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Needing a programmer device? That's sounds wrong to me, but lets see what comes of it.
If it were me and the card was giving me that much trouble, I would just buy another card that has better reputation for working right.

Yeah, you're right - Even with the programmer I'm having trouble updating :(

Just going to return everything & buy a card that works

tl;dr: Have you tried disabling secure boot?

I was seeing "Error:      Flash update failed." when attempting to update from Win 11 (using nvmupdatew64e.exe 1.41.3.1 from Intel® Ethernet Adapter Complete Driver Pack 31.1). Then I tried with Debian 13. The recommendation to set iomem=relaxed only works if I disable secure boot, otherwise that flag is ignored. After setting the kernel cmdline and disabling secure boot, I was able to successfully flash my I226-V from 2.17 to 2.32. This is the Ethernet controller that came with my MSI MAG Z790 Tomahawk motherboard.

Yeah I've tried with Linux & secure boot disabled + iomem=relaxed, Even tried UEFI Shell.

The first 2 or 3 attempts on trying to update the NVM firmware, I would lose LAN/Internet access which is normal during the update process, but now it doesn't even do that :/

I'm just going to brute-force the update by using a CH347 Programmer with a SOP8 150MIL Probe.... Should arrive on Thursday.

I've modified the 2.32 1MB file with HxD to include my cards MAC Address,  but I also have a backup of the original NVM firmware from my Card just in-case.

did you manage to update? i have the same card/version and it's failing for me too

Sadly no, for whatever reason the NVM / Flash chip is write protected according to the eeupdate64e tool :(

You can check yourself by using the command

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eeupdatew64e.exe /NIC=1 /IDFLASH

Try the 2MB.  I have the two port version and the 2MB version of the file worked. 

No luck :(

So when I try the 2MB files, the update process fails pretty much instantly.... but if I use the 1MB files, it takes a good few minutes for the update to fail

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Num Description                          Ver.(hex)  DevId S:B    Status
=== ================================== ============ ===== ====== ==============
01) Intel(R) Ethernet Controller        2.19(2.13)   125C 00:013 Update failed
    I226-V


Tool execution completed with the following status: An error occurred when updating a firmware module.

Has anyone had any luck updating the NVM on this generic Aliexpress I226-V?

I've tried updating to 2.32 and lower firmware versions, but it always fails - Tried updating through Windows, EFI & Linux with iomem=relaxed

Inventory

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nvmupdatew64e -i -l log.txt

Config file will not be read.
Inventory
[00:013:00:00]: 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.
[00:013:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
    Vendor                 : 8086
    Device                 : 125C
    Subvendor              : 8086
    Subdevice              : 0000
    Revision               : 4
    LAN MAC                : XXXXXXXXXXXX
    Alt MAC                : 000000000000
    SAN MAC                : 000000000000
    ETrackId               : 80000286
    SerialNumber           :  XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
    NVM Version            : 2.19(2.13)
    PBA                    : G23456-000
    VPD status             : Not set
    VPD size               : 0
    NVM update             : No config file entry
      checksum             : Valid
Config

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CURRENT FAMILY: 1.0.0
CONFIG VERSION: 1.20.0

; NIC device
BEGIN DEVICE
DEVICENAME: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller 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: 80000286
END DEVICE
NVM.log

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nvmupdatew64e.exe -b -l nvm.log -m XXXXXXXXXXXX  -f -u -c nvm.cfg

Config file read.
Inventory
[00:013:00:00]: 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.
Update
[00:013:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
    Creating backup images in directory: XXXXXXXXXXXX .
    Backup images created.
    Flash update started.
Error:       Flash update failed.
    Device update failed.
Update security revisions
[00:013:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
    Skipping update minimum security revisions.
Update VPD with VPD template
[00:013:00:00]: Intel(R) Ethernet Controller I226-V
    Skipping VPD update with VPD template.