XPS 8930, Killer E2400 Ethernet Controller

I only have Killer E2400 Ethernet, and no Killer WiFi card in my XPS 8930. I've disabled every single Killer and xTend service that's listed in Start>Run>services.msc. Ethernet E2400 works fine without any of them running. There is a bunch of Killer "stuff" on my boot drive, but none of it is being loaded so it's not hogging any system resources. And no error messages of any kind, either.

FWIW, Windows Update recently forcibly installed a Killer Ethernet driver on my XPS 8930, but the driver listed in Device Manager (9.0.0.50) is exactly the same version that I've been running for more than a year. So I don't know why WU pushed it on my PC.

And BTW: My Qualcomm WiFi card works perfectly without any of the Killer stuff running, too...

I haven’t had that Killer ethernet driver you’re referring to force install on me. . .yet. I’m not saying I’m having any issues with Ethernet . (I also just have the Killer ethernet card). Its the Killer ethernet driver updates being force downloaded from WU that I take issue with.

Killer Control Center was designed to override the Windows connection manager. I know Windows doesn’t automatically manage ethernet connections when it responds. Still though. . .  Intel has the potential to screw up a one car funeral  

If I had my druthers, I’d nuke Control Center for added piece of mind to possibly mitigate forced Windows Updates causing the E2400 drivers from misbehaving.

Be sure your Windows Networking is (for now) setup as Automatic/Dynamic (aka grab an IP Address from DHCP-Pool.)

Uninstall any software related to Killer, Rivet, Intel-Networking, etc. 

Use their Uninstaller. and then reboot.

Delete E2400 from Device Manager. Reboot.

On next reboot, Windows should PnP0Detect and install a useable driver from local Windows driver cache. Go to Windows Update and/or Device Manager and Update the E2400 (wired) ethernet driver.

That should work. Use only the Windows-supplied drivers. If that does not work, you might have a hardware problem or some other problem with your network (including cabling, router, etc.)

Most Rivet/Killer networking hardware is really just good-ole Qualcomm chipset. 

@Anonymous  - You can just disable all those Killer and xTend services in services.msc and that should solve your problem. You don't have to mess with uninstalling anything, which might cause unexpected consequences.

NOTE: When WU installed the Killer update recently (even though exact same driver version was already running), all those Killer and xTend services got enabled in services.msc.  I noticed in Task Manager that they were running again, so I opened services.msc and disabled them.

It's like playing "whack-a-mole" against Microsoft...

@RoHe    assuming my memory serves me, I disabled the Killer services long ago. A forced update sounds like the probable cause that services were enabled again. Can't find when 9.0.0.50 re-installed from WU though.

Refresh my memory. Disable Killer Network Service too . .?

Thanks Ron. Mine differ slightly from yours. Nevertheless, I'll stop the services and then disable them and reboot after creating a restore point for safe measure. 

The reason I brought up that I don't see a recent update from Rivet is because I thought you might've meant it wasn't named Rivet Networks - 9.0.0.50, but instead an Intel named update with an indistinguishable version number.  I could see some possibility of say . . .  Intel - Software Component - 0.X.X.X.X . . or whatever, making Whack-a-mole with Windows a lot harder   

So far, WU is pushing Killer updates under the Rivet name. Since Intel is still selling things with the Rivet/Killer brand name, I suspect that's how these driver updates will be named, at least for a while longer.

And if you see some new "Intel XYZ" update being pushed by WU, you can always google the name to see exactly what it's for...

My ethernet stopped working also.  My solution was to do a fresh install of Win 11.  The Ethernet driver Windows installed was "Killer E2400 Gigabit Ethernet Controller": 

Provider: Qualcom Atheros, Inc

File Version: 9.0.0.42.

@GooberSeven  I don't use Win 11 so I don't know about the latest Killer Ethernet driver version number for that OS. But my XPS 8930 came with Win 10 and Killer Ethernet driver v9.0.0.42 way back in 2019. I subsequently updated it to Killer Ethernet drivers: v9.0.0.46, v9.0.0.49 and now v9.0.0.50.

