Pre-boot DMA Protection issue with Intel X610-XT2 NIC

[noarch]

I'm using drivers 1.7.44.0 from 2026-02-18 on a Dell Optiplex 7020 and it seems the X610 NIC has issues with Pre-Boot-DMA Protection, as it looses connectivity during boot time.

Disabling said DMA Protection resolves the issue, but I'd like to keep this option on.

Is this the expected behavior?

[Dineshbabu]

Hello noarch,

Greetings!

Thank you for posting in the Intel Community. We acknowledge receipt of your concern and would like to assure you that assisting you is our top priority. To effectively troubleshoot the issue you're facing, we require some additional information from your end.

• Kindly reconfirm the adapter model.
• Could you please confirm whether the driver used is from Intel or Dell?
• Could you please confirm whether the adapter was purchased separately or pre-installed on the system?
• Please confirm whether this behavior was observed after a driver update.

Regards, 

Dinesh

Intel Customer Support Technician

[noarch]

Hi Dineshbabu,

this is a PCIe networking card "Intel® Ethernet Network Adapter E610-XT2"[1] which I added to my Dell Optiplex by myself.

The driver in use is Intel(R) Network Connections Software, Release 31.1 for Windows 11 from 2026-03-01, the driver version and date given above was displayed in my computer management.

Since 31.1 is the latest Intel driver I tried downgrading, but that didn't seem to have any effect.

__
[1] https://www.intel.de/content/www/de/de/products/sku/237052/intel-ethernet-network-adapter-e610xt2/specifications.html

[MACM]

Hello Noarch,

Greetings!

Thank you for your response.

Could you please provide us the error screenshots and error messages.

So that we can validate and proceed further accordingly.

Best Regards,

Mohammed Ali CM

Intel Customer Support Technician

[noarch]

Nothing noteworthy, ixw logs with error 27:
Intel(R) Ethernet Network Adapter E610-XT2
The network connection has been lost.

Multiple GPOs throw errors for not beeing able to be applied.

And broken network shares, but this is all expected, if the NIC loses connection during boot-up as initially stated.

So is this expected behavior of this hardware? Is Pre-Boot DMA protection not supported by the 

[Dineshbabu]

Hi Noarch,

Greetings!

Thank you for your response. Please allow us some time to review the details and we will get back with an update shortly. 

Regards,

Dinesh

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Sazirah]

Hi noarch,

Greetings.

Regarding this issue, we require additional information from your end:

i) Could you please confirm whether you are attempting a PXE/network boot, or any other pre‑boot or early‑boot network activity, at the time when you see the connectivity loss? Please give us more details.

ii) Kindly share clear pictures of the Ethernet card (showing the full adapter and label)

iii) Please share the NVM firmware version of the adapter (can be collected via SSU logs, you may refer link below on how to generate the SSU log)

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000008563/ethernet-products.html

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18895/intel-system-support-utility-for-the-linux-operating-system.html

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000057926/memory-and-storage.html

We look forward for your response regarding this.

Regards,

Sazzy_Intel

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Dineshbabu]

Hello noarch,

Greetings for the day!

We are following up to find out if you were able to find the information we provided. Please reply to confirm, so we can continue helping on a resolution. Looking forward to receiving your reply.

Regards,

Dinesh

Intel Customer Support Technician

[noarch]

Hi Sazira,

hi Dineshabu,

sorry for the delay, here are the requested informations:

i) I just boot from my local dreive, no network boot or uefi-networking activity is present.

ii) See attached image.

 

iii) NVM Version Not Available

[pujeeth]

Hello noarch,

Greeting!

Thank you for sharing the information, We would request you to share us the SSU logs for further analysis.

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000008563/ethernet-products.html

Regards

Pujeeth_Intel

[noarch]

I'd rather not post identifiable information in public.

Here is a cropped version.

[Sreelakshmi1]

Hi noarch,

Thank you for your response. We have shared an email requesting a few details. Kindly provide the information at your convenience.

Best Regards,

Sreelakshmi

Intel Customer Support Technician