Question Gigabyte Z690 Auros Pro no LAN connection once every few boots

[NickJHP]

I have Windows 11 Pro 21H2 installed on a Z690 Aorus Pro, using the onboard Intel i225 Ethernet NIC for a network connection. NIC driver is the latest available from the Gigabyte website: the driver reports itself as v2.1.1.14. The NIC is connected to a UniFi USW-24-POE switch.

The problem is that once every half dozen or so boots, the PC boots up without any network connection. When I look in event viewer at the Windows system logs, the only relevant event is a warning event id 27 from e2fnexpress saying "Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (3) I225-V. Network link is disconnected." At this point, I can always get the network connection working by running Device Manager, and disabling and then enabling the Intel Ethernet Controller I225-V device under Network adapters.

I have three different RJ45 ports that I can connect to, going back to different ports on the switch. The problem continues to happen regardless of which port I connect to, and I've tried different Cat 6 Ethernet cables between the NIC and RJ45 ports, again without any change in the problem. Any suggestions on a possible cause and/or possible solution?

 

[Lutfij]

Current BIOS version for your motherboard?

 

[NickJHP]

The most recent available - F8.

 

[NickJHP]

Well, more research shows it to be a recognised problem with the Intel i225-V embedded NIC. There are numerous forum posts around from people with the same embedded NIC on different makes of motherboard with the same problem, and there is an article on the Intel website about it.

 

[slurmsmckenzie]

Well, more research shows it to be a recognised problem with the Intel i225-V embedded NIC. There are numerous forum posts around from people with the same embedded NIC on different makes of motherboard with the same problem, and there is an article on the Intel website about it.

The fact that this is still an issue with recent motherboards baffles me. I keep wondering how it isn't a bigger story that almost every motherboard you can buy has broken on-board LAN, is it that people use wifi or just put up with the issues? Or is it just that only a minority are impacted, either due to individual NIC hardware differences (only some are garbage) or the home network they connect to?

I'm wanting to get an AM4 motherboard for a 5950X that has decent on-board LAN so I won't have to use an add-on Intel gigabit card (for case reasons). There are countless horror stories about Realtek GbE and both Intel & Realtek 2.5GbE which leaves a tiny handful of boards that have Intel GbE and they are either hard to get hold of, very expensive or both.

It is frustrating and utterly perplexing. Not helped by the fact that I pre-ordered an Asus X570-E Gaming Wifi II from Scan 3 weeks ago, only to have the expected date be pushed back by 4 weeks and then today I see it has been taken off sale as "End of life / discontinued". Can't find that board anywhere else but it was the best option for me in terms of the price not being too silly because of features I don't even need.

EDIT - few sources just to justify my rant:
https://www.overclock.net/threads/t...the-intel-i225-v-rev_03-2-5-gbps-nic.1796635/ (small sample group maybe but issues clearly still there in 2022)

MSI Global English Forum

...

forum-en.msi.com

https://www.ctrl.blog/entry/realtek-nic.html

 

[NickJHP]

Well, since installing the update to Win11 22H2 on 12 October, which also changed the version of the NIC driver from 2.1.1.14 (which is still the current version available from Gigabyte) to 2.1.1.7, I have not had a single instance of the PC booting up without the network connection being available...