You could try updating to this new XPS 8930 Killer Ethernet driver for Win 11 (10 Jan 2023) and see if the driver number updates. This update likely will re-enable all those same services and the Killer Control Panel again, so check on them.

Don't know who "Anonymous" is in this thread, but Intel bought Rivet Networks, maker of Killer Ethernet and Killer WiFi, ~2 years ago, so that's why these updates are coming as "Intel SoftwareComponent" and "Intel Software Extension" via Windows Update. Device Manager still says the Driver Provider is Killer Networks, and driver 9.0.0.50 was (re)installed on same date as those two Intel updates.

It's further complicated because Intel seems to use "SoftwareComponent" and "Extension" with different version numbers for different things. There was a recent SoftwareComponent that updated Intel RST, which isn't for either Ethernet or WiFi. So, yes, it gets difficult to whack-a-mole with this stuff being force-installed with zero explanations of what it is...

Are you referring to Killer-PCIe-Ethernet-Controller-Driver_RWTJJ_WIN_33.22.1182_A50.EXE?

The app is claiming It is not compatible with my hardware.

Earlier, I updated the driver version of “Killer E2400 Gigabit Ethernet Controller” (device manager) to 9.0.50 using a cab file.
After that, I downloaded (from Dell) the latest version of “Killer PCIe Ethernet Controller Driver” plus the older version from 16-Jun-22.
This just installed “Killer Intelligence Center” only. The driver and version for “Killer E2400 Gigabit Ethernet Controller” remained the same.

Yes that's the newest Killer Ethernet update Dell is offering for Win 11. Don't know why it's "not compatible".

Also don't know exactly what that is going to install, but since you said your driver is "File Version: 9.0.0.42.", I was thinking the new update on the Dell site might install driver 9.0.0.50 along with whatever else it does.

Driver 9.0.0.50 got reinstalled (I already had it) on my XPS 8930 on same date those two Intel updates were installed via Windows Update, and I assume the Dell update would do the same thing.

If you have a .cab file with driver 9.0.0.50, you can run that so you'll have the latest Rivet/Killer driver, and disable everything else Killer related.

I see this year-old thread has recently been added to, and I would like to add my two cents as well, in hopes it may assist some random reader out there.

I also have the Killer app on my Dell PC and have pretty much just ignored it for the 3 or 4 years that I've owned the computer. However, about a month ago I was prompted to download the most recent update to the Killer app, so I did so.

And immediately thereafter my internet upload speeds declined to near zero. My download speed remained normal at about 950 mbps, but upload consistently came in at 0.1 mbps, or basically zero.

I tried tweaking a few things myself, but I'm not a techie and did not accomplish anything. So then I contacted Geek Squad. I have a monthly subscription. They spent about two hours remotely trying stuff to no avail. They finally concluded that either Windows 10 needed to be reinstalled or that the card itself might be defective.

So last night they kicked off a soft Windows reinstall and it ran overnight. This morning nothing had changed or improved. So I was about to purchase a new ethernet card from Amazon, but found this thread just prior to placing an order.

I then disabled all Killer services, did a reboot, and presto...my upload speeds returned to normal, around 800 mbps. And I could instantly tell that the PC had become way more responsive as well.

It troubles me that the world is probably full of uninformed people who may have recently experienced the same thing as I have, and have no clue as to what is wrong. They probably just think their PC is getting old and obnoxious and needs to be replaced. I presume Intel are ultimately responsible for fixing this wrong, but will they?

Maybe just one person will benefit from my post and make it worth the time I invested. Cheers!

Update-next day after I wrote above post, MS/Intel/Dell in their infinite wisdom, turned all the Killer services back on again. So...this morning I used CCleaner to Uninstall Killer. Did a Restart and all Killer services are now gone and PC running at normal speed.