Intel® I225-V network droping issue on ROG STRIX Z490-E GAMING

[leylimley]

Hi,

On my brand new PC build with ROG STRIX Z490-E GAMING mainboard my network drops constantly especially at online meetings such as Microsoft Teams, Slack...

I reinstall driver version 1.0.1.4 seems stable but still facing drop issues. And windows automatically updates to 1.0.2.6 and starts dropping more...

Also, I tried to change my speed duplex to 1Gbps and disabled power management.

I tried this except NVM update because I didn't understand that. It should be written detailed instruction.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057261/network-and-i-o/ethernet-products.html

And it seems I'm not the only one. As a manufacturer, you should make a statement. Please!

[Caguicla_Intel]

Hello leylimley,

Thank you for posting in Intel Ethernet Communities. 

We are sorry to hear the issue you are experiencing with your Intel® I225-V network and we do apologize for the inconvenience that this might have caused.

For the specifics on how to update the NVM of the controller, we highly suggest contacting your manufacturer as the NVM can only be obtained from them.

No NVM package is available for download from our site below

Downloads for Intel® Ethernet Controller I225 Series

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/product/184686/Intel-Ethernet-Controller-I225-Series

Your Original Equipment Manufacturer(OEM) might have customized firmware to adapt to the changes made on the controller embedded on their system, thus they are in best position to provide the firmware so that you don’t lose features or customizations. 

Let us know if you have questions and clarifications. 

We look forward to hear from you.

Should there be no response, we will follow up after 3 business days.

Best regards,

Crisselle C

Intel® Customer Support

[leylimley]

I did every step written on-page that you sent. But nothing changed. 

[Engine]

Same with me, i'm on the latest nvm and did everything your page provides. Even stepping down to 1gb full duplex doesn't give a reliable connection. Stepping b2 is broken as well. Where is the post gone where you wrote about talking to the engineers? Why's there so statement on problems with the said controller? Even if staying with old drivers and crippled ethernet speeds lightens the problem there is still one thousand of users suffer from.
Why did you release stepping b3 if above mentioned "fix" would work?

[NotImpressed]

I want the full 2.5 G that as advertised on my Z490 E board at the time of purchase, this is false advertising.

Asus will not replace my board as they have said they are unable to replicate any issues. What a LIE, my B2 Stepping is faulty.

Please make this right Intel, do not delete this.

[navi]

Hi, I'm providing my own feedback on the matter as it seems there's a lot of confusion on the subject.

I have a desktop workstation with the same motherboard ROG STRIX Z490-E GAMING with B2 stepping of Intel® I225-V network.

I do not use at all 2.5 Gbps as I don't have any switch/router with that technology yet.

I think people should provide better feedback with their issues.
Is everyone having problems running on 2.5 Gbps link or 1 Gbps link?
It has been confirmed by Intel that unfortunately B2 stepping has hardware issues with 2.5 Gbps link speed and the only workaround for that is to update the NVM to 1.45 and using drivers 1.0.1.4.
I do not have the equipment to test 2.5 Gbps, so I can't say myself if this actually solves any issue in packet drops with that link speed, but it will undoubtedly cause slowdowns (and possibly packet loss?) because it doesn't solve the issue 100%, it is a workaround as detailed technically on this document: https://cdrdv2.intel.com/v1/dl/getContent/621661.

However, what I can say is how the card works in 1 Gbps link speed.
I had no issue at first, no packet loss, always high speed.
At some time I started experiencing huge packet loss and slowdowns. I did some tests internally and I couldn't understand what was the issue, I even thought it was the ethernet switch I was using because strangely I had no major issues by connecting it directly to the main modem/router.

After some research I found out about all these issues from other people.
Tested different driver versions, updated NVM to 1.45 and even changed some driver parameters as suggested by other people, none of this worked.

I finally found out that these problems started happening from driver version 1.0.1.4 onwards, including the one offered from Windows Update currently: 1.0.2.6.

