I have the oddest thing I have ever seen.
I used to have a Intel gigabit NIC in this server and saw that it was trying to load the module over and over and over and over.
Then I removed the NIC, thinking that it is damaged.
And now? The server is still stuck loading the driver and unloading it every few seconds. It this system possessed or just straight crazy?

[ 4532.946162] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4532.946165] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4541.018713] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4541.018715] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4549.083611] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4549.083613] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4557.190305] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4557.190308] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4565.265304] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4565.265306] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4573.330206] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4573.330208] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4581.389620] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4581.389622] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4589.454066] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4589.454068] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4597.525803] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4597.525805] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4605.602226] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4605.602227] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4613.670384] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4613.670386] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4621.750044] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4621.750046] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4629.817751] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4629.817752] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4637.893090] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4637.893092] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4645.962258] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4645.962261] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4654.064721] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4654.064724] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4662.139687] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4662.139689] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4670.203546] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4670.203548] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4678.269272] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4678.269275] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4686.341165] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4686.341167] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4694.413307] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4694.413308] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4702.523039] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4702.523041] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4711.025714] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4711.025717] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4719.158895] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4719.158898] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4727.237724] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4727.237726] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4735.318084] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4735.318085] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4743.396923] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4743.396925] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4751.540390] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4751.540392] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4759.608792] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4759.608794] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4767.679799] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4767.679802] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4775.736803] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4775.736806] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4783.800386] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4783.800389] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4791.867710] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4791.867712] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4800.010178] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4800.010180] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4808.080204] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4808.080206] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4816.144471] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4816.144473] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4824.211938] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4824.211941] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.
[ 4832.280242] e1000e: Intel(R) PRO/1000 Network Driver - 3.2.6-k
[ 4832.280244] e1000e: Copyright(c) 1999 - 2015 Intel Corporation.

most probably there is an error message somewhere. But without details hard to say anything.

This is odd indeed. Have you tried blacklisting it?

One detail I notice is the fairly constant frequency of 8 seconds.

the frequency can be explained if something wanted to restart [repeatedly] it in case of a problem. But we need to know why is it died? Is this the correct driver at all?

Oh wow, I blacklisted it and restarted the system, it just ignored it and keeps doing the same. lspci shows now such card.

The crazy thing is: there is no Intel NIC in this machine, none.

You told it already. You can remove (rename) that driver. And again, without details hard to say anything. There should be something related in /var/log (or somewhere).
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-...html#beprecise

This is a real Irish solution: Have you tried putting the NIC back, and just let it load? BTW, in modprobe.d, you can also link the module to /bin/true, which reports success

Well, there is a good point, I was looking at the kernel logs via dmesg and saw that it was loading and unloading. I actually solved the puzzle, this is piece of software that I wrote many years ago that assumed a trusty e1000e to be present and it was purposefully loading the module over and over when it did not work.
Yes, the logs really do hold the solution pretty much 100% of all time.

that is great, please mark the thread solved.

Ah, another PEBCAK error. They are common, I get them all the time.