Bitdefender Firewall Resetting NIC

I found an issue with Bitdefender's firewall and NIC resets.

Over the past year now, I've had random disconnects when streaming video (Microsoft Teams, chat services, etc). The disconnect happened seemingly at random and the Windows logs were not very helpful. As seen below, this Warning message was always thrown right after I lose connection. Soon after, the connection is restored (~6 seconds), but any type of maintained online connection is severed. Games, remoting, file transfers, all, are shut down.


Windows System Log:

Log Name: System

Source: NDIS

Event ID: 10400

Level: Warning

User: N/A

OpCode: Info

Logged: 8/28/2020 9:34:38 AM

Task Category: None

Keywords:

Computer: ********

General:

The network interface "Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (7) I219-V" has begun resetting. There will be a momentary disruption in network connectivity while the hardware resets. Reason: The network driver detected that its hardware has stopped responding to commands. This network interface has reset 3 time(s) since it was last initialized.


Recently, I started downloading a few games (MS Flight Sim 2020) and noticed a LOT of NIC resets. Around 1 reset every 15 seconds to 2 minutes.

I've been able to narrow down a solution. It's to disable Bitdefender's firewall. After the disable, I have zero issues with NIC resets. I've kept all other Bitdefender security settings on without issue. It's just the firewall that is forcing the resets.

This makes me sad, since I purchased Bitdefender specifically FOR the firewall. Any chance someone could look into this?


BitDefender Information:

BitDefender Total Security 2020

Build: 24.0.26.137

Threat Database Properties:

Threat information updates: 11215101

Engine Version: 7.85689


For reference, my system is as follows:

Host Name:         DESKTOP-******

OS Name:          Microsoft Windows 10 Pro

OS Version:        10.0.18363 N/A Build 18363

OS Configuration:     Standalone Workstation

System Manufacturer:    Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.

System Model:       Z390 AORUS ULTRA

System Type:        x64-based PC

Processor(s):       1 Processor(s) Installed.

              [01]: Intel64 Family 6 Model 158 Stepping 12 GenuineIntel ~3600 Mhz

BIOS Version:       American Megatrends Inc. F10b, 12/18/2019

System Locale:       en-us;English (United States)

Input Locale:       en-us;English (United States)

Time Zone:         (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)

Total Physical Memory:   32,699 MB

Available Physical Memory: 17,132 MB

Virtual Memory: Max Size: 44,475 MB

Virtual Memory: Available: 12,587 MB

Virtual Memory: In Use:  31,888 MB

Page File Location(s):   C:\pagefile.sys

Domain:          WORKGROUP

Logon Server:       \\DESKTOP-******

Hotfix(s):         17 Hotfix(s) Installed.

              [01]: KB4569751

              [02]: KB4497165

              [03]: KB4513661

              [04]: KB4516115

              [05]: KB4517245

              [06]: KB4521863

              [07]: KB4528759

              [08]: KB4537759

              [09]: KB4538674

              [10]: KB4541338

              [11]: KB4552152

              [12]: KB4559309

              [13]: KB4560959

              [14]: KB4561600

              [15]: KB4565554

              [16]: KB4569073

              [17]: KB4565351

Network Card(s):      2 NIC(s) Installed.

              [01]: Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (7) I219-V

                 Connection Name: Ethernet

                 DHCP Enabled:  Yes

                 DHCP Server:   192.168.2.123

                 IP address(es)

                 [01]: 192.168.1.123

                 [02]: fe80::cd7:****:****:****

              [02]: AnchorFree TAP-Windows Adapter V9

                 Connection Name: Ethernet 2

                 Status:     Media disconnected

Hyper-V Requirements:   VM Monitor Mode Extensions: Yes

              Virtualization Enabled In Firmware: Yes

              Second Level Address Translation: Yes

              Data Execution Prevention Available: Yes

Comments

  • jandraelune
    edited December 2020

    This behavior is connected to the process ' Bitdefender OS Network Helper '. This is found by watching the Task Manager with Win10's newest update with a column showing Power Usage, this column for that process spikes high usage when all network connection drops. This is a critical bug that needs addressed as it hinders online activity badly.

    One possible cause is in the Firewall, then Network Adaptor tab, under there by default ' Dynamic Network ', this is ok for a Laptop, but a desktop it needs to be permanently the middle one ' Home/Office Network '.

  • I'm seeing the same issue with Forza Horizon 4. Did you ever get an answer to this? This post is from August and it's now April 2021 and still no fix. Thanks.