Having the installer show a warning here would *not* be appropriate. These r8169 issues are so rare, I haven’t met one since.
Even though I believe the r8169 Ethernet was at fault, and guix substitute freezing also had happened to me in the past with it, and even though Linux-libre reports it as DEBLOBBED on every boot, I am closing. We don’t warn about sub-par nouveau graphics either. Regards, Florian