DPC Latency problems with Intel 82579LM based Network Controller on Windows 8

[BCoe]

Hi,

After weeks of troubleshooting DPC latency problems on my Lenovo Thinkpad T420 laptop which were causing audio dropouts and mouse freezes every few mins I have finally tracked down the source of the issue. It appears that the Intel 82579LM based Network Controller driver may not be correctly optimised for Windows 8. I'm running Windows 8 Pro 64-bit and am using the latest Intel driver for the controller (12.6.45.0). In troubleshooting the issue I tried everything I could think of such as:

Update BIOS and all drivers to latest versions

Disable CPU and PCI Power Management in BIOS

Disabled onboard Sound (I use a separate professional audio sound card), Wifi, Bluetooth

Change power management settings to High Performance and Disabled USB selective suspend

Turn on all offloading settings on Ethernet NIC

Ran bcdedit /set disabledynamictick yes

Disabling Network Location Awareness in Windows

Nothing made any noticable difference at all. I had also been noticing that my network performance had been pretty poor intermittently on this machine for a while, occasionally experiencing dropouts and low download speeds (yes I know that can be caused by many other factors but please hear me out). Every few mins on the PC I would experience a DPC latency spike of around 95000us to 100000us which would occur right when the audio dropouts, mouse freezes, and probably network pauses would occur. I use the PC for audio production amongst other things so this causes me big issues.

I was totally baffled by the problem until I ran an xperf trace in the Windows Performance Toolkit and saw that the spike was being generated from ndis.sys and tcpip.sys. That got me thinking down the lines of a network related problem so I disabled the onboard Intel(R) 82579LM based Network Controller in Device Manager in Windows 8 and what do you know the problem disappeared competely!! No more DPC latency spikes ever (tested for hours and many times). I can do pretty much whatever I like on the PC and the problem does not reoccur. Not one single audio dropout in my Audio DAW either. The onboard Wifi is still running (Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 - v15.8.0.5) providing me with network access and download speeds through the wireless nic are both much faster and more stable surprisingly (should be the other way around if anything). As soon as I re-enable the 82579LM NIC the problem is immediately back within a few mins.

I am desperate to get this fixed as I cannot use wireless all of the time. Intel can you please fix the 82579LM driver to make it fully compatible with Windows 8 Pro 64-bit. I'm sure many other people out there are having the same issue and just don't know the cause, or put up with it it as real time applications such as audio are less important to them. I have read about other people having these issues and it only appears to be with Windows 8. I think the drivers are fine for Windows 7, although I haven't confirmed this for sure.

Intel please consider patching the 82579LM NIC driver ASAP for full Windows 8 support. I can assist in providing you information if you require as I'm very keen to get this sorted.

Thanks,

Brad

[st4]

Hi BartDG,

I am not sure what operating system you used, but here are the links to download driver version 19.1 for different OS:

Windows 7 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24175/Network-Adapter-Driver-for-Windows-7- Intel® Download Center

Windows 8 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24159/Network-Adapter-Driver-for-Windows-8- Intel® Download Center

Windows 8.1 https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/24134/Network-Adapter-Driver-for-Windows-8-1- Intel® Download Center

hope this helps.

rgds,

wb

[EBild1]

I was having this issue on Win7 x64 with a Lenovo X220 equipped with the 82579M card and the 19.5 drivers. Reverting to version 19.1 has apparently fixed the issue. Now to deal with the 7260 AC Wi-Fi, which right now suffers from the same problem...

[st4]

Hi LastSilmaril,

Thank you for the sharing. For issue with Intel 7260 AC Wi-Fi, I will forward your post to the Wifi support.

rgds,

wb

Edit by mark_h_@intel: See for the thread on the wireless networking adapter.

[ASouz7]

LastSilmaril,

It seems like this card is an OEM's. Please take a look at this online document: http://www.intel.com/support/ethernetcomponents/controllers/82579/sb/CS-032239.htm Intel® 82579 Gigabit Ethernet Controller — Support for Intel® 82579LM and 82579V Gigabit Network Connection

We recommend that you contact the OEM first.

