Dell latitude 5520 ethernet controller I219-LM insanely slow

[hendr]

Hi,

We recently received a couple of Dell latitude 5520. I install ubuntu 20.04.2 on them.

Problem is is that the ethernet controller is ridicously slow. maybe 200kbyte per second download speed.

Wifi adapter is performing well as expected.

When I attach a docking station and connect the ethernet cable to it's performance is also good.

But here comes the part I really don't understand;

When I attached a usb memory stick into the laptop the ethernet controller is performing as expected.

Are more people complaining about this?

Specs:

Dell latitude 5520

Ubuntu 20.04.2 with latest patches

Intel ethernet controller I219-LM (rev20)

e1000e module is used

Kernel 5.8.0-53-generic

[hendr]

ssu log

[Mike_Intel]

Hello hendr,

Thank you for posting in Intel Ethernet Communities. 

For us to further check and investigate the issue, please provide the following details.

1. Are you using an onboard I219-LM?

2. Is it working fine before?

3. Can you share the link of your latest driver?

4. What are the other troubleshooting steps that you tried so far?

If you have questions, please let us know. In case we do not hear from you, we will make a follow up after 3 workings days. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[hendr]

Hi,

Thanks for the respons.

1. Yes, it's the onboard LAN controller

2. No, it never worked before

3. Share the link? I use ubuntu. The driver comes with this distro. I use ubuntu 20.04.2

4. Yesterday I found out that installing kernel 5.12.x solved the problem. Though kernel version 5.12.x is not in the official ubuntu 20.04 mainline. So not available for production environments.

[Mike_Intel]

Hello hendr,

Thank you for the quick reply. Upon checking by default I219-LM, does not support your OS. However since the network card is embedded on your laptop. The manufacturer of the laptop may have altered the NIV to support other OS. Here is the supported OS I219-LM.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000055236/ethernet-products/gigabit-ethernet-controllers-up-to-2-5gbe.html

In this case, as much as we want to further help you. the best support team who can assist you is the manufacturer of the laptop. Here is the support link of Dell so that you can start communicating with them.

https://www.dell.com/support/contents/en-sg/category/contact-information

If you have questions, please let us know. In case we do not hear from you, we will make a follow up after 3 workings days. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[hendr]

https://certification.ubuntu.com/hardware/202010-28335

[Mike_Intel]

Hello hendr,

Thank you for sharing the link of Ubuntu validation on the hardware. However this is their validation, it is also best to coordinate the issue with the laptop manufacturer to check if the laptop supports the OS. The best team to contact regarding the issue is the manufacturer of the laptop. I hope you understand that we have a very limited support on this because the I219-LM is onboard.

If you have questions, please let us know. In case we do not hear from you, we will make a follow up after 3 workings days. Thank you.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel® Customer Support Technician

[hendr]

To whom is may concern. I found the workaround for this.

The trick is to set the boot kernel parameter "pcie_aspm=off" in '/etc/default/grub'

Like this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="splash pcie_aspm=off"

After that run;

update-grub

pcie_aspm is some sort of power management thingie which probably puts my networkcontroller to sleep or something.
And putting a usb memory stick in the laptop some how wakes it up.

[Mike_Intel]

Hello hendr,

Thank you so much fir sharing your workaround an I am glad that the system is working fine now.

Since Wake on Lan is working now, We need to close the thread. If you need assistance again in the future,

please post a new question.

Thank you and stay safe.

Best regards,

Michael L.

Intel® Customer Support Technician