ff
Status: NegoPending- InProgress-
Capabilities: [164 v1] Device Serial Number 01-00-00-00-68-4c-e0-00
Capabilities: [174 v1] Secondary PCI Express
LnkCtl3: LnkEquIntrruptEn- PerformEqu-
LaneErrStat: 0
Capabilities: [184 v1] Physical Layer 16.0 GT/s
Capabilities: [244 v1] Latency Tolerance Reporting
Max snoop latency: 0ns
Max no snoop latency: 0ns
Capabilities: [24c v1] L1 PM Substates
L1SubCap: PCI-PM_L1.2+ PCI-PM_L1.1+ ASPM_L1.2+ ASPM_L1.1+ L1_PM_Substates+
PortCommonModeRestoreTime=150us PortTPowerOnTime=150us
L1SubCtl1: PCI-PM_L1.2- PCI-PM_L1.1- ASPM_L1.2- ASPM_L1.1-
T_CommonMode=0us LTR1.2_Threshold=0ns
L1SubCtl2: T_PwrOn=10us
Capabilities: [25c v1] Data Link Feature
Kernel driver in use: r8127
Kernel modules: r8127
/lib/modules/6.17.0-1018-nvidia/kernel/drivers/net/ethernet/realtek/r8127/r8127.ko.zst
version: 11.014.00-NAPI
license: GPL
description: Realtek r8127 Ethernet controller driver
author: Realtek and the Linux r8127 crew netdev@vger.kernel.org
srcversion: B8CE8DB6A21E011635749E6
alias: pci:v000010ECd00000E10svsdbcsci*
alias: pci:v000010ECd00008127svsdbcsci*
depends:
intree: Y
name: r8127
vermagic: 6.17.0-1018-nvidia SMP preempt mod_unload modversions aarch64
sig_id: PKCS#7
signer: Build time autogenerated kernel key
sig_key: 30:E3:2E:8C:2F:D0:29:C7:8D:CB:53:45:1A:10:93:4E:F6:C6:F2:70
sig_hashalgo: sha512
signature: 2B:0F:A2:D0:CD:85:F5:55:0E:1F:44:AF:89:DA:BB:3A:D7:5B:F6:C9:
8D:30:08:09:F9:FF:16:FC:36:38:78:06:2D:F9:82:1B:2D:50:A1:A3:
6D:31:0D:EC:80:D7:1F:8C:E4:32:52:FB:B6:D1:22:CD:51:9A:AF:E5:
7F:31:D4:D9:93:0B:67:FB:CD:1C:A3:B5:1E:7E:42:A8:86:BB:FC:6D:
65:F7:4D:55:70:F3:41:01:54:18:FA:80:0D:3E:E9:6E:DB:A9:CA:6A:
6B:B7:11:83:8D:AD:11:19:22:B8:6B:C9:0E:38:20:BF:22:E4:DE:FD:
CD:91:78:21:C3:90:3A:A4:74:57:36:A4:99:F2:8F:AD:76:FE:20:BD:
0A:DA:BA:B8:A9:1F:C9:7E:0E:54:D4:69:02:EF:72:E7:1E:83:54:E7:
B7:C5:FE:1C:EC:80:EA:67:93:A6:46:75:D0:E5:6A:0A:0A:F4:CC:B3:
