Intel (R) I225-V TCP Spurious Retransmissions

Benjamin3 · ‎08-23-2022

Hey folks,

Hey all,
I have a PC with Windows 11 installed. I have reasonably fast internet via ethernet. However, every browser + website is slow, occasionally hanging for 10s-20s at a time.

No other device in the household behaves this way. I have a Surface Pro 4 with Windows 10 installed with no such issue, even when WiFi is turned off and ethernet via the same cable is used.

I booted up Wireshark (everyone's best friend) on both the Surface and the PC. I've found something interesting: The PC experiences constant TCP spurious retransmissions and duplicate ACKs. See image below:

Note that I removed all IP addresses, replacing them with the ports used instead. The image represents 1 TCP conversation (filtered out of all the network traffic). It is important to note that this is only 1 instance of this. Usually there are like 5-6 TCP connections all doing this at once. Sometimes, conversations work and websites load as expected, but I would say 40-50% of the time this happens. Again, this happens no matter the browser (Chrome, Edge, FireFox).

Also of note is UDP/QUIC connections are generally just slow. It's much harder to debug what's going on there due to their nature, though.

On the Surface 4, this doesn't happen. I polled traffic for 5ish minutes and didn't see a single reset connection in this manner.

As a starter, I've completed these steps

Updated I225-V controller driver
Updated Intel ME
Updated BIOS
Updated chipset drivers (including Intel Serial IO driver)
Updated video + audio drivers
Ensured DHCP is enabled both for PC and router
Checked router firmware is up-to-date
Tried the usual "Troubleshoot Network" tool in Windows
Performed the "Network reset" in Windows
Uninstalled literally all applications on Windows
Wiped hard drive and performed fresh install of Windows, performing steps 1-5 again

I checked the issue in between each of the above steps and yet the problem persists. The specs are below:

Network Adapter Intel(R) Ethernet Controller (3) I225-V -- driver v2.1.1.7 (Microsoft signed)
Intel(R) Management Engine Interface -- driver 2145.1.42.0 (Microsoft signed)
MOBO ASUS Prime Z590-a -- BIOS v1402
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060-Ti -- driver v31.0.15.1694
Processor 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-11700KF @ 3.60GHz 3.60 GHz
Installed RAM 32.0 GB (31.8 GB usable)
System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Edition Windows 11 Pro
Version 21H2
Installed on ‎8/‎16/‎2022
OS build 22000.856
Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22000.856.0

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Best Regards
Benjamin

Crisselle_Intel · ‎08-24-2022

Hello Benjamin,

Thank you for posting in Intel Ethernet Communities.

We are sorry to hear that you are experiencing issue with your Intel (R) I225-V. Please provide below details that would help in checking the issue.

1. Can you share when was the issue first encountered? Is it during initial integration? If no, is there any software of hardware changes prior to issue?

2. Can you also share if your system comes with wireless connection? If yes, have you tried accessing the web using wifi? Do you encounter the same issue or this works as expected?

3. We noticed that you are using ASUS Prime Z590-A. We would like to educate you about our support for Original Equipment Manufacturer(OEM) controller. We'd like to set your expectation that we have a limited support for OEM and it would be best if you can also get in touch with Asus for further support since they have customized drivers and software to enable or alter features on your system. They are in best position where you can seek assistance so you don’t lose features or customizations of the Ethernet Adapter. But don't worry as we will still provide our best effort support to help you resolve the issue.

Hoping to hear from you soon.

Should there be no response from you, I’ll make sure to reach out after 3 business days.

Best regards,

Crisselle C.

Intel® Customer Support

Benjamin3 · ‎08-26-2022

1. I don't believe this was during the initial build of the machine, but I don't surf the web *that* often so it is unknown to me what software/drivers could have been installed to cause the issue.

2. The system does not have a wireless adapter, just ethernet.

3. I understand! I have a ticket open with ASUS as well but I figured getting coverage on this issue would be good. It seems like a weird one.

Thanks!
Benjamin

Crisselle_Intel · ‎08-28-2022

Hello Benjamin,

Thank you for the detailed response.

Can you confirm if you already tried out the driver version 2.0.1.3 that can be downloaded from Asus?

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards-Components/Motherboards/PRIME/PRIME-Z590-A/HelpDesk_Download/

If yes but same issue, have you tried the latest driver for Windows 11 from our site below? Do you encounter the same issue?

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/727998/intel-network-adapter-driver-for-microsoft-windows-11.html

You mentioned that you already have a ticket with Asus, have you heard any feedback from them already? If yes, can you also share it with us for record purposes only.

Awaiting to hear from you soon.

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

Best regards,

Crisselle C.

Intel Customer Support

Benjamin3 · ‎09-01-2022

Hi again!

Yes, I've tried both of these drivers out previously. However for the sake of thoroughness I tried both again and neither work as expected. There is still a large number of SPURs causing constant RSTs for TCP and the QUIC protocol is particularly slow.

I've now tried the following versions for the adapter:

1.0.2.8

2.0.1.3

2.1.1.7

As for the ASUS ticket, yes they gave me the usual "try installing the most up-to-date drivers + BIOS" response. The steps I listed in the original message in this thread were the result of a handful of different tickets and forums. ASUS now wants me to file for RMA, which I will do some time next week.

Thanks,

Benjamin

Crisselle_Intel · ‎08-31-2022

Hello Benjamin,

Good day!

This is just a follow up to check if you received our previous reply. If yes, please provide the additional details requested for us to continue checking the issue. If you need more time on this, please let us know.

Looking forward to your reply.

Should there be no response from you, I’ll make sure to reach out after 3 business days.

Best regards,

Crisselle C.

Intel Customer Support

Crisselle_Intel · ‎09-02-2022

Hello Benjamin,

Thank you for the swift response.

Appreciate your effort in testing different driver version and we sincerely apologize if this didn't help resolving the issue.

Since you mentioned that ASUS wants to process RMA for your board, we'd like to check if there is any additional assistance you may need on this matter? If no help needed, are you okay to proceed with closure for this request? If you'd like to keep this open or proceed with further troubleshooting, please let us know and we will also try to check this with our engineers.

Looking forward to your reply.

We will reach out after 3 business days in case we don't hear from you.

Best regards,

Crisselle C.

Intel® Customer Support

Crisselle_Intel · ‎09-06-2022

Hello Benjamin,

Good day!

This is just a follow up to check if there is any additional assistance you may need on this matter? If you'd like to keep this open or proceed with further troubleshooting, please let us know and we will also try to check this with our engineers. If no help needed, are you okay to proceed with closure for this request?

Hoping to hear from you soon.

We will follow up after 3 business days in case we don't receive a reply.

Best regards,

Crisselle C.

Intel® Customer Support

Crisselle_Intel · ‎09-11-2022

Hello Benjamin,

I hope this message finds you well!

Please be informed that we will now close this request since we haven't received any response from our previous follow ups. Just feel free to post a new question if you may have any other inquiry in the future as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Thank you for choosing Intel and stay safe!

Best regards,

Crisselle C.

Intel® Customer Support