[BartDG]

@ Klaxian : I'm not using anything Nvidia in my system, so this has certainly nothing to do with my issue. But you're right: it's good to post this kind of stuff for future reference and to help others.

@ wb_intel : I'm using Windows 8.1. Thanks for the link!! I've now installed v19.1, and it works flawlessly for me!! No more hiss and pops, yay !! But this for sure proves it's a driver issue. Also, is there any reason I would even want to upgrade to any driver version beyond v19.1 ? If not, then I'll make sure this driver never gets updated again.

[st4]

Hi BartDG,

Please use driver version 19.1, there is no need to upgrade for the meantime if you do not encounter further issue.

rgds,

wb

[JFran16]

What the HELL Intel?

Today Windows Update installed a new PROSet driver on my notebook and immediately the DPC latency went to 6000µs every 4 seconds as before with <1000µs in between. With v19 this does not happen at all and the latency is generally <1000µs all the time.

If you know about this issue for about 1.5 years now, why is the same driver online for months now and not even retracted from this distribution channel? There may be lots of users who install it by accident now. And why is this still an issue at all?

I would love to contribute if I can help solve this, even if that means living with the higher latency for a time. Just let me know what you need.

Regards,

Joe

[st4]

Hi JoeMod2015,

Thank you for the post. I am sorry to hear what happened. For the meantime, you can contact your notebook vendor to revert back to previous driver version 19.1, rest assured we are looking into this matter.Thanks.

rgds,

wb

[rnels7]

This johnny-come-lately offers his stumbled-upon solution....... beware my sketchy specs, if you will.....

- Win7 x64 Ultimate

- Asus P8Z77-v Pro motherboard

- Intel 82579LM network card

- external usb audio Presonus 22VSL

- Realtek HD onboard

the audio stalling was extremely annoying and elusive. as per Brado23's post and cursory use of the DPC Latency Checker, i did disable the network controller via device manager and that worked, but i had to sacrifice internet connection as i have no wireless service here. The synopsis is that i replaced the most recent gigabit driver with an older version 11.16.96.0...... no idea how i obtained that particular one but it worked. not one stall or dropout since installing that driver days ago. hope it's useful info

[SYeo3]

Hi TresGuitara,

Thanks for sharing your solution. I'm sure this will be very helpful to other users experiencing similar issue as yours.

Have a great day!

Sincerely,

Sandy

[SCald1]

Finished a Windows 10 upgrade and now can't seem to find a working solution. In the past with Windows 7 or 8, I used an older driver that eliminated the latency spikes. Now whether I use version 19.1, or some older or the newer and newest drivers, I'm seeing latency around 6000 us every fourth click in DPC Latency Checker.

Can't use the laptop for any work with a professional external USB sound card. I've tried a few of them.

If I unplug the network cable or disable the 85279LM Gigabit network connection the problem goes away. But so does my internet connectivity. This laptop is a Lenovo T420.

Intel, any help? Thank you.

Sean

[st4]

Hi SeanFL,

Thank you for sharing the test result. We are still checking on the latency issue. You may check if there is customized driver provided from the system vendor for Windows 10 and check if your system support Windows 10.

rgs,

wb

[SCald1]

Any update to the driver issue? T420 is still having audio issues and DPC latency spikes. After I disable the network adapter, all is fine.

[AAlek15]

Has this been solved? Are latest LAN drivers working correctly?

I reverted back to W7, a month after W10 release and installation of it, just because of this issue. It was unbearable to watch movies, YT, or anything to do with audio. just because drivers had huge problems with latency.

My mobo contains 82579V LAN chip on ASUS P8P67 Pro rev. 3.1. And, ASUS doesn't have any W10 drivers.

[SN_]

I have Intel 82579V networkadapter and Xonar Essence soundcard on windows7 or windows10 still audio issues with it. Traktor 2 pro is freezing of this cause. Only deactivating all LAN adapters and using a cheap USB WLAN Adapter by vivanco bazoo art.nr.28791 using Realtek RTL8191SU drivers is possible. The people of Realtek seems have done a better job than Intel ^^