AE:41:3E:46:6A:2B:27:B8:0A:38:AE:9E:5E:60:7A:57:86:17:93:5E:
5C:C8:C9:D0:B1:D0:0E:4D:DB:35:95:B4:A9:E4:18:E7:E5:21:69:38:
2C:BE:DC:7B:FB:B8:1B:59:79:68:72:1D:EC:3E:72:C2:FC:74:74:B9:
E9:19:8B:8D:8F:D4:72:20:3D:80:5D:58:A7:BB:2E:DD:EB:2A:06:02:
50:DE:FB:93:49:D5:B4:09:FD:09:79:C9:99:F5:E1:60:9B:3D:86:41:
1B:AC:1C:48:BE:8B:55:01:8B:2C:E3:39:B7:F7:CB:91:45:0D:3E:87:
B9:68:60:9C:C2:7F:E9:85:DA:75:60:1A:48:22:EF:7A:67:B7:4B:4C:
3C:4C:7F:BB:4A:6D:A3:B4:F8:58:B7:C3:65:DD:FA:05:E9:E3:45:1C:
43:9A:82:53:28:4A:0D:3F:9E:BA:C6:58:7F:ED:8F:2D:12:10:57:BB:
CB:26:00:F0:C8:B8:57:AE:DC:CD:6E:3B:8D:82:69:BE:7A:28:7B:A9:
C9:FD:83:A4:86:5C:DE:9A:E1:8D:32:CB:7E:5C:7A:11:B9:4E:0D:AE:
67:17:5E:01:93:65:CA:7F:6C:FC:FA:38:39:0A:FF:4E:DB:81:6A:FF:
12:18:FD:47:26:7C:0C:36:9F:8F:02:19:A2:C8:ED:E8:A8:C4:E8:32:
C6:35:35:91:52:29:3B:0E:E2:14:AF:2F:13:73:62:BC:9C:E1:34:71:
18:AA:B3:B5:A6:19:EC:66:43:B0:4C:0A:B4:A6:9B:55:2D:A2:92:90:
ED:CA:5D:DE:95:A3:88:37:FE:91:C1:05:AA:84:8E:4D:FB:B9:B6:B7:
1F:3E:CB:58:63:9C:E1:D8:67:EA:8F:25
parm: speed_mode:force phy operation. Deprecated by ethtool (8). (uint)
parm: duplex_mode:force phy operation. Deprecated by ethtool (8). (uint)
parm: autoneg_mode:force phy operation. Deprecated by ethtool (8). (uint)
parm: aspm:Enable ASPM. (int)
parm: s5wol:Enable Shutdown Wake On Lan. (int)
parm: s5_keep_curr_mac:Enable Shutdown Keep Current MAC Address. (int)
parm: use_dac:Enable PCI DAC. Unsafe on 32 bit PCI slot. (int)
parm: timer_count:Timer Interrupt Interval. (int)
parm: eee_enable:Enable Energy Efficient Ethernet. (int)
parm: hwoptimize:Enable HW optimization function. (ulong)
parm: s0_magic_packet:Enable S0 Magic Packet. (int)
parm: tx_no_close_enable:Enable TX No Close. (int)
parm: disable_wol_support:Disable PM support. (int)
parm: enable_double_vlan:Enable Double VLAN. (int)
parm: eee_giga_lite:Enable Giga Lite. (int)
parm: debug:Debug verbosity level (0=none, …, 16=all) (int)

