ProxMox 9.1.2 on MS-01 cannot make i226-V come up

Hyadum

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Dec 13, 2025
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Hello guys,
I recently purchased a MinisForum MS-01 and installed the latest ProxMox 9.1.2 build. The system is up to date in both UEFI, FW, OS and drivers.
The problem is that I cannot use the second LAN port, the one associated to the controller Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V (rev 04). There are no lights at all, and the link is not detected. While in UEFI, both ports have green+activity lights on. As soon as I boot into ProxMox, the i226-V turns off.

I have already tried a bunch of things, including going into UEFI and setting ASPM from Disabled to Auto, it did not change anything. I know I only have Cat5e cables and not Cat6 as required for 2.5G, but it should still work. I think the issue is that it doesn't do auto-negotiation, but I cannot force it either, it remains off. How can I make it work?

Code:
root@pve:~# ethtool nic1 <--- works fine with Cat5e cable

Settings for nic1:

        Supported ports: [ TP ]

        Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full

                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full

                                1000baseT/Full

                                2500baseT/Full

        Supported pause frame use: Symmetric

        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes

        Supported FEC modes: Not reported

        Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full

                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full

                                1000baseT/Full

                                2500baseT/Full

        Advertised pause frame use: Symmetric

        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes

        Advertised FEC modes: Not reported

        Speed: 1000Mb/s

        Duplex: Full

        Auto-negotiation: on <============

        Port: Twisted Pair

        PHYAD: 0

        Transceiver: internal

        MDI-X: off (auto)

        Supports Wake-on: pumbg

        Wake-on: g

        Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)

                               drv probe link

        Link detected: yes

root@pve:~# ethtool nic3 <--- doesn't work with Cat5e cable

Settings for nic3:

        Supported ports: [  ]

        Supported link modes:   10000baseT/Full

                                1000baseX/Full

                                10000baseSR/Full

                                10000baseLR/Full

        Supported pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only

        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes

        Supported FEC modes: Not reported

        Advertised link modes:  10000baseT/Full

                                1000baseX/Full

                                10000baseSR/Full

                                10000baseLR/Full

        Advertised pause frame use: No

        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes

        Advertised FEC modes: Not reported

        Speed: Unknown!

        Duplex: Unknown! (255)

        Auto-negotiation: off <============

        Port: Other

        PHYAD: 0

        Transceiver: internal

        Supports Wake-on: g

        Wake-on: g

        Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)

                               drv probe link

        Link detected: no <============

root@pve:~# lspci -nnk | grep -A3 57:00.0

57:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V [8086:125c] (rev 04)

        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:0000]

        Kernel driver in use: igc  <============

        Kernel modules: igc

root@pve:~# ip link show nic3

5: nic3: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000

    link/ether 58:47:ca:7f:58:c1 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

    altname enx5847ca7f58c1

root@pve:~# lspci

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller X710 for 10GbE SFP+ (rev 02)

02:00.1 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller X710 for 10GbE SFP+ (rev 02)

57:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V (rev 04)  <============

58:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-LM (rev 04)

59:00.0 Network controller: MEDIATEK Corp. MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter

root@pve:~# ip link set nic3 down

ethtool -s nic3 autoneg on

ip link set nic3 up

ethtool nic3

Settings for nic3:

        Supported ports: [  ]

        Supported link modes:   10000baseT/Full

                                1000baseX/Full

                                10000baseSR/Full

                                10000baseLR/Full

        Supported pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only

        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes

        Supported FEC modes: Not reported

        Advertised link modes:  10000baseT/Full

                                1000baseX/Full

                                10000baseSR/Full

                                10000baseLR/Full

        Advertised pause frame use: No

        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes

        Advertised FEC modes: Not reported

        Speed: Unknown!

        Duplex: Unknown! (255)

        Auto-negotiation: off <============

        Port: Other

        PHYAD: 0

        Transceiver: internal

        Supports Wake-on: g

        Wake-on: g

        Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)

                               drv probe link

        Link detected: no <============

Thank you in advance.
 
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No, there have been no replies with any possible solution so far. I have tried troublshooting from the documentation and using ChatGPT, but the issue remains the same. I cannot change the speed or autonegotiation inside ProxMox and link is down. Outside ProxMox it works fine and link is up.
 
Hello guys,
I recently purchased a MinisForum MS-01 and installed the latest ProxMox 9.1.2 build. The system is up to date in both UEFI, FW, OS and drivers.
The problem is that I cannot use the second LAN port, the one associated to the controller Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V (rev 04). There are no lights at all, and the link is not detected. While in UEFI, both ports have green+activity lights on. As soon as I boot into ProxMox, the i226-V turns off.

I have already tried a bunch of things, including going into UEFI and setting ASPM from Disabled to Auto, it did not change anything. I know I only have Cat5e cables and not Cat6 as required for 2.5G, but it should still work. I think the issue is that it doesn't do auto-negotiation, but I cannot force it either, it remains off. How can I make it work?

