Intermitent network disconnect in VM using E1000E NIC

[Jocelyn_Viau]

Hi,

We just installed three new Windows Server 2012 and one new Windows 8 VMs on ESXi 5.1. On those VMs, we get a lot of errors in the System Event log about network disconnects. According to the logs, the network disconnects for about one second as we get another event saying that a network connection was established at 1 Gbps just after. Just on the day of January 28, this problem occured 85 times on a single server VM.

Those VMs are using the recommended E1000E NIC with vmx-09 hardware version. The Tools are installed and are current. All VMs are connected to the same vSwitch which has a dedicated physical port to the gigabit network switch (no NIC teaming and no VLAN tagging). The VMs are running from the same datastore that uses local disks setup in RAID 10 with a hardware RAID controller (LSI 2108 chipset).

Of course, when the alledged disconnect occurs, Windows shuts down momentarily network bound services (such as NetBIOS Helper service) and brings it back right away when the reconnection occurs. This annoying problem also causes interruptions in file transfers on network shares, so it is not just a harmless error that can be ignored.

Here is an example of the disconnect event:

Log Name:      System
Source:        e1iexpress
Date:          2013-01-29 10:53:13
Event ID:      27
Task Category: None
Level:         Warning
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      --- censored by me! ---
Description:
Intel(R) 82574L Gigabit Network Connection
Network link is disconnected.

Here is the reconnection 1 second later:

Log Name:      System
Source:        e1iexpress
Date:          2013-01-29 10:53:14
Event ID:      32
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:      Classic
User:          N/A
Computer:      --- censored by me! ---
Description:
Intel(R) 82574L Gigabit Network Connection
Network link has been established at 1Gbps full duplex.

Here are some interesting facts about this problem:

• We checked the physical link to the host and everything is fine. We don't have any disconnection reported by the host or the switch.
• The problem occurs in all VM which have E1000E NIC, but not at the same time.
• Changing the VM NIC type to E1000 solves the problem: no more network disconnection reported by the VM and file transfers are not interrupted anymore.
• The disconnects are not evenly spaced in time. It may occur many times in the same minute and then nothing for more than an hour.

Has anyone had this kind of problem before? Any clue about what may be the cause?

We can still use the workaround we found and change the NICs to E1000 but it is not the one recommended for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012.

Thanks for your help!

[Ben123201110141]

I have some Windows 10 machines running on ESXi and we have also had the issues where periodically the machine stops responding to pings, you cant remote desktop in anymore, or access any web content from the machine. The Windows event schedules shows many thousands of network card resets. So I shut the machine down, removed the E1000 network card via vSphere, started it back up again, shut it down, added the VMXNET3 network card instead, and stared it back up again, and we have not seen the issue since. Googling suggests that the E1000 is old, intended for backwards compatibility only and not recommended unless you need it because it performs extra emulation which is costly. Some people also found that upgrading ESXi and the vmtools and then reinstalling the E1000 card also works, but thatis more effort.

[HenriqueSilvaLa]

Hi,

Same issue here,

My cenário same host 2 VM 1 server 2012 no issue E1000E and 1 server 2018 E1000E issue only afther a power failure (temporay fix with vmxnet3)

I add a second network card vmxnet3, start Windows and instal automatic driver by Windows update trough e100e, remove e100e and setup vmxnet3 ip.

before this i check all wired conections and switch as strange beavor link led off and on.

so i belive that can be a switch bad beavor caused by the power failure , i will replace sitch and return server to e100e nic and give feed back.

Sorry my english

[petarbr]

Hi all, and maybe someone else who will have the same issue in the near future...
The same things is still happening regardless vm nic adapter: old E1000, E1000E or VMXNET3!
As Dolor in this post said the same thing with losing network connectivity:
"Now the machine does not lose the connection for a second but forever..."
I am on the ESXi vSphere version 6.7u3.
I have even tried VM  (hardware) upgrade to the last supported by windows 2012R2,
version 13 and upgrade of VMware tools without results - the same issue with disconnected adapter
inside VM (no network connection, adapter enabled, everything looks fine, have the ARP packet traced on ESXi host).
I have reproduced the error in 50% of cases with simple storage vMotion (ex. sMotion),
so compute resources are not changed, not physical adapter of the ESXi host!
I know that win 2012R2 is EOS now, but the clients will not migrate for months from now for sure, maybe the whole 2022 year.

If someone has some more ideas or has found the the solution I will appreciate.
And once more, VMXNET3 is not the solution;
The same problem in the same range occurs in 50% of tries, and dozen of tests are done. 

P.S.: The network connectivity is established after disconnecting VM net adapter through the vSphere web console,
waiting a few moments, and connecting it again. In some cases I had to do it twice, ... And sometimes,
if it is an option, I managed to have connectivity after shutting down VM and power it again on the same host.