Intel Shares Stopgap Resolution For Erratic Connection Drops With I226-V Ethernet Controller

The transition to 2.5Gbps Ethernet has not been a simple one for Intel. The corporate’s I225/I226 2.5 GbE Ethernet controllers (codename Foxville), a prevalent alternative on Intel platform motherboards for the previous few years, has offered a justifiable share of points since its introduction, together with random networking disconnections and stuttering. And whereas Intel has been working by the problems with a number of revisions of the {hardware}, they apparently have not hammered out all the bugs but, as evidenced by the most recent bug mitigation suggestion from the corporate. Briefly, Intel is suggesting that customers experiencing connection points on the most recent I226-V controller disable a number of the its vitality effectivity options, which look like a significant contributor within the connection stability points I226-V has been seeing.

To mitigate the connection issues on the I226-V Ethernet controller, Intel is advising affected customers to disable Vitality-Environment friendly Ethernet (EEE) mode by Home windows Machine Supervisor. The identical steering applies to Linux customers as properly. EEE mode goals to decrease energy consumption when the Ethernet connection is in an idle state. The difficulty is that EEE mode appears to activate when an Ethernet connection is in lively use, inflicting it to drop out momentarily.

And whereas deactivating EEE does reportedly enhance connection stability, deactivating it does not appear to be the final word resolution. Intel has obtained studies that some customers nonetheless skilled disconnections with EEE mode disabled. Moreover, disabling EEE mode forgoes its supposed advantages – corresponding to decreasing energy draw by as much as 50% when an Ethernet connection is idling – so it isn’t an choice that cost-conscious customers would usually wish to disable.

Intel has additionally launched an up to date driver set for the I226-V/I225-V household of Ethernet controllers that mechanically makes this adjustment. Particularly, the patch deactivates EEE mode for connection speeds above 100 Mbps, however customers could must disable it solely if the workaround does not work with their mixture of {hardware}. MSI and Asus have already deployed the brand new Ethernet driver for his or her respective Intel 700-series motherboards, so different distributors should not take lengthy to do the identical.

Within the interim, Intel will proceed investigating the foundation trigger and supply a concrete resolution for motherboards with the I226-V Ethernet controller. The Foxville household of Intel Ethernet controllers has a protracted historical past of connectivity quirks – going again to the unique I225-V in 2019 and E3100 in 2020 – in the end requiring a number of {hardware} revisions (B1, B2, & B3 steppings) earlier than discovering options to lots of its points. In consequence, it isn’t off the desk that the I226-V Ethernet controller could undergo the identical destiny.