Mac OS X on x86 Hardware 2008–2024 Technical Archive
InfiniteMac OSx86 › Snow Leopard 10.6 › RealtekR1000.kext Removed, still works
27,743 reads · 2009-09-05 – 2009-10-31

RealtekR1000.kext Removed, still works

I removed the RealTekR1000.kext, needed for my ethernet, and my Snow Leopard boots a bit faster now, and ethernet still works! Snow has support for my ethernet ports without that kext!? (I needed it for Leopard.)

Primary Author
@x986123 Published 2009-09-05
Collection
Snow Leopard 10.6
Archival Footprint
27,743 historical reads · 19 curated field notes (from 31 dispatches) · 2009-09-05 – 2009-10-31
Credited Voices (11)
@x986123 (8)@crazyrog17 (5)@xXrkidXx (4)@thorazine74 (4)@Gurruwiwi (2)@Superhai (2)@mormegil (2)@DocShadow@shins@ping99@dray

I removed the RealTekR1000.kext, needed for my ethernet, and my Snow Leopard boots a bit faster now, and ethernet still works!

Snow has support for my ethernet ports without that kext!? (I needed it for Leopard.)

Author Updates & Technical Revisions

Follow-up dispatches by @x986123

Author Update #1 @x986123 2009-09-05

I know! I was like, WTF!? Never knew I had support out of box with my ethernet on Snow!

Author Update #2 @x986123 2009-09-05

I installed Snow leopard within an older Snow leopard onto a bigger HDD.
Yes it was there before first boot.
My ethernet is the Realtek RTL8111C

Author Update #3 @x986123 2009-09-05

I don't know! but im excited! I never read of anyone running this realtek ethernet port VANILLA. I justed deleted it because while booting, Realtekr1000.kext was showing to many lines, hanging the boot slightly. I removed, and it still works!

Author Update #4 @x986123 2009-09-05

How would I figure that out, and why do i need bonjour?

Author Update #5 @x986123 2009-09-05

I dont use bonjour, so I wouldn't know. I dont have any EFI strings either except for my Dual GTX 260's, its just works after deleting the kext and using kext utility to repair permissions.

Author Update #6 @x986123 2009-09-07

It is not loaded, and not in the location you said. (After removing it, I also rebuilt the Extensions.mkext.

Also, here is a screenshot of my ethernet section.

Synthesized Community Field Notes

19 technical responses curated from 31 original dispatches

Field Note #1 @Gurruwiwi 2009-09-05

How did you install Snow?

Did you put that kext in E/E before first boot?

Are you sure ethernet works vanilla? What is you ethernet? Post some specs ... good for troubleshooting (not that you need any lol)

Field Note #2 @xXrkidXx 2009-09-05

thats insane. do you think Apple is using a different Ethernet port for the new line? like the tablet... it doesn't seem crazy that they would put it in before it was released.(like the iPod touch 2G had support before it was out, and so did one of the iPhones.)

Field Note #3 @Gurruwiwi 2009-09-05

Are you sure you didnt string with EFI Studio os similar, or patched dsdt?

Did you make your own or downloaded from a tutorial or something?

There is alot of "voodoo" under snow's hood.. so to speak.

Anyway, cool for you!

Field Note #4 @Superhai 2009-09-05

Bonjour is Apples network protocol used in a wide variety of software and devices. One test is to see if you can access itunes library on the computer with ethernet on another one and vv.
If you just use internet and microsoft file sharing then you probably don't need it.

Field Note #5 @mormegil 2009-09-05

Are you sure you need that kext for Leopard? Try removing it and see.

Field Note #6 @mormegil 2009-09-05

idk, I still have my Leopard partition intact. Running rock stable. I cant make it KP even if i try

Field Note #7 @xXrkidXx 2009-09-05

lmao lucky you, i once got a KP from Internet Sharing turning On ! i started laughing lol, rebooted and all better.

Field Note #8 @DocShadow 2009-09-06

Glad it works for you.

On my GA EX58-UD5 (which has the RTL8111D), I have no ethernet without the RealtekR1000.kext.

Field Note #9 @shins 2009-09-07

x986123, probably you are running it out of kext cache. Can you go through Apple -> About This Mac -> More Info -> Software::Extensions and see if there is RealtekR1000 loaded?

Field Note #10 @crazyrog17 2009-10-11

I just tried getting my ALC8111C working today and it works without the .kext too!

I had to enable boot rom for it in the bios, but after I did that, it recognised it instantly.

I do not have bonjour working, but I would like to get that going because I use to share files, ipod itunes remote and printing to an airport extreme connected laserjet.

If you've got some information for the bonjour, shoot it!

Field Note #11 @ping99 2009-10-11

It is because of the cached kext in your computer that it still works even if you removed from /extra or /S/L/E. If you boot with flags -v -f, it will ignore the cached kexts and rebuild them, and then you will see not working any more.

