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

[chodaboy19]

Too bad I have an m-ITX mobo
Gigabyte X570Si, they still used rev 1.0?

 

[thestryker6]

Intel had 3 revisions of the i225-V with the second fixing most of the issues, and the third the last of them. The i226-V is basically a revision of the same controller which lowers power consumption which may actually be the reason for the naming change as all revisions of the i225-V had to maintain the same spec.

I have a hard time believing this issue affects all i226-V NICs. ServeTheHome has tested multiple firewall PCs with i226-V and I'm sure they would have noticed dropouts.

Intel Celeron J6413 Powered 6x i226 2.5GbE Fanless Firewall Review (servethehome.com)
New Fanless 4x 2.5GbE Intel N5105 i226-V Firewall Tested (servethehome.com)

I'm running a N5105 router based on the same board and have had zero issues for the entire time I've been running it (3-4 mo). I've only been running pfsense so perhaps it's a software issue as I cannot imagine the motherboard implementation would be to blame and the controller itself doesn't appear to be faulty.

 

[GreiverBlade]

AMD does not run intel nics

sure sure ... although some already answered and countered

Spoiler: or? ...

tbf i wanted to do a post longer than :
well i am glad my 1G/2.5G on my actual board are Realtek ...
my previous board, bought 6ish yrs ago, had a standard Intel NIC and a Killer NIC and it was during the time they were considered "best" for Intel , neither of them were exceptional nor did they stand out ... and i deactivated the Killer just a few hours after finishing the rig
now, they are exceptional ... in connection drop, that's a ... feat?

 

[INSTG8R]

2.5GbE is useful for a 1G plan. Otherwise you would "only" get around 0.95G of usable bandwidth through a single connection.
My ISP actually delivers 10% more than advertised so I can take advantage of 2.5GbE to get 1.1G (138 MB/s) to my PC.

Wow I have 1Gbit fibre and I mean proper 1Gbit Up/down fibre that if i wanted to pay fo could be 10Gbit. But my MSI board has a Realtek 2.5 I just kinda said “meh” I don’t see any reason to use it.
Now you have brought up a possible reason to at least try it tho wouldn’t my Routers 1Gbit port just mitigate that possible gain? For me to really try it properly I’d have to plug directly into my connection or get a switch to be able to trun the rest of my MESH(I just have my PC wired and about 10 other devices usi wifi)But then my PC would be “out of my network“ which won’t work for me.
But this is definitely an interesting point. I will just plug into my 2.5 just for “kicks” now

AMD does not run intel nics

LOL my current AM4 board is the first one I’ve had that DIDN’T have an Intel NIC…

 

[Dr. Dro]

The i225-V is the worst piece of garbage I have ever dealt with, I'm surprised Intel decided to further develop upon it. It's just a cursed chipset. In truth, it's one of the reasons I decided to get rid of my B550-E motherboard.

AMD does not run intel nics

Wrong, many AMD motherboards have Intel networking, and specifically the 2.5 GbE NICs from the i225-V family. They all have connection drop problems. This i226 is a new revision, which suspiciously looks like i225-V v4 given they claim it's the same driver codebase and hardware footprint.

The original i225-V and its B2 revision (identified as Intel Ethernet Connection (2) i225-V) have occasional dropouts even at gigabit speeds which will require a driver reset.

Too bad I have an m-ITX mobo
Gigabyte X570Si, they still used rev 1.0?

View attachment 280095

In this case, yes, you have the initial, buggiest revision. The B2 and B3 steppings have a (2) and (3) appended to the name. B3 is most desirable, B2 is still problematic with multiple connection drop problems as your original revision is. My B550-E has the B2 stepping. There were weeks it'd go without disconnecting, there were days it would crash, 3, 4, even 5 times, and this is accounting for the fact I use gigabit connection only.

 

[Dirt Chip]

Weird times, when wifi-wireless connection is preferable and more stable than wire LAN.
This was the corner stone of my existence and now it's gone.

 

[Braegnok]

So these nics run fine on amd boards but misbehave on intel chipsets ?

My AM5 X670E Asus Gene board has a faulty Intel NIC,.. Intel Ethernet Controller 1225-V constantly drops connection.

I just checked my Event Viewer, System, Filtered e2fexpress,..

 

[Dr. Dro]

My AM5 X670E Asus Gene board has a faulty Intel NIC,.. Intel Ethernet Controller 1225-V constantly drops connection.

