Ethernet stopped working after update – Intel I211/igb, link up at 1 Gbps but internet unreliable/broken

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Hi,

I’m using Nobara Linux 44 KDE (Fedora 44 based), and my Ethernet stopped working immediately after a large system update. Wi-Fi works.

Hardware

  • Intel I211 Gigabit Network Connection [8086:1539]
  • Driver: igb
  • Interface: enp8s0
  • Ethernet negotiates successfully at 1000 Mb/s Full Duplex
  • Link detected: yes

08:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation I211 Gigabit Network Connection
Kernel driver in use: igb

Speed: 1000Mb/s
Duplex: Full
Link detected: yes

Initially NetworkManager could not obtain DHCP:

Activation failed: IP configuration could not be reserved
ip-config-unavailable
dhcp4: state changed no lease

I discovered that the interface was using a different MAC address from the NIC’s permanent hardware MAC:

Permanent MAC: <REDACTED>
MAC being used: <REDACTED>

I forced the connection to use the permanent MAC:

nmcli con mod "Wired test" 802-3-ethernet.cloned-mac-address permanent

and also set:

ipv4.dhcp-client-id mac

After that, DHCP started working and the interface received an IPv4 address and gateway:

IPv4 address: <REDACTED>
Gateway: <REDACTED>

A manual IPv4 configuration also worked, and I could ping the router.

However, the Ethernet connection is still unreliable/broken for normal internet use.

At different times I have been able to successfully ping:

router IPv4 -> works
public IPv4 address -> works

while applications such as Firefox, Brave/Vivaldi, Steam, Discord and Speedtest still could not access the internet.

Wi-Fi from the same router works normally.

One interesting result was that an IPv4 connectivity test worked with 0% packet loss and ~6 ms latency, while:

ping google.com

resolved to a Google IPv6 address:

<REDACTED IPv6>

and then received 100% packet loss.

Things already tested

  • Restarted router

  • Reseated Ethernet cable

  • Restarted NetworkManager

  • Deleted the Ethernet connection and created a completely new one

  • Tested DHCP and static IPv4

  • Forced permanent hardware MAC

  • Set DHCP client ID to MAC

  • Reloaded igb

  • Verified NIC link is 1000 Mbps / Full Duplex

  • Verified ARP to the router can become REACHABLE

  • Restarted systemd-resolved

  • Checked /etc/resolv.conf

  • Disabled Tailscale DNS with:

    tailscale set --accept-dns=false

  • Completely stopped tailscaled

  • Proton VPN kill switch disabled

  • Checked for Portmaster; portmaster.service does not exist and there are no Portmaster/Safing/NFQUEUE iptables rules

  • Booted an older Nobara kernel, 7.2.0-202, instead of 7.2.4-201; the issue remains

Current resolver configuration:

/etc/resolv.conf -> /run/systemd/resolve/stub-resolv.conf
nameserver <LOCAL-SYSTEMD-RESOLVER>

resolvectl status enp8s0 shows:

DNS Servers: <REDACTED IPv4> <REDACTED IPv6>
Default Route: yes

At some points this command:

curl --interface enp8s0 https://example.com

returned:

HTTP/2 200

while normal desktop applications still reported no internet.

This started directly after the large system update. Before that, Ethernet worked normally.

For testing, I am currently booted into the older 7.2.0-202 kernel, but the same problem also occurred on 7.2.4-201.

inxi -Fzxx

System:
  Kernel: 7.2.0-202.nobara.fc44.x86_64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc
    v: 16.2.1
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.7.4 tk: Qt v: N/A wm: kwin_wayland dm: N/A
    Distro: Nobara Linux 44 (KDE Plasma Desktop Edition) base: Fedora 44

Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASRock model: X570 Steel Legend WiFi ax
    serial: <superuser required> Firmware: UEFI vendor: American Megatrends
    v: P3.90 date: 02/22/2022

Battery:
  Device-1: hidpp_battery_0 model: Logitech Wireless Gaming Mouse
    serial: <filter> charge: 55% (should be ignored) status: discharging

CPU:
  Info: 6-core model: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen 3+
    rev: 2 cache: L1: 384 KiB L2: 3 MiB L3: 32 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 3672 min/max: 561/4654 boost: enabled cores: 1: 3672
    2: 3672 3: 3672 4: 3672 5: 3672 6: 3672 7: 3672 8: 3672 9: 3672 10: 3672
    11: 3672 12: 3672 bogomips: 88635
  Flags-basic: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a
    ssse3 svm

Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GA104 [GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Lite Hash Rate]
    vendor: Micro-Star MSI driver: nvidia v: 595.99.02 arch: Ampere pcie:
    speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 16 ports: active: DP-3 empty: DP-1,DP-2,HDMI-A-1
    bus-ID: 0e:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:2489
  Device-2: Web Camera driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 5-3:3 chip-ID: 32e6:9221
  Display: wayland server: X.org v: 1.21.1.24 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.13
    compositor: kwin_wayland driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nouveau
    alternate: fbdev,nv,vesa dri: nouveau
    gpu: nv_platform,nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch display-ID: 0
  Monitor-1: DP-3 model: Gigabyte G27Q res: 2560x1440 hz: 144 dpi: 108
    diag: 685mm (27")
  API: EGL v: 1.5 platforms: device: 0 drv: nvidia device: 2 drv: swrast
    gbm: drv: nvidia surfaceless: drv: nvidia wayland: drv: nvidia x11:
    drv: nvidia inactive: device-1
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.6 vendor: nvidia mesa v: 595.99.02
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti/PCIe/SSE2
    display-ID: :0.0
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.341 surfaces: N/A device: 0 type: discrete-gpu
    driver: nvidia device-ID: 10de:2489 device: 1 type: discrete-gpu
    driver: nvidia device-ID: 10de:2489 device: 2 type: cpu
    driver: mesa llvmpipe device-ID: 10005:0000
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo
    de: kscreen-console,kscreen-doctor gpu: nvidia-settings,nvidia-smi
    wl: wayland-info x11: xdriinfo, xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr

Audio:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GA104 High Definition Audio vendor: Micro-Star MSI
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s lanes: 16
    bus-ID: 0e:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:228b
  Device-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio
    vendor: ASRock driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel pcie: speed: 16 GT/s
    lanes: 16 bus-ID: 10:00.4 chip-ID: 1022:1487
  Device-3: SteelSeries ApS Arctis Pro Wireless
    driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid type: USB rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s
    lanes: 1 bus-ID: 5-2.3:6 chip-ID: 1038:1294
  Device-4: Web Camera driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 5-3:3 chip-ID: 32e6:9221
  API: ALSA v: k7.2.0-202.nobara.fc44.x86_64 status: kernel-api
  Server-1: PipeWire v: 1.6.8 status: active with: 1: pipewire-pulse
    status: active 2: wireplumber status: active 3: pipewire-alsa type: plugin
    4: pw-jack type: plugin

Network:
  Device-1: Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 driver: iwlwifi v: kernel pcie: speed: 5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 bus-ID: 06:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:2723
  IF: wlp6s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Intel I211 Gigabit Network vendor: ASRock driver: igb v: kernel
    pcie: speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1 port: f000 bus-ID: 08:00.0 chip-ID: 8086:1539
  IF: enp8s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: ipv6leakintrf0 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A
    mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-2: proton0 state: unknown speed: N/A duplex: N/A mac: N/A
  IF-ID-3: tailscale0 state: unknown speed: -1 duplex: full mac: N/A

Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Intel AX200 Bluetooth driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 bus-ID: 3-2:2 chip-ID: 8087:0029
  Report: btmgmt ID: hci0 rfk-id: 0 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 5.2
    lmp-v: 11

Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 2.27 TiB used: 1.32 TiB (58.2%)
  ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: MSI model: M390 500GB size: 465.76 GiB
    speed: 31.6 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter> temp: 48.9 C
  ID-2: /dev/nvme1n1 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 990 PRO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB
    speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter> temp: 47.9 C
  ID-3: /dev/sda vendor: SanDisk model: SSD PLUS 1000GB size: 931.52 GiB
    speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter>

Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 446.17 GiB used: 191.45 GiB (42.9%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p3
  ID-2: /boot size: 1.9 GiB used: 1.38 GiB (72.8%) fs: ext4
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2
  ID-3: /boot/efi size: 598.8 MiB used: 20 MiB (3.3%) fs: vfat
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1

Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100
    dev: /dev/zram0
  ID-2: swap-2 type: partition size: 8.8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -1
    dev: /dev/nvme0n1p4

Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 37.5 C mobo: 40.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): fan-1: 1284 fan-2: 857 fan-3: 0 fan-4: 0 fan-5: 0
    fan-6: 0 fan-7: 0

Info:
  Memory: total: 32 GiB available: 31.26 GiB used: 4.89 GiB (15.6%)
  Processes: 395 Power: uptime: 17m wakeups: 0 Init: systemd v: 259
    default: graphical
  Packages: 59 pm: dpkg pkgs: 1 pm: rpm pkgs: N/A note: see --rpm
    pm: flatpak pkgs: 57 Compilers: gcc: 16.2.1 alt: 14 Shell: Bash v: 5.3.9
    running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.41

I found this recent Fedora 44 thread with somewhat similar symptoms:

https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/ethernet-connection-suddenly-stopped-working-no-solutions-ive-found-helped/201523

I know Nobara isn’t stock Fedora, but since it is Fedora 44 based and this appears to involve NetworkManager/igb/IPv4/IPv6, I’m hoping someone may recognize what is happening.

What diagnostics would be most useful next, or does anyone recognize this behavior?

2

Look for newer firmware. You can check https://linux-hardware.org to see if newer firmware works for others.