Fixing a weird bug on the Intel 219-LM Ethernet controller

I recently set up a ThinkCentre M710q for my homelab staging environment. After plugging in the Ethernet cable, I couldn’t get an internet connection to work under Linux, though it worked fine on Windows. I had to go down a rabbit hole just to get Ethernet working, so I’m sharing my experience in hopes it helps someone else in the future.

I started by confirming that the Ethernet adapter was recognized by the system:

lspci -v | grep -A 10 Ethernet

The system detected an Intel Ethernet controller, so the hardware was recognized. The driver was also loaded:

lsmod | grep e1000e

I then checked the system logs for errors related to the Ethernet controller:

dmesg | grep e1000e

There were no immediate issues, which was puzzling. I decided to try connecting via Wi-Fi:

iwctl
station list
station wlan0 get-networks
station wlan0 connect MYWIFI

After some research, I found this answer on Super User. , which suggested updating the Intel Ethernet controller firmware. Here’s how I did it:

  1. Download the firmware utility:
curl -O https://downloadmirror.intel.com/772083/Preboot.tar.gz
  1. Extract the contents:
tar xvf Preboot.tar.gz
  1. Navigate to the BootUtil directory:
cd APPS/BootUtil/Linux_x64
  1. Make the utility executable and reset the controller:
chmod +x bootutil64e
./bootutil64e -NIC 1 -DEFAULTCONFIG

This command reset the NIC to its default configuration, resolving the issue.

After running these steps, my Ethernet connection was restored, and the ThinkCentre M710q was successfully connected to the network.