Ethernet Port/Cable/Software Issues

Community Support
1

Good day/evening,

I had recently ordered and recieved delivery of a framework laptop as a DYI package with no OS installed. The laptop is working well with the only exception of the ethernet port unable to connect to the router via the ethernet cable.

The laptop has the 12th gen Intel processor and is currently using a copy of Windows 10 Home Edition as its OS (I do not have Windows 11 and I have no interest in installing Windows 11.)

Because the laptop has Windows 10 installed, I elected to use the Windows 10 driver installation instead of the Windows 11 drivers. The laptop is able to locate Wi-Fi connections without issue and all other default programs are working fine. The problem is that I am attempting to use an ethernet cable to connect online and run windows updates and the laptop does not even recognize the cable is connected let alone produce any type of error around it.
There is power going to the ethernet card as plugging a cable into the card causes it to display a green and amber light

Thus far I’ve attempted the following remedies;

I have attempted to manually locate and install drivers for an ethernet connection through intel’s website. I was unable to locate/install the drivers.
I attempted to use a different ethernet cable and router connector with no change in network status.
I attempted to move the ethernet cable card to different ports on the laptop. All the ports are working after testing them with different cards. No change in network status.
Rebooting the laptop has made no change to the network status.
Turning off the router and restarting it has made no change to the network status.

At this point I have exhausted all options I can think of except for formatting and reinstalling windows and the drivers. Some options appear to be beyond my knowledge base, such as locating and installing individual drivers. I am hoping somebody could help with diagnosing the problem and suggesting a solution.

2

There is no driver bundle for Windows 10, because Windows 10 does not fully support 12th gen (Windows 10’s task scheduler does not understand the difference between P and E cores, so it assigns tasks to the wrong one, leading to performance and battery life issues).

While it is possible to install the 11th gen driver bundle on a 12th gen system running Windows 10, it is unsupported and will cause issues like the ones you are experiencing. For best results, and a supported configuration, I would recommend that you reinstall Windows 11 with the correct driver bundle that can be found here.

It’s possible that you’re experiencing a hardware problem, but that’s impossible to know for sure because you’re running unvalidated and unsupported drivers.

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3

While there are some users who were able to get Windows 10 working on the 12th gen laptop (you can attempt the fixes in this thread), Framework does not officially support Windows 10 on their 12th gen laptops, so it may be hard to upkeep your installation. You can see an official statement from a Framework employee on the matter in the thread I linked above.

4

I figured the problem had to be software-related, not hardware related. The driver bundle suggested above did correct the issue at hand. I’ll see what other issues I come across as I mess around with the laptop but for now this issue is resolved. Thank you for the assistance.

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