Saturday, March 4th 2023
Intel Releases Windows Workaround and Patch for Ethernet Stuttering and Disconnects
At the end of January, we reported on issues with Intel's i226-V 2.5 Gbps Ethernet controllers, which are used on a wide range of motherboards with both Intel and AMD CPUs, where users were having issues with stuttering and connections dropping. Intel has now released a workaround and a patch for the issue, not only for the i226, but also the i225 and the Killer E3100 2.5 Gbps network controller. What the workaround does, is disable the Energy-Efficient Ethernet mode, or EEE as it's also known as. EEE is only supposed to kick in when an Ethernet connection is idle and it's said to reduce power consumption by up to 50 percent.
However, in this case, it seems like EEE kicks in even when the Ethernet connection is active, which is causing the stuttering and connection dropouts. The patch disables EEE for all speeds above 100 Mbps, but it's also possible to disable EEE manually in the device settings in Windows. MSI is the first motherboard manufacturer to have released an updated driver on its site, but as this isn't a final solution to the problem, it's unlikely that this is the last we'll hear about the issue. Intel is apparently working on finding the root cause of the problem, but it's unclear if it's going to be possible to patch it in software or if a hardware revision is going to be required in the end.
Update Mar 4th: User @lovingbenji reports that on his system this new driver version does not fix the disconnect issue.
Sources:
Intel Community, via Tom's Hardware, MSI driver update
However, in this case, it seems like EEE kicks in even when the Ethernet connection is active, which is causing the stuttering and connection dropouts. The patch disables EEE for all speeds above 100 Mbps, but it's also possible to disable EEE manually in the device settings in Windows. MSI is the first motherboard manufacturer to have released an updated driver on its site, but as this isn't a final solution to the problem, it's unlikely that this is the last we'll hear about the issue. Intel is apparently working on finding the root cause of the problem, but it's unclear if it's going to be possible to patch it in software or if a hardware revision is going to be required in the end.
73 Comments on Intel Releases Windows Workaround and Patch for Ethernet Stuttering and Disconnects
Yep. I had to suffer it. I really wonder how Windows even made that thing POSSIBLE.
That resulted in Microsoft for NT 4.0 in the late-1990s, having a workaround of disabling the FPU, IIRC! At that point, I would rather have a 486 DX, LOL!
99 percent of the time, it only affected pre-1996-manufactured Pentiums. (But, may have been fixed sometime in 1995)That sounds more like a bad motherboard batch.
The same way I don't swear off Realtek 2.5Gbe just because their 1Gbe product line was a trash fire. 1Gbe is where Intel built their reputation. 2.5Gbe is where they squandered it.
"CPUs degrading" yeah ok
I wonder if EEE is the issue overall, with many of these companies and 2.5Gbe - mismatched implementations would absolutely explain the various random issues users face
An intergrated network PHY still has next to nothing to do with the BIOS/UEFI, except if you have an option to boot from it or not. Some will have some separate microcode stored in the BIOS/UEFI, but not all. Aquantia/Marvell does this for example, but I'm not sure about Intel or Realtek.
Not much but asus driver page does and is just one tab from bios updates tab
An example of how poor it is now their drivers and utilities page for windows 11 shows no lan driver at all only a wifi for my z490 board only for win-10 does :laugh:
So not sure what asus is doing I'm guessing they want MS to install a certified driver next year when they got to certifing it lol or the user has to fish around on intel site for their version driver update, yeah a mess in this regard.
Encountered no such problems on Windows 10, which I had installed since Nov 2019.
Switched to Windows 11 Pro on 10 Feb 2023.
Started encountering those exact same issues a few days ago, and as usual, i was using only the Realtek adapter, the Intel adapter was disabled.
Stumbled on this article by chance, and after reading it, I wanted to disable Energy Efficient Ethernet or Green Ethernet options... found neither in the Advanced settings of the adapters.
I installed the latest drivers for both adapters, went to the Advanced settings, and those options appeared now. So I disabled them on both adapters.
Also disabled the "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" on both adapters.
For now everything is fine, but I'll keep an eye on it over the next few days, to see if the problem was solved.
www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-apollo-lake-refresh-degradation-cpu-failure,40362.html
www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-downplays-Alder-Lake-socket-warping-reports-warns-3D-printed-brackets-may-void-CPU-warranty.613197.0.html
The Atom CPU in particular was a big, big issue. Alot of NAS's and all that randomly dying. That degradation is real.
The alder lake socket issues are pretty weird in their own right, but completely unrelated.
There's quite some chips coming from Intel that in the last years got a really bad quality issue.
So yeah; its not just one chip; its multiple down the line.
Also Intel Proset says 1000Mb/s full duplex, not 2500Mb/s. Is that because it's only connected to a 1Gb/s LAN port on my router?
I uninstalled the device and driver, rebooted and Windows installed older driver. Guess what, it has Energy Efficient Ethernet option!
Next out of curiosity I went to the Asus website and lo and behold they had the new driver dated 1st March, same as the MSI one. Ok I install that, and it's driver version is now 1.1.3.34, so later than what I had which was 1.1.3.28. Now the Energy Efficient Ethernet option is removed again. So WTF is going on?
Have they disabled EEE and removed it so you can't turn it on?
Asus doesn't even mention what the drivers fixes but it supports i225 and i226.
BTW On the Intel website there is no new driver for i225 at least for windows 10.
Grow the f**k up.As opposed to just, you know... buying a replacement NIC?How has RPCS3 been "screwed over"? The TSX and AVX-512 code paths are still there and still work, so people with CPUs that have those features will still get the performance boost. You make it sound as if Intel CPUs are designed expressly for console emulation and every change Intel makes is to screw emulator users over... LMAO.