Interfaces switched around after updating/rebooting

[Apher]

I noticed an issue with my interfaces after upgrading from 25.1 (with 25.1-df kernel) to 25.1.1. Before updating, I was using the first 3 ports, interface igc0 (WAN), igc1 (Wifi), and igc2 (servers), with igc3 not used. After updating and rebooting, some my ports were switched around and one of my ports no longer works. After I discovered this, I reverted back to my pre-update ZFS snapshot and the ports are still messed up (new order) with one port not working. Do you have any idea what may have caused it or how to fix it?

Before updating

| Physical Port | Software label | VLAN/use |
| ------------- | -------------- | --------- |
| 0 | igc0 | WAN |
| 1 | igc1 | WiFi |
| 2 | igc2 | servers |
| 3 | igc3 | not used |

After updating

| Physical Port | Software label | VLAN/use |
| ------------- | -------------- | --------- |
| 0 | igc0 | WAN |
| 1 | N/A | Not functional |
| 2 | igc1 | WiFi |
| 3 | igc2  | servers |

igc3 shows as disconnected in software

[Taunt9930]

Looks like a hardware issue. If port 1 is not available then the assignments will shift along to the next one that is available - which is what looks like has happened. The fact it does this on a zfs snapshot restore also points to hardware, rather than config/software.

[Apher]

Thanks. That makes sense. I'm a bit new to networking so this is the first time I've had a NIC hardware failure. Is there anything I can/should do to reduce the risk of NIC failures in the future? Is there anything I might have done that caused the failure?