olly@sparky:/etc$ sudo ethtool enP7s7
Settings for enP7s7:
Supported ports: [ TP ]
Supported link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Full
10000baseT/Full
2500baseT/Full
5000baseT/Full
Supported pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
Supports auto-negotiation: Yes
Supported FEC modes: Not reported
Advertised link modes: 10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full
100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Full
10000baseT/Full
2500baseT/Full
5000baseT/Full
Advertised pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
Advertised FEC modes: Not reported
Link partner advertised link modes: 100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full
1000baseT/Full
10000baseT/Full
2500baseT/Full
5000baseT/Full
Link partner advertised pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only
Link partner advertised auto-negotiation: Yes
Link partner advertised FEC modes: Not reported
Speed: 100Mb/s
Duplex: Full
Auto-negotiation: on
Port: Twisted Pair
PHYAD: 0
Transceiver: internal
MDI-X: on
Supports Wake-on: pumbg
Wake-on: g
Current message level: 0x00000033 (51)
drv probe ifdown ifup
Link detected: yes

sudo ethtool --show-features enP7s7
Features for enP7s7:
rx-checksumming: on
tx-checksumming: on
tx-checksum-ipv4: on
tx-checksum-ip-generic: off [fixed]
tx-checksum-ipv6: on
tx-checksum-fcoe-crc: off [fixed]
tx-checksum-sctp: off [fixed]
scatter-gather: on
tx-scatter-gather: on
tx-scatter-gather-fraglist: off [fixed]
tcp-segmentation-offload: on
tx-tcp-segmentation: on
tx-tcp-ecn-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-tcp-mangleid-segmentation: off
tx-tcp6-segmentation: on
tx-tcp-accecn-segmentation: off [fixed]
generic-segmentation-offload: on
generic-receive-offload: on
large-receive-offload: off [fixed]
rx-vlan-offload: on
tx-vlan-offload: on
ntuple-filters: off [fixed]
receive-hashing: off [fixed]
highdma: on [fixed]
rx-vlan-filter: off [fixed]
vlan-challenged: off [fixed]
tx-gso-robust: off [fixed]
tx-fcoe-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-gre-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-gre-csum-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-ipxip4-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-ipxip6-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-udp_tnl-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-udp_tnl-csum-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-gso-partial: off [fixed]
tx-tunnel-remcsum-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-sctp-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-esp-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-udp-segmentation: off [fixed]
tx-gso-list: off [fixed]
tx-nocache-copy: off
loopback: off [fixed]
rx-fcs: off
rx-all: off
tx-vlan-stag-hw-insert: off [fixed]
rx-vlan-stag-hw-parse: off [fixed]
rx-vlan-stag-filter: off [fixed]
l2-fwd-offload: off [fixed]
hw-tc-offload: off [fixed]
esp-hw-offload: off [fixed]
esp-tx-csum-hw-offload: off [fixed]
rx-udp_tunnel-port-offload: off [fixed]
tls-hw-tx-offload: off [fixed]
tls-hw-rx-offload: off [fixed]
rx-gro-hw: off [fixed]
tls-hw-record: off [fixed]
rx-gro-list: off
macsec-hw-offload: off [fixed]
rx-udp-gro-forwarding: off
hsr-tag-ins-offload: off [fixed]
hsr-tag-rm-offload: off [fixed]
hsr-fwd-offload: off [fixed]
hsr-dup-offload: off [fixed]
sudo dmesg | grep -iE “r8127|eth|link” | tail -50
[ 0.000000] psci: probing for conduit method from ACPI.
[ 0.040302] NET: Registered PF_NETLINK/PF_ROUTE protocol family
[ 0.042223] audit: initializing netlink subsys (disabled)
[ 0.109966] pci 000f:01:00.0: 0.000 Gb/s available PCIe bandwidth, limited by Unknown x0 link at 000f:00:00.0 (capable of 32.000 Gb/s with 2.5 GT/s PCIe x16 link)
[ 1.120038] r8127 Ethernet controller driver 11.014.00-NAPI loaded
[ 1.129570] r8127: This product is covered by one or more of the following patents: US6,570,884, US6,115,776, and US6,327,625.
[ 1.129597] r8127 Copyright (C) 2025 Realtek NIC software team nicfae@realtek.com
[ 1.179745] r8127 0007:01:00.0 enP7s7: renamed from eth0
[ 1.184836] mlx5_core 0000:01:00.0: 126.028 Gb/s available PCIe bandwidth (32.0 GT/s PCIe x4 link)
[ 1.760777] mlx5_core 0000:01:00.1: 126.028 Gb/s available PCIe bandwidth (32.0 GT/s PCIe x4 link)
[ 2.322804] mlx5_core 0002:01:00.0: 126.028 Gb/s available PCIe bandwidth (32.0 GT/s PCIe x4 link)
[ 2.926564] mlx5_core 0002:01:00.1: 126.028 Gb/s available PCIe bandwidth (32.0 GT/s PCIe x4 link)
[ 3.482390] mlx5_core 0000:01:00.1 enp1s0f1np1: renamed from eth1
[ 3.483548] mlx5_core 0002:01:00.0 enP2p1s0f0np0: renamed from eth2
[ 3.483862] mlx5_core 0000:01:00.0 enp1s0f0np0: renamed from eth0
