PSA: Intel I226-V 2.5GbE on Raptor Lake Motherboards Has a Connection Drop Issue: No Fix Available

[keepitscottie]

got a brand new asus z690i gaming motherboard. hoping to take advantage of my new Ubiquiti Dream Machine (10gbps ethernet and all) only discover this issue on first boot when trying to download windows updates. i forced 2.5gbe mode -- the network adapater drops the connection and works for a few seconds after disabling and re-enabling, it does the same set to auto-negotiation, but it works fine set to 1gbe. really upsetting.

 

[Redwoodz]

25 out of 70 AMD 600 series motherboards (36%) use i225-V, so if you want to use "most" as a simple majority, sure, but that's a pretty significant fraction.

AMD boards now have Intel NiC why? Because the blue sheep kept bleeting about how bad Realtek and Killer are compared to the superior Intel.

 

[trparky]

AMD boards now have Intel NiC why? Because the blue sheep kept bleeting about how bad Realtek and Killer are compared to the superior Intel.

And now look at them, the Intel NIC is shit while the Realtek NIC is solid.

Look for Intel to fall even farther now that they've cut their R&D budgets. Intel, an American icon; so sad.

 

[zlobby]

And now look at them, the Intel NIC is shit while the Realtek NIC is solid.

Look for Intel to fall even farther now that they've cut their R&D budgets. Intel, an American icon; so sad.

Ah, Realtek are far from solid but at least they are OK for typical consumer uses.

 

[kiriakost]

I am troubleshooting networks since NT4 times, and I am today at full control of INTEL ProSet NIC control software.
Therefore I feel willing, a new topic to be started and me in person as expert to help the community, due trial and error and in depth testing, we might find best settings for I226-V too.
But I need two partners, some one with at least half of my expertise, so these two helpers alone, to test the new settings.

INTEL usually does not make huge mistakes, but many technical solutions they are shared exclusively with us IT certified people.

Home PC computer users they cannot troubleshoot in-depth networking issues.
So, do we have among us two strong brains with partial IT background ? (10 years experience minimum)

 

[zlobby]

I am troubleshooting networks since NT4 times, and I am today at full control of INTEL ProSet NIC control software.
Therefore I feel willing, a new topic to be started and me in person as expert to help the community, due trial and error and in depth testing, we might find best settings for I226-V too.
But I need two partners, some one with at least half of my expertise, so these two helpers alone, to test the new settings.

INTEL usually does not make huge mistakes, but many technical solutions they are shared exclusively with us IT certified people.

Home PC computer users they cannot troubleshoot in-depth networking issues.
So, do we have among us two strong brains with partial IT background ? (10 years experience minimum)

Why would anyone get to fix the mistakes of a multi-billion corporation by themselves? It is simple with other vendors, you report an error and they fix it. But intel? Nah, the high and mighty intel that can't fix their mistake in (what now?) 4 revisions and countless of driver patches? Hard pass!

 

[kiriakost]

Why would anyone get to fix the mistakes of a multi-billion corporation by themselves?

Thanks for making me smile, the billions of hours that people spend worldwide so to find a cure for issues relative to Win 7, 8, 10, 11, they were never compensated by Microsoft.
Are you still using windows?

Any way, any one looking to get at the bottom of the problem, he better visit dedicated networking website, TPU this is for graphic cards.

 

[zlobby]

Thanks for making me smile, the billions of hours that people spend worldwide so to find a cure for issues relative to Win 7, 8, 10, 11, they were never compensated by Microsoft.
Are you still using windows?

Yes, and apart from a few reg tweaks all was fixed in-house or by tickets to M$' support (corpo account).

Any way, any one looking to get at the bottom of the problem, he better visit dedicated networking website, TPU this is for graphic cards.

You can even disquss aliens on TPU if you use the right topic. Mods are sensitive to off-topic.

 

[Rafsman]

I never had I226-v disconnect while in use, but it's prone to issues whenever I restart the PC after updating any drivers.
Just happened again few minutes ago, when I updated Wacom drivers and after restart there was no LAN detected, had to disable/enable again for it to pick it up :/

 

[kiriakost]

I never had I226-v disconnect while in use, but it's prone to issues whenever I restart the PC after updating any drivers.
Just happened again few minutes ago, when I updated drivers and after restart there was no LAN detected, had to disable/enable again for it to pick it up :/

Everything is possible when inside your switch-hub they are Realtek ports.
And the funny thing is, everyone shooting INTEL and not Realtek.

 

[Redwoodz]

Everything is possible when inside your switch-hub they are Realtek ports.
And the funny thing is, everyone shooting INTEL and not Realtek.

Is that your standard answer? How about blaming both along with Microsoft? No one here has issues connecting to the internet, obviously we know how to fix their screw-ups. The point is we are tired of having to.

