Intermittent Ethernet Wired connection Issue in Dell Latitude 7420

Thank you for this!  This has been driving us nuts for months.  

For those inclined to automate a fix for this via powershell:  

Set-NetAdapterAdvancedProperty -InterfaceDescription "Realtek USB GbE Family Controller" -DisplayName "Idle Power Saving" -DisplayValue "Disabled"

Thank you very very much! Fixed it on all our 7420 devices. How is this issue still present in current driver packages??

The problem only arose when doing phone calls with Microsoft Teams. Otherwise we had no problems. We almost got mad too.

yes, we also had the same problem. Disable Idle Power Saving helped here. Strangely enough, we only have this with Latitudes (7420/9520). Our Precisions don't do that.

Unfortunately you can only use the PowerShell commando when the dock is plugged in.
If you want to distribute this automatically and it cannot be guaranteed that the dock is plugged in, it will of course not work. does anyone know a way to set the setting for hidden devices?

It still persists with the drivers offered by Dell support page.

But, as sayed. It only occurs when a Teams phone call or meeting is happends.

Aftersome seconds, the network link is getting down. It comes up again, and everything is ok. But it repeats randomly.

This also documented here:

Lenovo USB-C Dockingstation and MS Teams Videocall connection lost-English Community

There a also a few links which referes the same problem.

In our environment, this will not happen just in combination with teams. As we do not use teams. It just happens randomly due to the day. No matter if we use usb-c ethernet adapter or docking stations like WD15, D1000 or newer displays with embedded dock.

Also we can disable idle mode when device is not plugged in. As the realtek network device is always the same.

Same problem here, but the Idle setting is a workaround, not al solution. When working on another docking station the problem returns. We have more then 100 laptops with this issue. Dell, when will there be a permanent solution?

I have opened a Servicerequest @ Dell Techdirekt. 

When there are new information i will share it here..

If possible, test the network by disabling "Energy Efficient Ethernet" ( or Green Ethernet) by using the "Advanced" tab of the driver properties. My understanding here is all energy-saving options is interfering with network. 

Any information yet?

Unfortunately, no. It is hard to explain that to the support.

At the moment they only ask questions that are not expedient and want a new installation.

I do my best but I don't think that's enough. So, no hope......

If you take the Realtek USB GBe Family driver from the Realtek website, Idle Power saving is deactivated by default, so I have a solution for now.

Unfortunately, I cannot distribute this to all devices because the driver setup installs the driver files but keeps the driver in the device driver (in Device Manager). If you deinstalled the Realtek driver in the control panel and then deinstall the old driver in the device manager (with the checkmark for delete driver files) and then installed the Realtek driver, everything is fine. 

But you have to uninstall all previous driver versions this way, otherwise you will have the same problem again and the driver will remain on the old version. So watch out and check whether the new driver is really displayed in the device manager after the Realtek setup. 

This problem has apparently been around for a long time and nobody noticed. You think you have installed a new driver, but it is not active ......

While not directly related to this problem, it will explain other problems that are communicated in the community. And that with enterprise device class.....

The best way to check success, is to look after the Realktek driver installation if Idle Power Saving is off.

Then you can use any USB-C LAN adapter without this problem.

Heaven knows whether you have a Dell suported config.

Who marked this thread as solved? At best, this is a workaround....

The exact same issue is happening on HP computers.

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Wireless-and-Networking/USB-C-docking-station-G5-network-problems/td-p/7989044

Yes, i think it happens with all USB-Adapters using Realtek USB GBE Ethernet Family Controller Software.

Lenovo also having such problems.

Well, maybe at some point dell will find out that you have to talk to the engineering department instead of annoying their customers in first level support and asking whether they have installed windows correctly........

Also strange thing; we have noticed the problem only with Latitude (7420/9520) devices so far. our precision notebooks do not cause any problems, regardless of the driver. Even if the problem can be eliminated by deactivating idle power saving, it seems to be a problem in the interaction with the device / firmware and driver.