[ 3.484135] mlx5_core 0002:01:00.1 enP2p1s0f1np1: renamed from eth3
[ 4.684846] systemd[1]: Listening on systemd-networkd.socket - Network Service Netlink Socket.
[ 4.684889] systemd[1]: systemd-pcrextend.socket - TPM2 PCR Extension (Varlink) was skipped because of an unmet condition check (ConditionSecurity=measured-uki).
[ 5.255765] nvidia-nvlink: Nvlink Core is being initialized, major device number 499
[ 5.918104] Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3
[ 6.567645] mlx5_core 0002:01:00.0 enP2p1s0f0np0: Link down
[ 6.862474] mlx5_core 0002:01:00.1 enP2p1s0f1np1: Link down
[ 9.455952] mlx5_core 0000:01:00.1 enp1s0f1np1: Link down
[ 10.685665] Initializing XFRM netlink socket
[ 13.519847] r8127: enP7s7: link up
[ 13.525902] r8127: enP7s7: link down
[ 20.163859] r8127: enP7s7: link up
[ 35.776057] audit: type=1400 audit(1779908583.912:176): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“unlink” class=“file” profile=“snap.snapd-desktop-integration.snapd-desktop-integration” name=“/dev/char/195:255” pid=9869 comm=“snapd-desktop-i” requested_mask=“d” denied_mask=“d” fsuid=1000 ouid=0
[ 35.778293] audit: type=1400 audit(1779908583.914:177): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“unlink” class=“file” profile=“snap.snapd-desktop-integration.snapd-desktop-integration” name=“/dev/char/195:0” pid=9869 comm=“snapd-desktop-i” requested_mask=“d” denied_mask=“d” fsuid=1000 ouid=0
[ 35.778349] audit: type=1400 audit(1779908583.914:178): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“unlink” class=“file” profile=“snap.snapd-desktop-integration.snapd-desktop-integration” name=“/dev/char/195:0” pid=9869 comm=“snapd-desktop-i” requested_mask=“d” denied_mask=“d” fsuid=1000 ouid=0
[ 35.779815] audit: type=1400 audit(1779908583.915:179): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“unlink” class=“file” profile=“snap.snapd-desktop-integration.snapd-desktop-integration” name=“/dev/char/195:0” pid=9869 comm=“snapd-desktop-i” requested_mask=“d” denied_mask=“d” fsuid=1000 ouid=0
[ 35.796904] audit: type=1400 audit(1779908583.932:180): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“unlink” class=“file” profile=“snap.snapd-desktop-integration.snapd-desktop-integration” name=“/dev/char/195:255” pid=9869 comm=“snapd-desktop-i” requested_mask=“d” denied_mask=“d” fsuid=1000 ouid=0
[ 35.797051] audit: type=1400 audit(1779908583.933:181): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“unlink” class=“file” profile=“snap.snapd-desktop-integration.snapd-desktop-integration” name=“/dev/char/195:254” pid=9869 comm=“snapd-desktop-i” requested_mask=“d” denied_mask=“d” fsuid=1000 ouid=0
[ 35.797244] audit: type=1400 audit(1779908583.933:182): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“unlink” class=“file” profile=“snap.snapd-desktop-integration.snapd-desktop-integration” name=“/dev/char/195:0” pid=9869 comm=“snapd-desktop-i” requested_mask=“d” denied_mask=“d” fsuid=1000 ouid=0
[ 35.798746] audit: type=1400 audit(1779908583.934:183): apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“unlink” class=“file” profile=“snap.snapd-desktop-integration.snapd-desktop-integration” name=“/dev/char/195:0” pid=9869 comm=“snapd-desktop-i” requested_mask=“d” denied_mask=“d” fsuid=1000 ouid=0
[ 35.805004] audit: type=1107 audit(1779908583.941:184): pid=1580 uid=101 auid=4294967295 ses=4294967295 subj=unconfined msg='apparmor=“DENIED” operation=“dbus_method_call” bus=“system” path=“/org/freedesktop/DBus” interface=“org.freedesktop.DBus” member=“ListNames” mask=“send” name=“org.freedesktop.DBus” pid=9869 label=“snap.snapd-desktop-integration.snapd-desktop-integration” peer_label=“unconfined”
[ 1044.479883] nvidia-nvlink: Unregistered Nvlink Core, major device number 499
[ 3615.023537] nvidia-nvlink: Nvlink Core is being initialized, major device number 499
[13465.691220] r8127 0007:01:00.0: invalid VPD tag 0x00 (size 0) at offset 0; assume missing optional EEPROM

Hello richardcareaga,

Thank you for posting your inquiry to the NVIDIA Developer Forums.

Unfortunately, this is not the correct forum to submit RMA requests. Typically, such requests would be handled through NVIDIA Enterprise Support, if valid support entitlement for the asset is in place.

However, since this asset was purchased through a third party (MicroCenter), the warranty coverage is owned by them (based on the serial number provided). You will need to engage MicroCenter directly. If they need to engage us for a warranty claim, they alone have the ability to do so.

Best regards,
NVIDIA Enterprise Experience.

Thanks. I thoughyt it was odd that the bot directed me to a live agent (supposedly) who directed me here.