Some time has passed since the launch of Intel’s first 2.5 Gbit/s network controller for the consumer sector in the form of the I225-V-PHY in 2019. And furthermore, this controller does not have a good reputation. As of today, there are already three hardware revisions of Intel’s I225-V controller due to various known problems, which should eliminate the problems reported and validated by Intel themselves. In April 2020 we had reported regarding it. Now there are also more reports regarding problems with the I226-V controller. The colleagues from techpowerup.com have now been able to validate these problems.
With the first revision of the I225-V controller with the spec codes SLN9D and SLN9C, there were discrepancies with interpacket gapping, i.e. the waiting times between two Ethernet packets. In connection with the first revision, it might lead to a packet loss, causing the transfer rate to drop to a maximum of 10 Mbit/s. As a workaround, there was simply the option of reducing from 2.5 GBit/s to 1 GBit/s. But many users also reported general disconnections, regardless of interpacket gapping. For a few seconds it can happen that the network connection is briefly disconnected and then reconnected. This problem occurred with both the second revision, which had spec codes SLNJY and SLNJX, and the supposedly corrected third revision, which carried spec codes SLNMH and SLMNG.
Spec code overview:
- 1st revision of the I225-V: SLN9D and SLN9C
- 2nd revision of the I225-V: SLNJY and SLNJX
- 3. Revision of the I225-V: SLNMH and SLMNG
- 1st revision of the I226-V: SRKTV and SRKTU
The I226-V controller from Intel has been provided with the two spec codes SRKTV and SRKTU. Due to the low distribution of this chip, there were initially very few if any reports. The newer I226-V-PHY was only recently used on a mainboard with an Intel 700 chipset and also in some Topton mini PCs from China. Both in the Intel-Community as well as in the official ASUS-Support-Forum reports of disconnections have been officially reported. There are also numerous reports on Reddit (example 1, example 2, Example 3), which continue to multiply.
Techpowerup was able to validate the crashes
The colleagues from techpowerup were now able to record these disconnections themselves. Windows reported the error with Event ID 27 as follows: Network link is disconnected. The time stamp shows that the network connection is abruptly disconnected at irregular times. After sometimes many seconds, the network connection is restored for an indefinite period of time. If some people think that this happens under the existing 2.5 GBit/s link, they are wrong. In the case of techpowerup, the 1 GBit/s link was used. Colleagues also tested different network drivers from Intel, but the result was identical every time.
Hardware or software problem?
According to the current status, it is absolutely unclear whether the connection failures are a problem with the hardware itself or with the drivers. However, it is also clear that not every user of an Intel 2.5 GBit/s controller is confronted with these problems. There are also numerous reports that the network connection is always stable. There are also rumors that whether the network connection with the Intel controller is stable or not may depend on the network switch used.
Intel should therefore carry out further checks in order to replicate the problem itself and, at best, to fix it. Of course, a fix on the software side would be desirable, i.e. the network driver or via a firmware update. There is currently no solution to this problem.
