Ubuntu failing to acquire IPv4 over I217-V, Windows failing do the same over a USB Ethernet adapter

Question

Just installed a fresh copy of 14.04, and ran into a very upsetting issue, which I wouldn't expect to encounter in 2014: Ubuntu refuses to work with my integrated network controller - Intel I217-V.

This wasn't the first time I have network troubles, so I had a USB Ethernet adapter lying around, and it worked as soon as I connected it (Ubuntu recognizes it as ASIX Elec. AX88179). Alright, I can work with that, the latency is equal to Intel's, and it's USB 3.0, so I get 1 Gbit, no compromises. But when I was about to forget about all this, I reboot into Windows, and find out that it can't connect with the USB card. Plugged the cable into I217 - and everything is back to normal.

Currently I have to replug my internet cable every time I reboot into another OS. Windows worked with that USB adapter before with no problems whatsoever, plug and play, no hassle. Same router (the absence of one: I'm connected directly to an optical transceiver), same internet provider (and they haven't changed a thing in our neighborhood), same hardware... There are no MAC restrictions, and I'm allowed to have as many IPs as I want.

I tried (to no avail):

• Building and installing official Intel drivers: e1000e.
• Messing around with all possible settings in the Network Manager.
• Trying all kinds of random advices I could find on the Internet.

Output of ifconfig (edited):

INTEL   Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr DOESN'T MATTER
        inet6 addr: PROPER IPv6 Scope:Link
        UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
        RX packets:778 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
        TX packets:364 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
        collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
        RX bytes:85219 (85.2 KB)  TX bytes:72354 (72.3 KB)
        Interrupt:20 Memory:f5100000-f5120000

USB     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr DOESN'T MATTER
        inet addr: PROPER IPv4  Bcast: PROPER BCAST  Mask: 255.255.248.0
        inet6 addr: PROPER IPv6 Scope:Link
        UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
        RX packets:5321 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
        TX packets:5563 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
        collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
        RX bytes:3102716 (3.1 MB)  TX bytes:1283631 (1.2 MB)

Seems as if my provider is... I don't know what they're doing.

Please, help :(

Answer 1

Turns out this was neither Ubuntu's nor Windows' fault, just my ISP's DHCP doing a bad job. Putting a router between my PC and the transmitter made both network cards work flawlessly, on both systems.