no network on many live distros

I've tried a few live distros and/or installs---Mint, Manjoro---and there is no network connection. It seems this has something to do with the r8169 that is used. I've tried downloading the r8168 and installing it, then blacklisting the r8169. No good.

So basically, I need to know what's going on in the linux world with the software I need to get my lan card working. I have the ASRock Steel Legend M.

I ran inxi -Nazy and it came back as 8125 but I could not find that version in the repos.

I also only halfass know what I'm doing. But I'm sure the guys that know what they're doing already knew that.