I tried on a different machine and it didn't happen on the other machine. The machine with the predictable name has this: # hwinfo --netcard 08: PCI 700.0: 0280 Network controller [Created at pci.378] Unique ID: aK5u.DYh_m92ssO5 Parent ID: Z7uZ.m9sa6z2WgA4 SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.3/0000:07:00.0 SysFS BusID: 0000:07:00.0 Hardware Class: network Model: "Dell Wireless 1704 802.11n + BT 4.0" Vendor: pci 0x14e4 "Broadcom" Device: pci 0x4365 "BCM43142 802.11b/g/n" SubVendor: pci 0x1028 "Dell" SubDevice: pci 0x0016 "Wireless 1704 802.11n + BT 4.0" Revision: 0x01 Driver: "bcma-pci-bridge" Driver Modules: "bcma" Memory Range: 0xf7900000-0xf7907fff (rw,non-prefetchable) IRQ: 19 (no events) Module Alias: "pci:v000014E4d00004365sv00001028sd00000016bc02sc80i00" Driver Info #0: Driver Status: bcma is active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe bcma" Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown Attached to: #7 (PCI bridge) 18: PCI 900.0: 0200 Ethernet controller [Created at pci.378] Unique ID: ql7q.aUz_F1WDYy1 Parent ID: HnsE.qpda1BtYnH4 SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.5/0000:09:00.0 SysFS BusID: 0000:09:00.0 Hardware Class: network Model: "Qualcomm Atheros AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet" Vendor: pci 0x1969 "Qualcomm Atheros" Device: pci 0x1091 "AR8161 Gigabit Ethernet" SubVendor: pci 0x1028 "Dell" SubDevice: pci 0x057e Revision: 0x10 Driver: "alx" Driver Modules: "alx" Device File: p5p1 Memory Range: 0xf7800000-0xf783ffff (rw,non-prefetchable) I/O Ports: 0xd000-0xdfff (rw) IRQ: 17 (no events) HW Address: 78:45:c4:b9:d7:88 Permanent HW Address: 78:45:c4:b9:d7:88 Link detected: yes Module Alias: "pci:v00001969d00001091sv00001028sd0000057Ebc02sc00i00" Driver Info #0: Driver Status: alx is active Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe alx" Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown Attached to: #21 (PCI bridge) linux-3apl:~ #