By rolling back driver to version 1.0.0.13 all issues related to packet loss and speed slowdowns are gone, it works brilliant now as it used to be at the beginning when I built the system.
I repeat, this is on 1 Gbps link speed, I can't say anything for 2.5 Gbps, but I can tell even with a working/stable driver, because of the hardware issues, the workaround will just randomly slowdown the speed from 2.5 Gbps to 1 Gbps, only solution for this is to have B3 hardware revision unfortunately.

So I ask Intel to look into this further to provide a new driver version that will actually fix packet loss/slowdowns on 1 Gbps link speed at least, because as I said it works brilliant on 1.0.0.13 driver version, so the fix is already there for Intel to implement in a future version of the driver.
Rolling back driver version isn't something every user can do, even more where Windows Update automatically updates drivers to 1.0.2.6 which is still faulty.

As of now, to have a working stable driver at 1 Gbps speed is to:
1) Delete all installed drivers.
2) Install 1.0.0.13 driver version found on Asus support page
3) Let Windows update driver to latest 1.0.2.6
4) Go in Device Manager and rollback driver to 1.0.0.13, it will be the one without the "(2)" text in the name.
This way Windows Update won't try to automatically update drivers to 1.0.2.6 because they're already installed. It will however try to install any new driver higher than 1.0.2.6...but hopefully it will contain the fix :).

I would also make sure the NVM is updated on 1.45 versions, although I don't think this is needed for 1 Gbps links.

[Engine]

Thanks for writing this up. This is actually what a lot of useres, me included, experience.
May i ask where you got the 1.0.0.13 driver from or do you know which Version Number contains it at @https://downloadcenter.intel.com/de/product/184686

I'm currently on 1.0.1.4 which frankly sucks, less disconnects, still a lot of packet loss and lag spikes, which eventually leads to rubberbanding and huge lags ingame.
I've wanted i could provide pingplotter logs/images for days, this is NOT imaginary.

I'll try it one last time on 1.0.0.13. I already contacted the seller and try to give the board back. Going for MSI b550 carbon gaming wifi with realtek controller.

At the moment im using an usb 3.0 to 1gb ethernet dongle with realtek controller, no mentionable paket loss or lagg spikes after hours of pingplotting and gaming. Cost me 6€ and saved a lot of nerves.. ^^

[navi]

Hi, the driver is for the motherboard of this topic's subject, but it may work for other motherboards too, not sure, you can find it on the support page of the ROG STRIX Z490-E GAMING asus page HERE.

Let me know if it fixes your issues, I've done enough test and i can tell you this driver works 100% for me at 1 Gbps link speed.

[Caguicla_Intel]

Hello leylimley,

Thank you for the update and we apologize for the delay on our response.

Please allow me to escalate this case to our engineers. We will get back to you as soon as we heard from them but no later than 2-4 business days.

Best regards,

Crisselle C

Intel® Customer Support

[Engine]

Also problems with 1.0.0.13. No more disconnects, but also paket loss and occasional lag spikes.
Nethertheless i dont want my 2,5gb controller to be crippled to 1gb since i have a nas which is capable at 2,5 at home as well..
attach is a ping plotter log 

[navi]

Are you connected at 1 Gbps or 2.5 Gbps with this last test?

Also, in my tests I pinged my main router/gateway, in my case at IPv4 192.168.1.1, you should test a local machine just to avoid any internet-related connection issues.

If you tested it at 2.5 Gbps, there may be problems because of the hardware issue.

My 1 Gbps connection works great without interruption, ping time is always 1ms towards 192.168.1.1.

It may differ with different switch/router/modem vendors, who knows, but I can only get stable connection at 1 Gbps with driver version 1.0.0.13, other drivers keep introducing packet loss just by pinging a local machine (192.168.1.1 in my case).

