ThinkPad T460 / T460S Intel Ethernet bug (caused by Lenovo)

[micrex22]

I had to work on a brand new T460S, well after being connected to the ethernet for a few minutes it started to fail to communicate to computers on the LAN and general websites. A quick test and this is what the traffic looked like:

Code: Select all

Reply from 192.168.1.15: bytes=32 time=830ms TTL=127
Reply from 192.168.1.15: bytes=32 time=3006ms TTL=127
Request timed out.
Reply from 192.168.1.15: bytes=32 time=1686ms TTL=127
Reply from 192.168.1.15: bytes=32 time=131ms TTL=127
Reply from 192.168.1.15: bytes=32 time=2389ms TTL=127
Reply from 192.168.1.15: bytes=32 time=318ms TTL=127

The Intel NIC is an i219-V, after running the Lenovo system updater to update the BIOS to the latest version along with all of hte drivers including the Intel Ethernet one, it still didn't fix this problem.

Well that's a McPickle.

I did the next most sensible thing, removed the custom Lenovo driver and installed Intel's stock i219 driver-- it solved the problems and the laptop can now communicate for extended periods of time on networks without going haywire while dropping packets and having huge delays. Only explanation that I have is that Lenovo's custom Intel NIC driver is broken in some fashion--or it doesn't like communicating with certain switches? It's not the hardware itself, the problem is software.

Just putting this out there in case anyone else has the same problem with the T460.

[dr_st]

Only explanation that I have is that Lenovo's custom Intel NIC driver is broken in some fashion--or it doesn't like communicating with certain switches? It's not the hardware itself, the problem is software.

As someone with a lot of experience with things just like what you're describing - believe me, it's not necessarily that simple.

Just putting this out there in case anyone else has the same problem with the T460.

So, if you want this to be really useful, you should share some more details. More specifically - what is the driver version of the Intel driver, versus the Lenovo custom driver? And what is the OS?

[micrex22]

Only explanation that I have is that Lenovo's custom Intel NIC driver is broken in some fashion--or it doesn't like communicating with certain switches? It's not the hardware itself, the problem is software.

As someone with a lot of experience with things just like what you're describing - believe me, it's not necessarily that simple.

Just putting this out there in case anyone else has the same problem with the T460.

So, if you want this to be really useful, you should share some more details. More specifically - what is the driver version of the Intel driver, versus the Lenovo custom driver? And what is the OS?

Windows 7 64-bit, whatever latest version that Lenovo offers of the ethernet driver for Windows 7 (Which is from 2015), the Intel driver is from 2016-- the absolute latest you can downlaod from their website for that chip.

I did this in a rush so that's the only info I can give. I was working on a tight deadline and the last thing I needed was grief from it (we've already had clients fuming at us for ThinkPad issues). I honestly do prefer the ThinkPads over the HP ProBooks, but there's only so much I can do when the problems occur out of the box. I'm in this weird position of... I can't personally recommend Lenovo but really want to because HP doesn't make ThinkPads, Dell doesn't make ThinkPads, Apple doesn't make ThinkPads. And if the clients says "we were told these were military spec", well yeah they are but, the little glitches are due to Lenovo not making sure all problems are completely squared away (one of those problems was the previous synaptics touchpads with the integrated trackpoint buttons, it was just too complicated of a mechanism and was prone to many driver problems). And of course the usual X1 Carbon mobo failures.

Granted I imagine most people are using newer versions of Windows, however businesses are still fixed on Windows 7 for the time being until MS no longer offers 7 licenses for sale.

[Puppy]

Another interesting issue https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/ThinkPad-T ... -p/3294159

[dr_st]

I looked it up a bit, and looks like the LAN driver on Lenovo's site is 12.13.17.4, and the latest one from Intel site is 12.15.22.3, which is indeed a bit newer.

[esaym]

It could also be some power saving settings, the OS might be turning it off randomly to save power. Try setting the power management settings to "max performance" or something similar. Its a common problem with wlan cards, never seen the issue with ethernet though