roboRIO Ethernet port has intermittent connection issues

[FletcherS7]

Ethernet port on roboRIO has intermittent connection issues, Unable to reliably replicate the problem.
Problem persists even when only connected to power and a radio.
Swapping out the ethernet cable with a known good cable did not resolve.
Problem persists after reloading the latest image and firmware.

[BoKnows]

Is the only way you're seeing this problem when the roboRIO is connected to the radio?
Do you have any other roboRIOs you can try in the same hardware setup?  Alternatively, do you have another radio you can try adding into the system?

Essentially, I want to help narrow down to whether we'd want to troubleshoot the radio or the roboRIO to help get you up and running.

[FletcherS7]

The problem also persists when directly connected via Ethernet, Tested with multiple laptops (with hardware Ethernet ports) and Ethernet dongles.

[BoKnows]

Is it safe to assume you're seeing strange LED behavior on the roboRIO's Ethernet port as well?

Have you been able to try other roboRIOs in the same hardware setup to ensure you aren't seeing the same problem exist there?  

I'm also guessing you're seeing indications in either the Driver Station or an inability to connect that are leading to the intermittent connection diagnosis? 

[FletcherS7]

Only problems with this RIO, ethernet lights are off when we lose the connection (Ethernet cabling is not moving at all). Driver station loses connection to RIO, if you try to ping the RIO, no response.

I would like to just RMA it at this point.

[BoKnows]

I sent you a message to start looking at the RMA.

To provide some context, a non-trivial amount of RMAd devices come back without any deficiencies.  For those teams, I believe we've failed them by not helping them troubleshoot to understand the problem as we take away time as they wait for the new device to appear and when the device arrives, the problems they had are likely to still exist.  That's why we push for some troubleshooting steps.  We want to make sure we're doing right by you and helping you find the quickest path to a resolution.

In this case, it sounds like the roboRIO is likely defective given your answers to the troubleshooting steps so the RMA absolutely makes sense.  I'm hoping to share that context so you know we're hoping to help when asking for some steps 😃