M4400 ethernet adapter disconnects when idle on AC power

If I leave my M4400 idle with Windows (Vista Ultimate 32-bit) locked and the screensaver on for any length of time (e.g. 20 minutes), then the network card goes into power-saving mode even while on AC power, reducing the connection speed from 1Gbps to 100Mbps. I can see this because the colour of the LED on the port changes. The reduction in speed causes a brief disconnection from the network. When I unlock Windows, there is another brief disconnection as it reverts to 1Gbps, and this causes instant messaging applications to log out.

If I go to the Link Speed tab on the network card's properties in Device Manager and force it to 1Gbps instead of Auto Negotiation, it warns me that power-saving features will be disabled, but then I don't experience the problem and it never disconnects. "Reduce link speed during battery operation" is unticked, but this should not apply to AC power anyway. I've tried upgrading the driver to 9.50.14.2, A01 (released on 24/02/2009) but the problem still happens.

Does anyone else experience this?

 

Why don't you just leave it forced to 1Gbps?

 

Because that's only an inconvenient workaround. I connect my M4400 to 100Mbps and 1Gbps connections, and it's supposed to connect automatically at the highest possible speed and remain at that speed (unless on battery power with power-saving enabled).

Doesn't anyone else experience this with a 1Gbps connection?

 

Forcing to 1Gb isn't a good solution on a notebook.

There's a way to way to fix this so that everything works on auto as it should.

Before getting into that, go to device manager and open (double click) the properties of the Intel 82567LM network adapater. How many tabs do you see there ? Also would be helpful to know which OS your running.

 

I have 7 tabs - Driver, Details, Resources, General, Link Speed, Advanced, Power Management.

I am running Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit.

 

1. Download the Intel 82567 software package for Vista x86 and save the file it to your desktop.

2. Go to device manager, find the Intel 82675LM Network card and delete it , then close device manager.

3. Go back to your desktop and execute the downloaded Intel 82567 software package. Follow the prompts and reboot when done.

After system restart
4. Locate the Intel 82567LM Network card in device manager, click on properties. You'll now see 8 tabs, one of which is labeled Power Management.
Uncheck the box 'Reduce speed during system idle', but leave the box labeled 'reduce speed during battery operation' checked to improve battery life.

5. On the same Power Management tab, be sure in the Wake on Lan section that none or only the Wake on Magic packet is checked. Otherwise you may find your system waking up from sleep unexpectedly.

6. Click on the Link Speed tab and be sure it's set to AUTO

 

Thanks for the detailed instructions. However, when I install the driver from the Intel web site, it goes to 9.52.20.0 (21/11/2008) and I don't see the options that you describe - in fact I see fewer tabs than previously. When I then ask Windows to update the driver, it "updates" to 9.50.14.2 (04/04/2008), which is the older driver supplied by Dell.

 

Ok it must be limiting certain tabs thru the reg entry from the previous install.
Haven't had to deal with that because we'd slip streamed these in from the begining.

Leave all as it's setup (don't uninstall anything) and install Dell's R211478.

 

I've been working with Dell tech support since December on this issue, first on a Latitude E6400. In their efforts to diagnose and fix the problem, they've sent me an E6500 and a Precision M4400. All have been configured "the same as possible," and all have experienced this same issue. Just yesterday the folks in the Precision lab at Dell have figured out that it's related to the link speed autonegotiation, as has been discussed here.

I'm able to replicate the problem in two ways. For both, open a command window and repeatedly ping the next hop on your network (e.g. ping -t 192.168.1.1). Then (for the first way), watching the command window, unplug the AC adapter. I saw a "General failure" error when I did this. Plugging it back in has the same result. The second way, set in the power options for the display to turn off after a period of time (could be set to whatever time you want, but for convenience's sake, I choose 1 minute) but don't allow the HD or system itself to sleep... then allow the system to be idle until the screen shuts off. Wait 10 seconds, then hit the mouse or keyboard to wake the screen. The results show "General Failure" and then more pings, and then another "General Failure." This indicates a loss of connectivity both when the monitor goes off and when it comes back on.

These power state changes are causing the autonegotiate function in the NIC to engage somehow and the connection's dropping. The Dell techs asked me to install R211478 and this fixed the AC issue after unchecking the option that MiB described in the Power Management tab. However, the 2nd issue with the screen blanking causing the autonegotiation still remains. If I manually set the link speed, the problem goes away entirely.

Dell is still working on a fix for the M4400 they've currently got in their lab. They suggest it may have to do with the order in which the drivers are installed on the system. When they give me a solution, I'll share it.

chinkle

 

My Dell guy called me back with a solution as follows:

The driver needed is the 9.52.20.0 version dated 21NOV08. However, you can't simply install the driver -- you need the Intel application and diagnostics utilities as well. Those apps are what add the extra tabs to the device properties window that MiB is talking about. Here're the URLs for the all-in-one packages (~12MB):
Vista/Win2k8: http://tinyurl.com/c9plk6
Win2k/WinXP/Win2k3: http://tinyurl.com/cqt32q

First uninstall your driver (Device Manager>Network Adapters, right-click Intel(R) 82567LM Gigabit Network Connection and choose Uninstall). On Vista, be sure to check the box that says to delete the software. Then install the package you've downloaded. Once you're done, go into the properties (as above, clicking Properties instead of Uninstall) and choose the Power Management tab. Uncheck both the "Power Saver Options" at the top:
[ ] Reduce link speed during battery operation
[ ] Reduce link speed during system idle

Click OK and you're golden.

I have a lot of praise now for the Precision tech staff. They've been really willing to go the extra mile to find a solution to this problem when the Latitude staff just seemed to want to brush me off (even actually saying that they were done dealing with this issue). No doubt there have been many laptops shipped out in need of a configuration change because of this issue. I hope they can get the word out to those who need it.