[Engine]

Hi navi,

the controller is downgraded to 1gbps only, i also get a little packet loss in my network e.g. printer/router.
besides the mentioned paket loss i still have random disconnects within a couple of online games.
whenever i use the realtek usb ehternet dongle there are no such problems no paket loss no disconnects.
1.0.0.13 performs better than 1.0.1.4 though, so thanks for the tip.
i guess there will be no answer as far as intels passive behaviour indicates, the release of stepping b3 is another hint to that. 
i will return the board and don't look back to intel after the ridiculous bad treatment here..
i just recommend to do the same, thats the only voice which will be heared..

[6kbyte]

i have never experienced such an incompetent company and employees. why are you so silent, why you dont answer your customers, why we dont get an update of the "high priority case" @Caguicla_Intel was talking from in another thread? what should v1-v2 nic users have to do now? this is so sad what is happening here!!!

[6kbyte]

daily push for visibility

[Engine]

push

[TinchoCBA]

Any update about this annoying issue??

[Alfonso_Martin]

Hi @leylimley 

I had the same issue with a motherboard ASUS TUF-GAMING Z490-Plus, and Ethernet I219-V. 

In my case, that motherboard came with a utility software called TurboLAN CFos which installs a service called "cFosSpeed System Service".  Closing TurboLAN didn't make any difference, as that service kept running in the background. So I had to disable it.

Once disabled, my Internet speed went back to normal again, finally! So I decided to uninstall completely TurboLAN from my computer.

How to disable that service:

1. At the Windows machine, open Start, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services.
2. Right-click the specific Service ("cFosSpeed System Service")
3. Select Properties.
4. Access the General tab.
5. Set the Startup Type to Disabled.
6. Click OK.
7. Restart your computer (Please do not skip this step)
8. Test your speed again.

I hope this helps with your issue.

Regards,

Alfonso

[6kbyte]

push

[Caguicla_Intel]

Hello All,

We sincerely apologize for the delay on our update. Kindly see below details for the feedback from our engineering team. 

Our testing shows that users will receive Windows Update (LAN driver) notice if we use 2-part ID in Windows Update driver resell option.

This is not the expected result and we are planning to revoke this option in Windows Update.

Once it is done, users will not receive the current LAN driver update(V1.0.2.6) request from Windows Update.

In parallel, we are also working on this topic with Asus.

Rest assured that this request is still under investigation and we will get back to you as soon as we heard additional update from our engineers.

Best regards,

Crisselle C.

Intel® Customer Support

[Engine]

i returned my board after talking to the vendor, who couldn't verify that i'll get a new one with b3 stepping, since they didn't get any information by asus or intel themselfes and are pissed af (big german pc part trader).
intel is dead to me as of now. cpu is amd, new nic is from realtek. i can't listen to this inflated pseudo native speaking mods anymore. this whole situation is something intel, their support team and their board partners should ne ashamed of.

i just recommend you to do the same, it was quite freeing to ship the old board back to the vendor.
i'm out of here. gl getting any real information until you run out of warranty or the lifecycle of the motherboard.....

gl, all, cheers Peter.

p.s.: just keep deleting my posts intel. the people here know what you're up too. this isnt flooding btw. you copy pasted your answer to every thread as well. mine does at least contain a solution

-> return your intel products immedeately befor it's to late. it's already marked as solved by  their nevest nvm and driver. THIS IS A HARDWARE BUG, dont expect another driver to make things happen!!

[Caguicla_Intel]

Hello All,

We understand the frustration and we would like to apologize again for all the inconvenience this may have caused. Please be informed that LAN driver 1.0.2.6 in Windows Update has already been revoked. You will not receive Windows Update (LAN driver 1.0.2.6) notification moving forward. After further verification, it was found out that when 2 part ID is used, it can still deploy the driver on Windows Update and it will override any systems. For any future LAN driver release in Windows Update, we will only deploy with 4 part ID.

As a best course of action, we still highly recommend using the Asus provided OEM drivers as the final solution. We recommend contacting Asus for the drivers because they are still the best source of support for these OEM motherboards.  

We appreciate your patience and utmost cooperation while we were checking out the issue.  

Best regards,

Crisselle C.

Intel® Customer Support