How to permanently UEFI/Bios disable Intel adapter

Anyone know how to do this? I wish to permanently disable the Intel 1gb/s adapter as well as the Wi-Fi.

For some reason the Aquantia 5gb's adapter (the one I prefer to use constantly) 'glitches' and I have to go through the steps to get it working again. I am merely troubleshooting conflict issues and wanted to eliminate the Intel adapters from the equation.

I found an area in the UEFI/Bios to disable the Wireless adapter(,or so I thought). However it continues to show up in Windows 10 nonetheless - persistent little thing isn't it!.

I have Disabled/Uninstalled the Intel adapters in the MMC/Device Manager in Windows 10 however... yep... they magically 're-appear'.


Any thoughts? Appreciate any assistance, thanks.

MisterJ wrote: Kevin A, I also wanted to disable the Intel Wireless and BlueTooth via the BIOS and it is not possible.? I asked ASRock support and was told there was no way to do this.? I think the Intel NIC is the same.? I doubt the Aquantia problem has anything to do with the Intel chips.? We all have problems with it and are hoping for a new driver from Aquanti.? I have pestered the heck out of them (till they quick responding!) and they have no public portal for drivers.? They said one was coming in a few weeks, whatever that means.? Here is the URL for the Aquantia thread: forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=4583&title=fatal1ty-pro-gaming-x370-issue-with-aquantia-5g I cannot get the link to work with BBcodes, so please copy and paste it into your browser. Enjoy, John.

Greatly appreciate the update/knowledge...

I went thru the UEFI/Bios so many times my eyes started to cross. I suspected there wasn't a way but now I know someone else has been pursuing the issue. Thanks again.

A few times the Aquantia 5gig port glitches and cannot resolve an ip address. So my routine is: I uninstall it via MMC/Device manager w/option to 'delete' driver checked. Then I run the Aquantia msi(installer) file and 'remove' the driver. Then I reboot and re-install... it begins to work again.

I will await a new driver and 'troubleshoot' no further!


Edited by Kevin A - 14 May 2017 at 4:35am

Kevin A, I assume a Restart will not do the trick.  If so, please try these Net Shell commands in an Administrator Command Prompt:

netsh int ip reset netsh int ipv6 reset

You will still need to Restart but it should be faster and easier than what you are doing.  You can skip the IPv6 command if you are not using v6.  I get one "Access denied" from each command but many OKs.  I just quit using the Aquantia NIC, but I do not have a router for greater than 1 Gbps.
I am always happy to help when I can.  Enjoy, John.

MisterJ wrote: Kevin A, I also wanted to disable the Intel Wireless and BlueTooth via the BIOS and it is not possible.  I asked ASRock support and was told there was no way to do this.  I think the Intel NIC is the same.  I doubt the Aquantia problem has anything to do with the Intel chips.  We all have problems with it and are hoping for a new driver from Aquanti.  I have pestered the heck out of them (till they quick responding!) and they have no public portal for drivers.  They said one was coming in a few weeks, whatever that means.  Here is the URL for the Aquantia thread: forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=4583&title=fatal1ty-pro-gaming-x370-issue-with-aquantia-5g I cannot get the link to work with BBcodes, so please copy and paste it into your browser. Enjoy, John.

I can tell you that both my ASRock Z170 Extreme7+ and X99 Extreme6/3.1 boards have options in their UEFIs for disabling the network chips.

Both of these boards have dual network chips, two Intel chips in the Z170, and one Intel and one Atheros in the X99. The options are in the Chipset Configuration screens in the UEFI of both boards. Yes, there's an option to enable/disable both of the chips.

I could go on, and describe how the NIC chip and WiFi module in my DeskMini 110W PC has options in the Chipset Configuration screen to enable or disable both of them.

Why can't it be done in either of your boards? First of course the option to do that does not exist in your board's UEFIs. If there is a reason why a Ryzen board cannot have the option(s) in its UEFI, I don't know. All three of the boards I mentioned above use Intel chipsets, each a different model, that may allow the switching of the NIC chips. If the switching of the chips is done another way, I don't know.

So while it is currently not possible to disable the NIC chips in your boards, whether or not it is impossible to do it remains a mystery. Meaning if adding an option to do so in the UEFI is technically possible. Simply because it is possible with some hardware does not automatically mean it is possible with all hardware.

Try to set fixed 1Gb port speed instead auto in Aquantia nic settings.