Intel NIC: Wired connection does not work or stops working under Linux

Publication date: 2025-08-19

Issue: Wired network connection does not work (Intel NIC) or stops working under Linux

After installing Debian Trixie on my Lenovo notebook, everything looked fine at first. WiFi was working flawlessly. However, once I connected it to a Lenovo docking station, the wired network did not work at all or stopped working after some seconds.

The system log contained messages like the following:

PCIe link lost, device now detached
igc: Failed to read reg 0xc030!

Solution: Add a kernel parameter and change a BIOS setting

A web search revealed the recommendation to turn of PCIe power management to resolve this issue. This I added the following in /etc/default/grub and applied the change using update-grub2:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="pcie_port_pm=off pcie_aspm.policy=performance

However, this only improved the situation but did not mitigate it completely. Luckily, I had the right gut feeling and looked at the BIOS settings of that notebook. Regarding PCIe, there was a config setting regarding Thunderbolt PCIe Passthough. Disabling that did the trick and the issue was resolved!

Hint towards the solution

Network card (Intel Ethernet Controller I225-V, igc) keeps dropping after 1 hour on linux - solved with kernel param https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/xypn1m/network_card_intel_ethernet_controller_i225v_igc/