Ethernet Products
Determine ramifications of Intel® Ethernet products and technologies
4808 Discussions

Intel i225 Network Adapter Drops Connection When NAS Backs Up PC

BWard10
Beginner
12,395 Views

The problem is my Intel i225 Network Adapter drops its network connection every time I start a backup using a Synology NAS requiring a restart of the PC to recover the network connection. 

 

This is a new PC with an ASUS Prime Z490-A motherboard that has an onboard Intel i225-V #2 Ethernet Controller (I’ve tried driver Version 1.0.1.4 & 1.0.0.13 and Firmware NVM Version 1.56(1.38)). The PC is running Win10 Pro (Version 1909). The PC is backed up to a Synology NAS (DS1819+) using Synology’s Active Backup for Business app. Each time the NAS attempts to back up the PC, it pauses after about 1 ½ minutes and reports it is “Waiting for a network connection.” A moment earlier the PC dropped its network connection. Win10’s network status reports “No Internet access.” In Device Manager the network adapter reports “This device is working properly.” The only way to restore the network connection is to restart the PC. Upon restarting the adapter reconnects to the network and the NAS backup resumes for a few seconds before the network connection dies and the backup pauses waiting for a connection. The problem occurs whether using a scheduled backup or a manual backup. 

 

The issue seems to be unique to the i225 adapter. I installed a 3rd party PCIe Ethernet adapter card & using that Ethernet port the backups run perfectly. 

 

It seems that something the Synology NAS is asking the Intel i225 to do is shutting down the adapter. The problem could be with Intel’s chip, Synology’s software or the way ASUS uses the i225 on its new Z490 motherboards.

 

I’m stumped and would appreciate any suggestions for a solution. 

0 Kudos
18 Replies
AlfredoS_Intel
Moderator
12,359 Views

Hi BAmen,

Thank you for posting in our Intel® Ethernet Communities Forum.

We need to gather information so we can provide you recommendations.

Please download and run our Intel® System Support Utility from this link,https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility-for-Windows-. After running this program, it will create a text file. Kindly attach the text file on your reply.

Looking forward to your response. Should we not get your reply, we will follow up with you after three business days.

 

Best Regards,

Alfred S

Intel® Customer Support 

 

0 Kudos
UKräu
Beginner
12,359 Views

Hi BWard10,

 

i just stumled over your post and hope i can help...

 

With the i225 adapters we have a lot of problems here in the company.

 

Somehow they seem to have a problem negotiating the network speed with switches.

Randomly you eiter have connection or not (most of the times not) and i found that lowering the network speed in the settings of your network adapter. The setting <auto> causes 90% of the time network problems or no network connection at all. Try to set it to 2500 or lower that should help.

 

Also there is a firmware update for the i225 provided by moterboard vendors that helped me to solve the problem to 100% so far.

Go to your motherboard vendor website and check for the LAN driver for your board, on the same page there should be a download for the firmware update.

 

I hope that helps solving the problem for you.

0 Kudos
AlfredoS_Intel
Moderator
12,363 Views

Hi BWard10,

I am just sending another follow up to check if the suggestions provided by one of our community members addressed your concern.

If you still have further questions or clarifications, please feel free to post back a reply. We will keep the thread open for 3 business days, should we not hear from you we will be compelled to close the topic.

 

Best regards,

Alfred S.

Intel Customer Support

0 Kudos
BWard10
Beginner
12,363 Views

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. It turns out there is some sort of conflict between the i225 Adapter and the encryption/compression used by Synology's Active Backup for Business system on the local network. Turning off encryption and compression fixed the problem for now. I can again use the i225 Ethernet connector and all is fine. It's not a perfect solution but it works for now.

0 Kudos
AlfredoS_Intel
Moderator
12,363 Views

Hi BWard10,

Thank you for sharing the clever workaround that you discovered. There maybe other forum users that may have the same setup as you, and stumbling to this thread will definitely point them to the correct direction.

We will now be closing and locking this thread.

Thank you again for posting in our Intel® Ethernet Communities page.

Best regards,

Alfred S.

Intel Customer Support

 

0 Kudos
IndyW
Novice
9,143 Views
@Alfredos why doesn’t Intel actually respond to the issue? Having to turn off encryption or compression are not acceptable to many of us. I have 2 ASUS/i225-v units doing the same disconnection when my Synology Active Backup runs. They do not disconnect when I use a USB 2.5g NIC by Realtek so don’t point at the wire or network.
0 Kudos
koffi77
Beginner
11,783 Views

I just would like to mention I've exactly the same issue, also with an Intel i225 adapter on my motherboard and a Synology NAS using Active Backup for Business. I will try the workaround found, but I will need to turn on encryption, so it's not a sustainable solution for me.