I just checked my Event Viewer, System, Filtered e2fexpress,..

View attachment 280154

Yours has (3) appended to the name, which means it's a B3 stepping third revision chip, this one technically *should* be a lot better than the second and initial revisions. Are you experiencing a lot of dropouts with Gigabit mode, too?

 

[DarthJedi]

Zero such issues on two Asus boards, Extreme and Apex.

 

[stimpy88]

Because all these chips are the same. They just print different manufacturer names and model numbers on them. It's the only answer. It's funny how all, yes all 2.5G ethernet chips, have had the same problems to varying degrees since they first became available.

There have been multiple revisions of all these chips, even Realtek have been up to this, as I had the same problem with the chip built into my ASUS motherboard, so I went out and bought an Intel I225-T1 pcie card, which seemed to not have the issue. The Realtek chip was unusable as it was constantly disconnecting and would often be down until a reboot, but I notice when I look in the log, my I225 has the issue too, just once every few days, and I don't notice it.

This is so odd considering that 2.5g ethernet is not even cutting edge, yet all vendors have the same disconnect issue. VERY suspicious and should be up for a class action lawsuit.

 

[R-T-B]

Then intel bought it off quallcomm.

Intel® Killer™ Performance Suite

This download record installs Wi-Fi, Ethernet drivers and Killer Software for the Intel® Killer™ products.

www.intel.com

My god. Why?

Yours has (3) appended to the name, which means it's a B3 stepping third revision chip, this one technically *should* be a lot better than the second and initial revisions. Are you experiencing a lot of dropouts with Gigabit mode, too?

I don't think that's what the value in parenthesis means. I think it has something to do with the logical MAC port used.

Because all these chips are the same. They just print different manufacturer names and model numbers on them. It's the only answer. It's funny how all, yes all 2.5G ethernet chips, have had the same problems to varying degrees since they first became available.

No, I am using a B3 spinning chip i225-v from an addon card with absolutely no issues. It's literally the WAN port for my entire network. And yes I do have service that goes above a gigabit.

Furthermore, I think the addon cards do better than any onboard because they dissipate heat better, but that's a separate issue.

 

[stimpy88]

No, I am using a B3 spinning chip i225-v from an addon card with absolutely no issues. It's literally the WAN port for my entire network. And yes I do have service that goes above a gigabit.

Furthermore, I think the addon cards do better than any onboard because they dissipate heat better, but that's a separate issue.

So how comes mine, which is the same version as yours, and an Intel made pcie card with the B3 stepping has these disconnects in the Windows logs? They are not terminal disconnects like my Realtek 2.5G nic, which required a total power off at the wall solution, but they are still happening from time to time (once every 2 or 3 days).

I find it VERY odd that every manufacturer across multiple chip revisions, model changes, years of development, dozens of driver updates etc are all having the exact same problem, with only severity and frequency being the variables. Just Googling this, back when I was having issues years ago with my Realtek nic showed this was a thing, and here we are 3 years later, and even the so called latest chips are having identical issues.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I don't think that's what the value in parenthesis means. I think it has something to do with the logical MAC port used.

Interesting, my single-NIC board always showed (2), and the revision in HWID is REV_02 as well.

Regarding Killer ethernet though, Intel purchased the rights but I don't think they have touched the drivers, at least for the older models. My X99 has Killer E2400 and i218-V networking, the Killer driver is still signed by the original creator of this brand (Rivet Networks).

 

[R-T-B]

So how comes mine, which is the same version as yours, and an Intel made pcie card with the B3 stepping has these disconnects in the Windows logs? They are not terminal disconnects like my Realtek 2.5G nic, which required a total power off at the wall solution, but they are still happening from time to time (once every 2 or 3 days).

I find it VERY odd that every manufacturer across multiple chip revisions, model changes, years of development, dozens of driver updates etc are all having the exact same problem, with only severity and frequency being the variables. Just Googling this, back when I was having issues years ago with my Realtek nic showed this was a thing, and here we are 3 years later, and even the so called latest chips are having identical issues.

I couldn't tell you, maybe your particular card is defective, but the internet consensus seems to be that the b3 stepping is good and my experience matches that. I have no messages from the driver in my event logs.

Interesting, my single-NIC board always showed (2), and the revision in HWID is REV_02 as well.

I mean, I could be wrong too but that's what I assumed anyways.

 

[jpvalverde85]

And that doesn't happen with 2.5G Realtek. So guess which one is the cheaper option now...

