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I have been using a "Fenvi" branded AliExpress 2 port i226v card since December without any issues.  Updated the card using the 2mb file.  Can sustain 2Gbps throughput.  I have officially 1.5Gbps cable internet that is over provisioned.

You can have a look in the BIOS.  Most BIOS have a setting to turn off ASPM or pci power management. 

Same model as mine.
I got to flash it correctly with the 2MB file too, but the goal was to fix the ASPM compatibilities to avoid having to disable it. (having it disabled is a 10w increase in power consumption)
The way I got it stable is forcing ASPM in bios, forcing it in the kernel cmdline and forcing the "performance" power profile, that disables ASPM for all devices. If it's disabled in BIOS, the card crashed on boot or crashes as soon as a cable is connected.
The OPNsense VM was behaving perfectly when the card was passed through because ASPM was automatically disabled for the device.

If after doing the NVM update and the iface still experiences something odd that seems related to ASPM, then I suspect an issue not related to NVM.

For a Aliexpress 226 pcie card, I might suspect there's a pcie issue between card and host mobo and/or OS. I would start looking there (log messages, etc).

Yes there's a pcie switch on the card (the card is a pcie x1). ASPM issues are probably related to the switch chip, at this point.

In the end I solved it by fixing the typo in the DEVICENAME line, and switching to the 2MB bin file (changing the EEPID to 80000422)

So, final nvm.cfg:

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CURRENT FAMILY: 1.0.0
CONFIG VERSION: 1.20.0

; NIC device
BEGIN DEVICE
DEVICENAME: Intel(R) Ethenet Contoller I226-V
VENDOR: 8086
DEVICE: 125C
SUBVENDOR: 8086
SUBDEVICE: 0000
NVM IMAGE: FXVL_125C_V_2MB_2.32.bin
EEPID: 80000422
RESET TYPE: REBOOT
REPLACES: 80000303
END DEVICE

Command used:

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./nvmupdate64e -b -l nvm.log -m 00E0B468DCBC -f -u -c nvm.cfg (same as post 39).

I had previously modified the REPLACES line using the value obtained from the command:

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./nvmupdate64e -i -l inventory.log(the ETrackId value)

This procedure has been applied to a generic Aliexpress, pcie x1, dual-port i226v card.

This stil has not fixed the crash with ASPM enabled, even with "default" performance profile. Only way to make the NIC work reliably is to disable ASPM (in the kernel cmdline, set the options pcie_aspm=force pcie_aspm.policy=performance).
This blocks the package C-States to at most PC2.

There is FreeBSD util in the Intel bundle, you need to dig it out of the I210 TGZ zip that's in the I210 folder.

\Release_30.6.zip\NVMUpdatePackage\I210\I210_NVMUpdatePackage_v2_00_Linux.tar.gz\I210_NVMUpdatePackage_v2_00_Linux.tar\I210\Linux_x64\

2nd, please post your nvm cfg file you are using with flash util.

3rd, with a hyper-v, do not flash from a vm, flash only from the host OS.

Thank you, I found it inside the i210 folder (the driver pack version is 31.0)
Will try again with OPNsense and that tool.

That's the nvm.cfg i've been using

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CURRENT FAMILY: 1.0.0
CONFIG VERSION: 1.20.0

; NIC device
BEGIN DEVICE
DEVICENAME: Intel(R) Ethenet Contolle I226-V
VENDOR: 8086
DEVICE: 125C
SUBVENDOR: 8086
SUBDEVICE: 0000
NVM IMAGE: FXVL_125C_V_1MB_2.32.bin
EEPID: 80000425
RESET TYPE: REBOOT
;REPLACES: 80000308
END DEVICEI just noticed the typo (Controlle instead of Controller) in the DEVICENAME, could it be that?

I also tried with the 2MB (changing the EEPID with 422 at some point)

Yes, I haven't tried flashing it from a VM but only from host (proxmox), Windows (installed on a SSD) or a live OPNsense ISO.

I tried windows too (and linux again) and I still get the same error:

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Inventory
[00:003:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
Alternate MAC address is not set.
Flash inventory started.
Shadow RAM inventory started.
Shadow RAM inventory finished.
Flash inventory finished.
OROM inventory started.
OROM inventory finished.
Update
[00:003:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
Flash update started.
Error:    Flash update failed.
Device update failed.
Update security revisions
[00:003:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
Skipping update minimum security revisions.
Update VPD with VPD template
[00:003:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
Skipping VPD update with VPD template.
The NIC is a i226-V revision 4, i suppose it's genuine (but I have no idea how to check)

On Linux and Windows the card is read correctly, both ports show up in the inventory without issues and are recognised as Intel i226-V rev4

Do you have a Windows machine?  I tried under Linux and OPNsense and could not get it to work properly.  Finally booted into Windows and was able to get it to read the card and flash it. 

Mine is a generic two port card as well from AliExpress. 

Thank you for the suggestion! I don't have a windows desktop PC, but I can install it on a spare disk on the Optiplex I'm using.
Will try that!

Where did you get the flash tool from? If it's a legit i226v then there is no reason for the flashing to fail, but using the right util matters.

Another fast way to do it, get flash util from Intel bundle download, the one for linux. Download Ubuntu iso (any version), Rufus Ubuntu iso to USB, then copy your 226 util/cfg/bin to the USB. From there boot the device with usb using the "try it" mode option. Once booted make sure you can find the 226s with lspci -vvv |more

From there, just use the flash util that is on the usb. Simple.

Thank you!
I got the linux tool from Intel (it's the intel ethernet adapter complete driver pack, is it the right one?). I used it on a Proxmox host (latest kernel) installed on disk.
The freebsd tool I got it from post #39, the aws link, so I thought it was the correct one. There's no freebsd version in the driver pack.

Hello!

First of all, thank you for the guide!

I'm having the same problem as Olmari in post #159, though I have a generic dual-port i226v NIC (pcie x1)
The update fails without much more detail. (same exact output)

The system is a Optiplex 3050, i tried both on Linux (with the linux utility) and on a OPNsense 25.7 live ISO.
Running it on OPNsense, the inventory option didn't work (while on linux it did).
But in both cases, the update does fail in the same way.

After the failed firmware upgrade (from version 1.17) the nic doesn't have any MACaddress and it needs a reboot (hot one is fine) to be recognised correctly again.

What can be the problem here?

Thank you