Make sure you are using the i225-v driver that Intel recently released.

https://www.intel.com/con...lers-up-to-2-5gbe.html

This driver expressly mentions both the failing to start and driver issues.

the_Scarlet_one
Make sure you are using the i225-v driver that Intel recently released.

https://www.intel.com/con...lers-up-to-2-5gbe.html

This driver expressly mentions both the failing to start and driver issues.

Its really funny how ASUS, Gig and Intel all don't want to take responsibility for their trash LAN adapter. Its been having issues since z490. Realtek does not have the issue so why not use their adapter instead? I got it working but it was a real headache all around.

I225V has multiple issues.
 
First it was the 2.5G LAN mode failed, Intel issued a fix with v2 HW release of the LAN chip. Still it did not fix the issue, so people had to operate it at 1GBps speed. All the Z490, X570 and every other board made in the year 2020 were effected by these 2 chips. Intel released a v3 HW of the controller chip, which apparently fixed the issue. Upon checking the above document it's dated at November for v2 as per Intel. So even with v3 the issues are existing ? To the OP what is the OEM for your Z690, ASUS moved all the boards to v3 LAN chips with Z590 series. We can check the chip revision in the device manager, beside the Hardware IDs it should should REV_03 for the latest. Or one has to disassemble the motherboard VRM heatsinks and find out which version of the chip is there - SLNMH or SLMNG should be the new ones.
 
But now again the nightmares come back to this LAN controller it seems. What a massive BS, which is even with v3 hardware revision. On one side the ALC4080 codec is trash on the LAN side this is busted. Horrible quality control for these basic building blocks of the Motherboard. Really unacceptable.