According to a report from Tech Power Up (opens in new tab)Intel’s latest I226-V 2.5GbE Ethernet controller that debuted on 700-series motherboards may have a design flaw.User reports from intel (opens in new tab), microsoft (opens in new tab), Asus (opens in new tab)When reddit (opens in new tab) The community claims that the I226-V controller is causing frequent disconnects at random times, suggesting a potential design flaw.
The I226-V controller, codenamed Foxville, is the successor to the I225-V controller launched in 2019. Unfortunately, the I225-V wasn’t perfect and suffered from many network connectivity issues that led to connection loss and poor performance. The problem could only be fixed at the hardware level, so Intel finally released his I225-V2 controller. Unfortunately, motherboards manufactured before the new revision continue to suffer from this problem, with workarounds such as changing the controller to his 1GbE mode instead of his 2.5GbE.
Many of the Intel 700 series motherboards for 13th Gen Raptor Lake processors utilize the I226-V Ethernet controller. Luckily, the loss of connection is brief. In everyday use you probably won’t recognize them. However, you’ll notice degradation in other workloads such as large file downloads, online games, and video calls via Zoom. in Windows Event Viewer[Windows ログ]section, followed by[システム]is a quick way to see if your system is experiencing dropped connections. Additionally, TechPowerUp recommends searching for “e2fnexpress” to investigate Event 27 or Event 32 errors.
Unfortunately, neither Intel’s latest Ethernet driver nor the motherboard’s latest firmware solves the intermittent connection loss. TechPowerUp tried to force the I226-V controller to run at 1 Gbps, but it didn’t completely solve the problem.
Owners of premium 700-series motherboards won’t have to worry about I226-V issues as the more expensive ones come with dual Ethernet controllers. These users can switch to third-party controllers from Marvell or Realtek and forget about I226-V. Alternatively, some 700 series motherboards offer integrated Wi-Fi, which is also a good option. If you own a low-tier motherboard, you’ll have to pay a lot to buy a PCIe network or wireless adapter (or learn how to deal with dropped connections).
You might think Intel has learned from past mistakes with the I225-V controller. But it doesn’t look like it. Hopefully the chipmaker can fix the problem with a firmware update rather than a hardware revision like his I225-V controller.
