Lois-
I RMA'd the hardware and have received a replacement. Unfortunately, the new hardware exhibits the same symptoms which leads me to believe that this is likely a software driver issue.
I can get the BIOS version and SA# shortly, but here are some other details:
- This is wired LAN only, there is not a wireless adapter installed in the unit
- NIC: 82579LM driver version 18.5
- The disconnects are visible on the physical adapter status LEDs. Further there are several event logs that point to this issue
- The adapter is connected directly to a Cisco C2970G (while this looks like a spanning tree issue, it is disabled on the interface). Further any other device connected to this interface do NOT have this issue
The event logs are riddled with the following:
Source: e1cexpress
Event ID: 27
Intel(R) 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection
Network link is disconnected.
Further, I can physically see the link drop then reconnect, then drop then reconnect.
Per other forum posts around, I have disabled the SIPS feature in the driver. This issue still occurs with either the basic driver set or full ProSET - though the basic drivers don't seem to be as bad.
I have worked around the issue by doing the following:
- Not allowing the NIC to sleep to save power
- Disabling 'energy efficient ethernet'
- Disabling SIPS
That being done seems to allow the system to come out of S3 without dropping connection - however a full reboot still has issues.