Field Note #12 @thorazine74 2009-10-11

Apple has always supported some Realtek chipsets, in Snow it seems to have support for at least these:

8168, 8101E, 8169, 8110 PCIe:

    <key>IOKitPersonalities</key>
    <dict>
        <key>RTL8168/RTL8101E</key>
        <dict>
            <key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
            <string>com.apple.driver.AppleRTL8169Ethernet</string>
            <key>Driver Parameters</key>
            <dict>
                <key>Checksum Offload</key>
                <false/>
            </dict>
            <key>IOClass</key>
            <string>AppleRTL8169Ethernet</string>
            <key>IOPCIClassMatch</key>
            <string>0x02000000&0xffff0000</string>
            <key>IOPCIPrimaryMatch</key>
            <string>0x816810ec 0x813610ec</string>
            <key>IOProviderClass</key>
            <string>IOPCIDevice</string>
        </dict>
        <key>RTL8169/RTL8110</key>
        <dict>
            <key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
            <string>com.apple.driver.AppleRTL8169Ethernet</string>
            <key>Driver Parameters</key>
            <dict>
                <key>Checksum Offload</key>
                <false/>
            </dict>
            <key>IOClass</key>
            <string>AppleRTL8169Ethernet</string>
            <key>IOPCIClassMatch</key>
            <string>0x02000000&0xffff0000</string>
            <key>IOPCIPrimaryMatch</key>
            <string>0x816910ec 0x816710ec</string>
            <key>IOProviderClass</key>
            <string>IOPCIDevice</string>
        </dict>

8139 PCI

    <key>IOKitPersonalities</key>
    <dict>
        <key>RTL8139 PCI Adapter</key>
        <dict>
            <key>CFBundleIdentifier</key>
            <string>com.apple.driver.AppleRTL8139Ethernet</string>
            <key>IOClass</key>
            <string>com_apple_driver_RTL8139</string>
            <key>IOPCIMatch</key>
            <string>0x813910ec 0x13001186 0x12111113</string>
            <key>IOProviderClass</key>
            <string>IOPCIDevice</string>
        </dict>

My mobo supposedly has a RTL8111B/RTL8111C and it works with those. You may have troubles with Bonjour as reported but if you have one of those devices ids basic networking should work with no extra kext.
If you have other similar Realtek chipset you may try adding your device id to a legacy plist and it may even work with those vanilla kexts, as it seems Realtek has many similar chipsets with different names.

Field Note #13 @crazyrog17 2009-10-12

Good info.

I checked in system profiler to make sure the R1000.kext wasn't loaded.

The AppleALC8169Ethernet.kext is loaded though, and that's how I'm getting ethernet connectivity.

The AppleALC8168Ethernet.kext is located in the plugins folder of IONetworkingFamily.kext.

You said I could edit the .plist of a legacy kext to get bonjour working? If so, could you elaborate so I could try that?

If not, I do have the R1000.kext from psystar and haven't seen it load into the extensions in system profiler. Would that be because the AppleALC8169Ethernet.kext is already loaded? How could I get the R1000.kext to load first. Would I have to remove the AppleALC?

Field Note #14 @thorazine74 2009-10-12

I just mean adding another device ids, I doubt its posible to add BonJour to AppleALC8169Ethernet.kext with just a plist edit.
If you put the R1000.kext in /Extra/Extension you wont see it appear in System Profiler even if its loaded, you would have to look for it in the IORegistry tree. How are you installing it?

Field Note #15 @thorazine74 2009-10-12

You could try copying IONetworkingFamily.kext to /Extra/Extensions and put a copy of RealtekR1000.kext inside Plugins folder to see if it loads from there.

Field Note #16 @crazyrog17 2009-10-13

i haven't installed chameleon on my internal hard drive yet and have been using the usb flash drive's chameleon boot loader to select the internal drive to boot from.

would i copy it to the usb flash drive's extras/extensions folder?

Field Note #17 @thorazine74 2009-10-13

Yes I think it should be the same, I think the key could be putting the R1000 kext inside the plugins folder of IONetworkingFamily.kext.

Field Note #18 @crazyrog17 2009-10-13

I made sure it wasn't in the extras/extensions folder on the flash drive.

I'll reinstall again, just to make sure.

Field Note #19 @dray 2009-10-31

I have a working installation of SL on my Hackintosh but for the life of me cannot get my LAN to work. I have a Realtek 8168(c). I am not familiar with modifying strings and am hoping someone can advise me. I have tried installing realtekR1000.kext in E/E and S/L/E and followed the steps in this thread for the ionetworkingfamily.kext plugin folder and still no luck. Can someone shed some light on this?

Corroborated & Participated: @xXrkidXx @Superhai @crazyrog17
Sources & Contributor Provenance (11 credited usernames · Thread #3947)
UsernameDossier ContributionDispatchesActive Window
@x986123Primary Author82009-09-05 → 2009-09-07
@crazyrog17Core Contributor52009-10-11 → 2009-10-13
@xXrkidXxCore Contributor42009-09-05
@thorazine74Core Contributor42009-10-11 → 2009-10-13
@GurruwiwiContributor22009-09-05
@SuperhaiContributor22009-09-05
@mormegilContributor22009-09-05
@DocShadowContributor12009-09-06
@shinsContributor12009-09-07
@ping99Contributor12009-10-11
@drayContributor12009-10-31