RHEL 7: Intel 82599 Driver Still Shows the Old Version After Reboot

Symptom

The customer extracted the Intel 82599 driver archive, ran make install in its src directory without errors, and rebooted. However, ethtool -i <interface> still showed the older driver version.

Cause

An existing initrd/initramfs can retain the old module and load it during boot even after a newer module has been installed on disk. The source’s wording about the driver being “installed into initrd” describes the need to refresh this boot image.

Resolution

After a successful installation for the intended kernel, rebuild its initramfs. For the running RHEL 7 kernel used in the source, run:

dracut --force

Reboot, then check the loaded driver again:

ethtool -i <interface>

Replace <interface> with the actual device name. If the installed driver targets a different kernel, use the matching kernel and initramfs rather than assuming the no-argument command updates every installed kernel.