 

[kiriakost]

Is that your standard answer?

No this is the inexpensive answer, the expensive ones has the tittle: Realtek 2.5GbE much slower hardware compared to Intel I226-V according benchmarks at China mainland.

 

[trparky]

Ah, Realtek are far from solid but at least they are OK for typical consumer uses.

I have one on my B650 board right now and yes, it's stable. No drops, no weird loss of speed at strange times, etc. So yes, compared to Intel, Realtek might as well be solid.

 

[regs]

AMD boards now have Intel NiC why?

AMD still doesn't have NIC, WLAN, BT and Audio controllers in their chipsets. So AMD boards have dedicated controllers for that, making them even more expensive. So board manufacturers using Intel or Realtek for that.

 

[zlobby]

So AMD boards have dedicated controllers for that, making them even more expensive.

Try designing them for yourself and see if it's cheaper.

 

[claes]

good post

 

[Harlow]

I'm having similar line drop problems in Windows 10 with the 2.5GbE Realtek RTL8125 on my Asus Prime-X670-P WiFi motherboard. It works fine when I switch on the computer, but when I transfer large files across the LAN, the Ethernet connection disappears until I restart the machine. I've tried various drivers from the Realtek web site, including version 10.063.1014.2022, but they don't fix the problem.

I've disabled the on-board Realtek chip and ordered another Asus XG-C100C 10GbE NIC (this model gave problems in 2019, but a driver update in 2020 cured it). Instead of the RTL8125, I'm using an old Intel I350 dual-port 1.0GbE PCIe server card and it's rock solid during file transfers.

Perhaps the default driver settings for the Realtek RTL8125 are not compatible with my 8-port Netgear Prosafe XS508-M, but this 10GbE switch works fine with a USB3.0 2.5GbE NIC on another desktop PC.

I thought I could save money buying a motherboard with a built-in 2.5GbE NIC, negating the need to buy a more expensive 10GbE NIC, but I was wrong. In future, I'll avoid 2.5GbE NICs and stick with 1.0 and 10GbE.

 

[kiriakost]

I'm having similar line drop problems in Windows 10 with the 2.5GbE Realtek RTL8125 on my Asus Prime-X670-P WiFi motherboard. It works fine when I switch on the computer, but when I transfer large files across the LAN, the Ethernet connection disappears until I restart the machine. I've tried various drivers from the Realtek web site, including version 10.063.1014.2022, but they don't fix the problem.

I've disabled the on-board Realtek chip and ordered another Asus XG-C100C 10GbE NIC (this model gave problems in 2019, but a driver update in 2020 cured it). Instead of the RTL8125, I'm using an old Intel I350 dual-port 1.0GbE PCIe server card and it's rock solid during file transfers.

Perhaps the default driver settings for the Realtek RTL8125 are not compatible with my 8-port Netgear Prosafe XS508-M, but this 10GbE switch works fine with a USB3.0 2.5GbE NIC on another desktop PC.

I thought I could save money buying a motherboard with a built-in 2.5GbE NIC, negating the need to buy a more expensive 10GbE NIC, but I was wrong. In future, I'll avoid 2.5GbE NICs and stick with 1.0 and 10GbE.

Excellent feedback and thank you!
Now here is my verdict that you are not going to like, your 8-port Netgear Prosafe XS508-M this is technology of 12-2019 .. all seven 10-Gig/Multi-Gig Copper Ports, they are using a buggy firmware, that is not possible to be upgraded at such switches.

The ones aiming to use 2.5GbE NIC they should investigate to get latest revision (if exists) from the brand of their choice, and or recently released in the market of Ethernet Unmanaged Switches.
I did start a special topic so potential buyers of 2.5G Ethernet Unmanaged Switches, them to gain further understanding of how important it is the product release date at such hardware, but it did not attract much of interest.
At the current date TRENDnet has the freshest hardware (freshest firmware) and I am still looking for the second winner.

Year 2023: 8-Port 2.5GbE Unmanaged Switch - looking for the best

Back in time at 8-2009 and after, it was the period of time that successful made 1GbE unmanaged switch technology become available for home and office. Nowadays, the step-up technology, 2.5GbE unmanaged switch, this started to become available, at May 2021 and later. These new 2.5GbE products...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[zlobby]

Excellent feedback and thank you!
Now here is my verdict that you are not going to like, your 8-port Netgear Prosafe XS508-M this is technology of 12-2019 .. all seven 10-Gig/Multi-Gig Copper Ports, they are using a buggy firmware, that is not possible to be upgraded at such switches.

The ones aiming to use 2.5GbE NIC they should investigate to get latest revision (if exists) from the brand of their choice, and or recently released in the market of Ethernet Unmanaged Switches.
I did start a special topic so potential buyers of 2.5G Ethernet Unmanaged Switches, them to gain further understanding of how important it is the product release date at such hardware, but it did not attract much of interest.
At the current date TRENDnet has the freshest hardware (freshest firmware) and I am still looking for the second winner.