Any hope to see this issue fixed? Is it linked to Intel or to Synology, in your opinion?

 

0 Kudos
novice42
Beginner
10,354 Views

Hello all,
I also have the same problem. On two new Win 10 (version 19042) PCs with an ASUS ROG STRIX Z590-F with Intel i225-V#3 onboard Ethernet controllers (driver version 1.0.2.13), there are reproducible disconnections during backups with a DS 918+. The workaround suggested by BWard10 works, but is not a solution in the long run. For this reason I contacted the Synology support to find a solution for the problem. In consultation with Synology Support, I ran numerous tests with Active-Backup with the goal of narrowing down the problem further. In the end, Synology Support came to the conclusion that the encryption can be excluded as the cause of the problem. Synology Support also recommended to contact Intel Support (I hope I am correct here). Synology Support has also agreed to provide more information from their backup test analysis (program operations) if needed to help resolve the issue.

Any further help would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards,
Benny

0 Kudos
IndyW
Novice
9,143 Views
Who’s Motherboard do you have? This seems to be tied to ASUS…
0 Kudos
Pizzabakker
Beginner
10,297 Views

Hello all,

 

I also have this disconnection issues described above with a Synology DS415+ and came, after numerous testing, to the same conclusion as BWard10: Happens only when encryption option is set in the Synology Active backup for business. 
PC has a ASUS ROG STRIX Z590-E motherboard with Intel i225-V#3 onboard Ethernet controllers (driver version 1.0.2.28  -11/8/2020)


Synology support states that it is a Intel issue and i should contact Intel.

 

Any further help would be greatly appreciated.

Best Regards,
Mario

 

Pizzabakker
Beginner
10,014 Views

2 months and nothing from Intel , are they sleeping over there ?

Best Regards,

Mario

JLMaysonet
Beginner
9,465 Views

Hello,

I'm experiencing exactly the same problems and was able to perform the backup as well by "un-ticking" the encryption option which is very inconvenient, almost unacceptable.

Is there any other available configuration/option other than not enabling encryption?

(This remembers me another unrelated issue with Hyper-V and Intel NICs...) 

But my biggest concern is to what should I do if even on WinPE the Intel drivers are not being recognized? Is there any other Intel driver compatible with this i225-V on WinPE? I mean, with any version of WinPE10/11, which by the way are the same image version?

I can't help stop thinking or understand as why a less expensive chipset can perform this basics functions without so many hassle.

Best,

JL

IndyW
Novice
9,143 Views
I have this same problem in two new machines, both ASUS with i225-v. One is Intel, the other AMD proc. Firmware, bios and driver are completely up to date. Using a USB Gig-NIC (Realtek) fixes the problem and actually outperforms the intel NIC. Would like to use the NIC elsewhere and need a fix.
0 Kudos
JLMaysonet
Beginner
9,134 Views

Hi IndyW,

 

My workstation mobo is an Asus ROG STRIX Z590-E GAMING WIFI, but I do have a couple of servers (Dell's and HP's) with the same NIC which are exposing the same behavior. 

Also, I did the same as you... I'm keeping at hand a cheap Realtek NIC just in case a host server need to be restored. 

Ironic, isn't? 

Cheers

JL 

IndyW
Novice
9,126 Views
I increased the NIC transmit and receive buffers to 2048 (Adapter Properties/config/advanced) and it seems to have corrected my issues on both machines. It was intermittent so only time will tell. Keeping my USB NICs close.
Poopy
Beginner
7,151 Views

I did this and also updated to a 2.x.x.x driver and it seems to be stable after a few days.  Hopefully one of these solutions helped.

0 Kudos
Mesonto
Beginner
5,616 Views

I had the same problem when using Synology ABB. I would try and initiate a backup, and that would shut down my ethernet connection completely. (not wifi though, which I have intentionally turned off anyway) I have an ASRock B660M-ITX/ac motherboard that runs an Intel (17)I219-V internet controller.

I have had to give up trying to run ABB because I bought this machine as a dedicated media server and I need the internet connection running 24/7.

Then I found your solution. about "increasing the NIC transmit and receive buffers to 2048".

It worked... so far... so thank you very much for this, I was really pulling out my hair trying to figure this one out.

0 Kudos
AdamZofware
Beginner
6,670 Views

Thank you @IndyW! Setting the transmit and receive buffers to 2048 (up from 1024) solved it for me. I've been struggling with I225 network adapter failures after Synology Active Backup sessions for weeks now. I'm so happy to put these behind me. 

0 Kudos
Reply