What could lead to this network issue?
What could lead to this network issue?
The Windows update appeared to be random, occurring even on Linux systems. It might simply indicate some wear on the motherboard when a problem escalates, but identifying the exact cause remains challenging. The most likely scenario involves a malfunction in the motherboard that impacts PCIe lanes or power supply from one of the chipsets—X670 being a dual-chipset model. This could affect the built-in network controller and an add-in PCIe controller, especially if other devices are not utilizing those connections. In such a situation, using a USB adapter connected to a CPU-driven USB port instead of the chipset might resolve the issue. Testing ports with tools like USBTreeView or a Linux alternative could help determine whether the ports are being routed through the CPU or the chipsets.
When examining the motherboard layout, certain USB ports pass through the CPU, others through the upstream chipset, and some through the downstream. The on-board network controller also uses downstream chipset PCIe lanes, suggesting a potential problem with devices connected via that chipset. However, the upstream chipset might remain unaffected. Depending on the nature of the issue, even a USB port routed through the downstream could work, as USB controllers are integrated and less likely to be impacted by chipset faults unless there are disruptions in the uplinks between chipsets or the CPU.
Are you using only a GPU and an NVMe SSD? Try identifying which USB ports your keyboard and mouse use with tools like USBTreeView. It’s possible you’ve been routing all devices through the CPU, except the network port, which could point to either chipset being faulty, as upstream issues would then affect downstream connections.
When it began occurring on Linux, I realized it wasn't Windows. It took roughly 2 to 3 hours to lose the connection that day, which led me to think it was something else. Thanks for the thorough post. I've had two NVMe drives installed for years, only one GPU and now this network card. It worked fine yesterday with the USB adapter but is now dropping. I plan to search for a Linux alternative and review the USB options you mentioned.
I'm not certain if you addressed this question directly. Do you know whether the Ethernet port is truly disconnected or just not handling traffic? If it's not down, it might be related to DHCP or ARP/mac address issues. Since I haven't used Linux recently, I might not remember the commands.
I'm not very familiar with Linux yet, just tired of Windows and not sure about all the commands. But when this was happening on Windows, the usual connection icon in the tray would change to a circle with lines indicating no connection. The error messages would be different, like "no Ethernet cable plugged in," "restart your Ethernet adapter," "something about the DNS server," and another about DHCP. I don't remember exactly what they said. On Linux, it would say connected to a network but the Internet is unreachable. The USB to Ethernet connection works better, but I need more time to confirm. I only dropped one with it, so I switched USB ports.
Well this is a wired issue, and there are very few M.2 wired Ethernet adapters, and those seem to only come in B and M keys so they'd have to take up an SSD slot. M.2 versions, wired or wireless, would increase cost that everyone has to pay for only a rare potential need by having the additional slot fitted onto the board as well as the cost of the adapter rather than a directly soldered chip (and you'd end up with additional wires inside the case). There are just other options that are more cost-effective. Virtually every ATX-ish mainboard has at least one PCIe x1 or better slot where you can add a replacement if desired, even micro-atx, and having that slot is a value in that it's widely compatible with other devices that can't be had in M.2 versions. Extremely small systems do tend to use M.2 versions of wireless adapters because they don't have space for a PCIe slot, so it's worthwhile to provide the M.2 option. USB3 is also a reasonably good interface for even 2.5GbE adapters or wireless adapters. And in OP's case specifically, since the issue is somewhere in the PCIe lanes from one or the other of the chipsets, an M.2 module might just have the same problems. (They do have more M.2 slots on the board that could be used if trying it was desired, but it's already been shown that an add-in PCIe card had the same problem.)
Thank you for the assistance. I checked by connecting the pcie network card adapter again, but it lost the connection within a minute. I’m going to use the usb to ethernet adapter instead. This was a frustrating issue, I haven’t experienced anything like this before.
This situation is quite disappointing because it would have been a costly motherboard, and now its full potential is lost. The main features are no longer accessible—no more PCIe slots, limited or unavailable M.2 slots, reduced USB ports, possible lack of SATA ports, and the built-in networking options are gone. It seems like this board was problematic from the start. I came across a discussion on Reddit about this issue, which suggests that the problem might have been addressed in a later update. The current version appears to be v1.3, where they changed from PCIe4 to PCIe3 in the x4 slot. It looks like there were concerns about design flaws affecting performance, possibly due to AMD altering chip specifications to support only Gen3.