Year 2023: 8-Port 2.5GbE Unmanaged Switch - looking for the best

Back in time at 8-2009 and after, it was the period of time that successful made 1GbE unmanaged switch technology become available for home and office. Nowadays, the step-up technology, 2.5GbE unmanaged switch, this started to become available, at May 2021 and later. These new 2.5GbE products...

www.techpowerup.com

If you expect enterprise/carrier performance you should get enterprise/carrier gear, simple as that. All the flashy consumer-grade stuff will only get you this far.

 

[kiriakost]

If you expect enterprise/carrier performance you should get enterprise/carrier gear, simple as that. All the flashy consumer-grade stuff will only get you this far.

Everything in our times this is flashy consumer-grade stuff.
The smart choice this will make the difference.

 

[Harlow]

Many thanks for the information about buggy firmware in my Netgear Prosafe XS-508M and the lack of updates. It was all I could afford when I bought it brand new back in 2018 or 2019. I chose the Prosafe because it had a quiet cooling fan and doesn't use large amounts of power when switched on 24-hours/day.

The XS-508M is stable with three Asus XG-C100C 10GbE NICs, numerous 1.0GbE machines and several USB3.0 2.5GbE Ethernet dongles. It's just the RTL8125 on my new mobo it doesn't like. As mentioned before, I'm replacing the troublesome 2.5GbE RTL8125 with another 10GbE XG-C100C plug in card. That way I can transfer video files at full speed on the LAN, without being limited to 2.5GbE transfer rates.

The single FSP+ fibre output on my XS-508M (upstairs) is connected to a small Mikrotik CRS306-1G-4S-1N switch (downstairs) which feeds the Mellanox cards in three servers, which only see occasional use.

I've worked in very large server rooms and appreciate enterprise gear would be less troublesome, but professional gear can be more power hungry and very noisy, just like the fans in my old HP ML350p Gen8 servers. I monitor the Serve-The-Home web site occasionally for reviews on suitable gear for my ad-hoc home network.

I'd welcome recommendations for refurbished Cisco (or other second hand gear) supporting 10GbE Ethernet plus FSP+ fibre, but I don't really need a sophisticated managed switch or anything with very loud cooling fans.

 

[kiriakost]

Many thanks for the information about buggy firmware in my Netgear Prosafe XS-508M and the lack of updates. It was all I could afford when I bought it brand new back in 2018 or 2019. I chose the Prosafe because it had a quiet cooling fan and doesn't use large amounts of power when switched on 24-hours/day.

I've worked in very large server rooms and appreciate enterprise gear would be less troublesome, but professional gear can be more power hungry and very noisy, just like the fans in my old HP ML350p Gen8 servers. I monitor the Serve-The-Home web site occasionally for reviews on suitable gear for my ad-hoc home network.

I'd welcome recommendations for refurbished Cisco (or other second hand gear) supporting 10GbE Ethernet plus FSP+ fibre, but I don't really need a sophisticated managed switch or anything with very loud cooling fans.

You are welcome!

In order of me staying on topic, I will simply mention information found at INTEL Readme.TXT

Installing Drivers and Intel PROSet
===================================

You must have administrator rights to install or use base drivers or Intel
PROSet. Intel recommends the following procedure for installing drivers:
1) Cancel any Found New Hardware Wizard screens that open.
2) Start the autorun located in your download directory.
3) Click "Install Drivers and Software" and follow the instructions in the
install wizard.


Compatibility Information for Intel PROSet
------------------------------------------
- Intel PROSet and Intel ANS are not supported on Windows 11.

- Intel(R) PROSet for Windows* Device Manager is not supported on Microsoft
Windows Server 2019 (and later) and Microsoft Windows 10 Version 1809 (and
later). Use Intel(R) PROSet Adapter Configuration Utility instead. The
installer will determine which utility to install based on the operating system
you are running.
-------------------------------------------

The quick conclusion, if you are up to have full control of Intel I226-V / I225 , the selection of the workstation operating system this should be based on compatibility parameters.
With out detailed Intel PROSet, NIC fine tuning this is not possible.

https://downloadmirror.intel.com/764106/readme_27.8.txt

 

[Berfs1]

Of course that has been tried. There is nothing that anyone can suggest that has not already been tried at this point.

Are you still sure about that now?

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...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[trparky]

The jury is still out on whether or not that actually fixes things. There are many in this thread that have been fooled in the past.

 

[Berfs1]

The jury is still out on whether or not that actually fixes things.

I mean, if Microsoft is also pushing the update out in an attempt to fix it, and given that this function appeared to not be working correctly, it might be it. Time will tell.