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Opti 9020s with Intel I217-LM nics causing network issues
I have 9 Optiplex 9020 towers with Intel I217-LM nics. When they are connected to my network, eventually the network suffers severe latency issues, making some of it unusable. The problem disappears immediately when I disconnect the 9020s. Problem is somewhat intermittent, resolution varies. Usually unplugging any 3 or 4 of the workstations is sufficient for a while, but the remaining workstations eventually cause the same network problems. I have isolated the problem to the workstations themselves by using different switches and physically moving the workstations to different wiring.
I have tried multiple fixed IPs as well as DHCP. I have reimaged the systems, with only Win7 Pro and Windows updates installed, including the latest Intel drivers, the issue remains. Dell support advised a BIOS version patch, and drivers off dell.com instead of windows update (an earlier version), but I don't hold much hope that will resolve the issue, as the BIOS patch has no network card changes, and I've tried multiple drivers already.
I've noticed the issue can occur while the workstations are "asleep," so I've turned off "respond to ARP requests without waking system" and couple similar sleep related settings. Still waiting to see if that had any effect.
Any advice, correction, things to try, or even just sympathy would be most welcome! Thanks for reading.
jn-luc
4 Posts
0
October 3rd, 2013 13:00
I have the same issue and I have over 40 Optiplex 9020s doing the same thing. I wish Dell would have a solution for this problem, but they don't. Lenovo might be best moving forward . . .
Mathetos
7 Posts
1
October 3rd, 2013 13:00
Glad to know I'm not crazy!
I did resolve the issue by going to Adapter Properties, clicking Configure, and deselecting everything on the Power Management tab. The nic no longer does anything when the system sleeps, and my network issues disappeared completely. (Settings like the above mentioned "respond to ARP when asleep" etc.)
That resolved my issues completely. Hope that helps.
It's a weird problem given that Intel nics are so common. I wonder if we got a weird hardware issue.
jn-luc
4 Posts
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October 4th, 2013 09:00
Mathetos,
Thanks. I will give this a try asap . . .
jn-luc
Mathetos
7 Posts
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October 4th, 2013 10:00
I'm curious to know what you find out. Please let me know if that solves it for you.
TiffanydOKC
6 Posts
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October 9th, 2013 11:00
We are having the same problem. It looks like the traffic is IPv6 multicast traffic. Still don't have a solution though. Has anyone found a solution other rhan changing the adapter settings?
Mathetos
7 Posts
0
October 9th, 2013 12:00
That's very interesting to know about the nature of the traffic. I never looked at it. Multicast would explain my network's behavior. Can you unbind ipv6 from the nic? I'd be curious to know if that changes it. In my case, I do not require any functionality from the nic when in a low power state.
TiffanydOKC
6 Posts
0
October 14th, 2013 10:00
We've gone with just turning off the power settings. So we can get the 9020s deployed. I have a ticket open with Dell and will update you if they come up with anything.
jaimeyoung
1 Message
0
October 16th, 2013 08:00
Please let us know what Dell has to say about this issue, we are experiencing these exact same issues with the new 9020s. Thank you!
TiffanydOKC
6 Posts
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October 16th, 2013 13:00
They've escalated my ticket. So, maybe we'll hear something. I've sent in the wireshark captures.
jn-luc
4 Posts
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October 16th, 2013 13:00
Hello all,
So far Dell has nothing on the issue and they haven't got back to us, the best thing to do is to turn off those power settings on the NIC or else you won't be able to use these machines.
A special thanks to Mathetos for starting this thread, its been waaaay more helpful than Dell techs lol . . . .
jn-luc
gyang4
6 Posts
0
October 18th, 2013 15:00
We've been experiencing this issue also, starting in August when we first got the new 9020s. It's been intermittent on our network and I've tried re-imaging, updating the BIOS, and updating drivers to no avail.
I'm glad to have found this forum post since it gives me something new to try. What's weird is I'm in a dept that is part of a much larger university campus, and I haven't heard anything from our local community about the problem. Glad to know I'm not alone in this.
Did you just call standard support?
TiffanydOKC
6 Posts
0
October 21st, 2013 08:00
I called our standard support line to open the ticket. But, they ended up escalating it. The work around was installing the intel drivers and turning off all the "power save" options. Although, I suspect it's the "Respond to NS requests" setting.
jn-luc
4 Posts
0
October 22nd, 2013 12:00
Hello all,
Do not upgrade your BIOS with A03, it is not stable. If you hit F2 too many times on start up, it will "brick" your 9020.
jn-luc
Mathetos
7 Posts
0
October 22nd, 2013 13:00
Thanks jn-luc. I dutifully upgraded when trying to resolve the network issues (to no avail, don't bother), and am a chronic f2 abuser.
gyang4
6 Posts
1
October 23rd, 2013 09:00
I have started applying the power management settings fix to my computers to see if it solves the issue. One other thing to note is that someone on our team disabled IPv6 as another troubleshooting step when we first started encountering the problems, and that seemed to work also.
Those computers still had the power management settings set at the default. So at this point, I have some computers that have IPv6 disabled but power management settings enabled, and other computers that have IPv6 enabled but power management settings disabled.
I will see if the problems come back on either groups of machines. I don't think either of these work-arounds are true solutions, since what if someone actually wants to use IPv6 or the power management features on these computers? In our environment its not a big deal yet, but it would be nice to narrow things down to the actual root cause.
Based on the notes from Dell about the BIOS A03 fixes, they seem to be actively working on the issue, so I hope there is some kind of answer soon (that won't also carry the risk of bricking the machine)
-Gordon