 

[GerKNG]

I have a Z790 Tomahawk and no problems at all.
My brother has a strix e and no issues either

 

[Ferrum Master]

Keep in mind despite having i225 B3, you have to have also the latest firmware. It can be upgraded on some vendors. You have to have the right file.

 

[claster17]

wouldn’t my Routers 1Gbit port just mitigate that possible gain?

Your router would need at least 2.5GbE or dual 1GbE with link aggregation to negotiate a faster than 1G link. Otherwise your 2.5G port would just run at 1G.
My modem/router (AVM Fritzbox 6660) happened to come with one 2.5GbE port.

 

[Chrispy_]

Dissapointing, again.

I can easily tell which machines in the office have the Intel 2.5GB NICs in them because they all have add-in cards for ethernet, like it's 1995 again. Realtek weren't great in the early days of 2.5G but their issues were fixed and certainly not carried over, unfixed, to a second generation.

 

[fb020997]

Seems like it’s a good thing that asus decided to cheap out with my Prime B550-Plus and put a realtek 1gbps controller… Zero issues for now. My previous Prime X370 and X470 mobos (long story short, I sold some parts for most of their original price to customers that needed a working PC as quickly as possible) had the old intel i211, 1gbps, zero issues with that too.

 

[Panther_Seraphin]

I beg to differ. I have have an ASUS ROG Crosshair X670E Gene motherboard. The documentation states the NIC supports 2.5Gb speeds and is from Intel. When when I saw the news about this I looked in the manual but all it says is Intel(R) no model number is listed. Also couldn't find it on the Asus site, just says Intel. So I contacted Asus support, via chat, and asked if they could tell me what it was. Their response was they couldn't find it either and would have to check with engineering and get back to me. It could be that it isn't really an Intel NIC and that the documentation just had Intel as a placeholder in the doc, but right now this Asus/AM5 MB claims to have Intel networking.

The system isn't built yet. All I've done is install the CPU, I'm going to hold off before putting it in the case and setting up the cooler since it might have to go back.

Intel currently only have the I225 and I226 families doing 2.5Gb so you will be one of those affected unfortunately.

 

[DarthJedi]

Intel currently only have the I225 and I226 families doing 2.5Gb so you will be one of those affected unfortunately.

As long as this is not 100% confirmed, that's not really "unfortunate". Having 2 boards with the chip and zero issues, I'm not really sure the article is guaranteed to be correct for all the boards or at all - it might be a certain batch.

 

[Braegnok]

Edit: Sorry I forgot to add Quote,..



My chip is stepping 2, revision B2.



The dropouts are unnoticeable during normal usage, and cause no glitches, or issues. I never would have known about the dropouts if I hadn't seen the article here, and checked my event viewer.

After monitoring event viewer It seems perhaps my dropouts are occurring when DHCP Lease Expires, and new DHCP Lease is obtained.

The Intel controller automatically reconnects instantly, so is unnoticeable and has no adverse effects during normal PC usage.

However,.. I wonder if the dropout issue would effect Folding, if occurred while uploading a finished WU,.. if perhaps the folding client would crash, perhaps drop the finished WU and need to be manually restarted, or if issue would just go unnoticed.

Same with online gaming, would issue cause glitches during gameplay, or go unnoticed?

Personally the Intel NIC drop has no effect on my daily usage, and for me is not a concern at this point.

 

[zlobby]

Your router would need at least 2.5GbE or dual 1GbE with link aggregation to negotiate a faster than 1G link. Otherwise your 2.5G port would just run at 1G.
My modem/router (AVM Fritzbox 6660) happened to come with one 2.5GbE port.

A common misconception is that port bonding comes free of cost. It actually needs HW acceleration or a powerful CPU to work as you'd expect. Otherwise you'd get speeds even lower than 1Gbps.

 

[Bleomycin]

Had this exact problem on a fresh install of WIn11 22H2 and the latest drivers from Asus for my Z790 ProArt. Connected to a cisco SG300 switch.

Here is what solved it for me.:

I manually set the speed/duplex settings instead of auto. Downgraded the driver version to the 27.8 release directly from intels website (2.1.1.7 in device manager) then set "Idle power down restriction" to "Disabled" and unchecked "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". The problem has vanished and what was dropping every ~10 mins before has been stable for 2 days through multiple sleep/resumes and reboots. No idea which of those changes made a difference but figured I'd try to post some useful information that worked for me for anyone else that might stumble upon this.