Ethernet expansion card very occasionally flickers connection

Which Linux distro are you using?

Proxmox

Which release version?

root@proxmox:~# pveversion
pve-manager/8.4.14/b502d23c55afcba1 (running kernel: 6.8.12-16-pve)
root@proxmox:~# cat /etc/os-release | head -n1
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm)"

Which kernel are you using?

root@proxmox:~# uname -a
Linux proxmox 6.8.12-16-pve #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC PMX 6.8.12-16 (2025-10-14T08:58Z) x86_64 GNU/Linux

Which BIOS version are you using?

root@proxmox:~# dmidecode -t bios -q | head -n4
BIOS Information
	Vendor: INSYDE Corp.
	Version: 03.17
	Release Date: 10/27/2022

Which Framework Laptop 13 model are you using?

11th Gen Intel® Core™


I have an old Batch 1 11th Gen Intel mainboard, shipped in July ‘21. I did have the EMI sticker issue but fixed it — successfully, as far as I could tell, though I’m now suspicious — back in 2022 when the fix-kit was shipped out. I’ve since upgraded my primary laptop to the Ryzen 5 7640U mainboard and put the old 11th Gen Intel one in the Cooler Master server case, set it up with proxmox, and now it’s a capable VM host in my homelab.

I’ve been having a rather intermittent issue (but not perfectly periodic; that would be too easy!) where once every two weeks to three months, the server drops off the network. I assumed it was a power problem, having definitely run into that in the past, and spent quite some time chasing that, but only this most recent time thought to actually check last-boot logs :person_facepalming: In my defense, I have a one-year-old, so I haven’t exactly been operating at peak capacity!

Turns out my ethernet module blipped. There was no physical contact with the server (and I’ve just checked to confirm: I can wiggle the cable quite enthusiastically with no loss of connection). By “blipped”, I mean, “disconnected and, within the same second-timestamp, reconnected”. The reconnection, of course, showed up as an entirely new device with an entirely new interface name for which I have no configuration, so I lose network.

Mar 26 10:31:03 proxmox kernel: r8152-cfgselector 2-3: USB disconnect, device number 2
Mar 26 10:31:03 proxmox kernel: xhci_hcd 0000:00:0d.0: WARN Set TR Deq Ptr cmd failed due to incorrect slot or ep state.
Mar 26 10:31:03 proxmox kernel: vmbr0: port 1(enx9cbf0d008dcd) entered disabled state
Mar 26 10:31:03 proxmox kernel: r8152 2-3:1.0 enx9cbf0d008dcd (unregistering): left allmulticast mode
Mar 26 10:31:03 proxmox kernel: r8152 2-3:1.0 enx9cbf0d008dcd (unregistering): left promiscuous mode
Mar 26 10:31:03 proxmox kernel: vmbr0: port 1(enx9cbf0d008dcd) entered disabled state
Mar 26 10:31:03 proxmox kernel: usb 2-3: new SuperSpeed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
Mar 26 10:31:03 proxmox kernel: usb 2-3: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=8156, bcdDevice=31.04
Mar 26 10:31:03 proxmox kernel: usb 2-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=6
Mar 26 10:31:03 proxmox kernel: usb 2-3: Product: USB 10/100/1G/2.5G LAN
Mar 26 10:31:03 proxmox kernel: usb 2-3: Manufacturer: Realtek
Mar 26 10:31:03 proxmox kernel: usb 2-3: SerialNumber: 4013000001
Mar 26 10:31:03 proxmox kernel: r8152-cfgselector 2-3: reset SuperSpeed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
Mar 26 10:31:03 proxmox kernel: r8152 2-3:1.0: load rtl8156b-2 v3 10/20/23 successfully
Mar 26 10:31:03 proxmox kernel: r8152 2-3:1.0 eth0: v1.12.13
Mar 26 10:31:03 proxmox kernel: r8152 2-3:1.0 enx9cbf0d008dcd: renamed from eth0
Mar 26 10:31:12 proxmox pvestatd[1190]: storage 'slowarray' is not online
[snipped: every other service that relies on a network connection starts hollering]

Are there any known issues with the kernel modules for this hardware module? Could it be a tiny remnant of the EMI sticker issue? Should I just ignore the issue and set up software config to failover properly when it blips or configure a wifi fallback? I still have the old wifi module rattling around, I could connect it if this problem is unavoidable (but then I have to set up monitoring for which network I’m on and fix it so it doesn’t stay on comparatively-slow wifi for a long time without me noticing, etc, etc—surmountable problems, but not ones I’m excited about!).

New device with new interface name for a NIC seems odd. Maybe the “blip” is a USB thing. Maybe it’s a proxmox thing. If you can detect it (udev rule?) reliably I’d reconfigure it to put it on the network you expect it to be on. Use the wifi as a “back door” to get at a console if the NIC really goes pear-shaped.