Code:
root@pve:~# ethtool nic1 <--- works fine with Cat5e cable

Settings for nic1:

        Supported ports: [ TP ]

        Supported link modes:   10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full

                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full

                                1000baseT/Full

                                2500baseT/Full

        Supported pause frame use: Symmetric

        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes

        Supported FEC modes: Not reported

        Advertised link modes:  10baseT/Half 10baseT/Full

                                100baseT/Half 100baseT/Full

                                1000baseT/Full

                                2500baseT/Full

        Advertised pause frame use: Symmetric

        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes

        Advertised FEC modes: Not reported

        Speed: 1000Mb/s

        Duplex: Full

        Auto-negotiation: on <============

        Port: Twisted Pair

        PHYAD: 0

        Transceiver: internal

        MDI-X: off (auto)

        Supports Wake-on: pumbg

        Wake-on: g

        Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)

                               drv probe link

        Link detected: yes

root@pve:~# ethtool nic3 <--- doesn't work with Cat5e cable

Settings for nic3:

        Supported ports: [  ]

        Supported link modes:   10000baseT/Full

                                1000baseX/Full

                                10000baseSR/Full

                                10000baseLR/Full

        Supported pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only

        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes

        Supported FEC modes: Not reported

        Advertised link modes:  10000baseT/Full

                                1000baseX/Full

                                10000baseSR/Full

                                10000baseLR/Full

        Advertised pause frame use: No

        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes

        Advertised FEC modes: Not reported

        Speed: Unknown!

        Duplex: Unknown! (255)

        Auto-negotiation: off <============

        Port: Other

        PHYAD: 0

        Transceiver: internal

        Supports Wake-on: g

        Wake-on: g

        Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)

                               drv probe link

        Link detected: no <============

root@pve:~# lspci -nnk | grep -A3 57:00.0

57:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V [8086:125c] (rev 04)

        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:0000]

        Kernel driver in use: igc  <============

        Kernel modules: igc

root@pve:~# ip link show nic3

5: nic3: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000

    link/ether 58:47:ca:7f:58:c1 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

    altname enx5847ca7f58c1

root@pve:~# lspci

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller X710 for 10GbE SFP+ (rev 02)

02:00.1 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller X710 for 10GbE SFP+ (rev 02)

57:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-V (rev 04)  <============

58:00.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I226-LM (rev 04)

59:00.0 Network controller: MEDIATEK Corp. MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter

root@pve:~# ip link set nic3 down

ethtool -s nic3 autoneg on

ip link set nic3 up

ethtool nic3

Settings for nic3:

        Supported ports: [  ]

        Supported link modes:   10000baseT/Full

                                1000baseX/Full

                                10000baseSR/Full

                                10000baseLR/Full

        Supported pause frame use: Symmetric Receive-only

        Supports auto-negotiation: Yes

        Supported FEC modes: Not reported

        Advertised link modes:  10000baseT/Full

                                1000baseX/Full

                                10000baseSR/Full

                                10000baseLR/Full

        Advertised pause frame use: No

        Advertised auto-negotiation: Yes

        Advertised FEC modes: Not reported

        Speed: Unknown!

        Duplex: Unknown! (255)

        Auto-negotiation: off <============

        Port: Other

        PHYAD: 0

        Transceiver: internal

        Supports Wake-on: g

        Wake-on: g

        Current message level: 0x00000007 (7)

                               drv probe link

        Link detected: no <============

Thank you in advance.
There is a lot of issues with i226-V and latest versions of proxmox, but not limited to proxmox, it seems to be affecting many linux and freebsd systems. My solution was to update the nic firmware, see here for many others doing the same https://forum.opnsense.org/index.php?topic=48695.105
 
How do I update the firmware for the i226 network card?
According to the other forum linked in the previous post, it should work by making a "custom" firmware that was designed for another chipset model and use nvmupdate64e tool to write the firmware into the adapter. The issue I'm having is that I cannot find this tool in any of the ProxMox default repositories. This is linux, I shouldn't have to open another PC, use Windows a browser, click on a link, download the file, move the file etc. It should work with apt-get.
Code:
root@pve:~# apt-get install nvmupdate64e
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package nvmupdate64e
root@pve:~# apt-get install nvmupdate
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package nvmupdate
 
According to the other forum linked in the previous post, it should work by making a "custom" firmware that was designed for another chipset model and use nvmupdate64e tool to write the firmware into the adapter. The issue I'm having is that I cannot find this tool in any of the ProxMox default repositories. This is linux, I shouldn't have to open another PC, use Windows a browser, click on a link, download the file, move the file etc. It should work with apt-get.
Code:
root@pve:~# apt-get install nvmupdate64e
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package nvmupdate64e
root@pve:~# apt-get install nvmupdate
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package nvmupdate
Yes, I saw that post too, and I was actually wondering the same thing: how should we approach this in PvE?

I've also recently encountered problems with the i226V network card.

https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/p...-completely-lose-network-connectivity.178037/