diff --git a/tests/avocado/igb.py b/tests/avocado/igb.py
deleted file mode 100644
index abf5dfa07f..0000000000
--- a/tests/avocado/igb.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,38 +0,0 @@
-# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
-# ethtool tests for igb registers, interrupts, etc
-
-from avocado_qemu import LinuxTest
-
-class IGB(LinuxTest):
-    """
-    :avocado: tags=accel:kvm
-    :avocado: tags=arch:x86_64
-    :avocado: tags=distro:fedora
-    :avocado: tags=distro_version:31
-    :avocado: tags=machine:q35
-    """
-
-    timeout = 180
-
-    def test(self):
-        self.require_accelerator('kvm')
-        kernel_url = self.distro.pxeboot_url + 'vmlinuz'
-        kernel_hash = '5b6f6876e1b5bda314f93893271da0d5777b1f3c'
-        kernel_path = self.fetch_asset(kernel_url, asset_hash=kernel_hash)
-        initrd_url = self.distro.pxeboot_url + 'initrd.img'
-        initrd_hash = 'dd0340a1b39bd28f88532babd4581c67649ec5b1'
-        initrd_path = self.fetch_asset(initrd_url, asset_hash=initrd_hash)
-
-        # Ideally we want to test MSI as well, but it is blocked by a bug
-        # fixed with:
-        # https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=28e96556baca7056d11d9fb3cdd0aba4483e00d8
-        kernel_params = self.distro.default_kernel_params + ' pci=nomsi'
-
-        self.vm.add_args('-kernel', kernel_path,
-                         '-initrd', initrd_path,
-                         '-append', kernel_params,
-                         '-accel', 'kvm',
-                         '-device', 'igb')
-        self.launch_and_wait()
-        self.ssh_command('dnf -y install ethtool')
-        self.ssh_command('ethtool -t eth1 offline')
diff --git a/tests/avocado/netdev-ethtool.py b/tests/avocado/netdev-ethtool.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f7e9464184
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/avocado/netdev-ethtool.py
@@ -0,0 +1,116 @@
+# ethtool tests for emulated network devices
+#
+# This test leverages ethtool's --test sequence to validate network
+# device behaviour.
+#
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-late
+
+from avocado import skip
+from avocado_qemu import QemuSystemTest
+from avocado_qemu import exec_command, exec_command_and_wait_for_pattern
+from avocado_qemu import wait_for_console_pattern
+
+class NetDevEthtool(QemuSystemTest):
+    """
+    :avocado: tags=arch:x86_64
+    :avocado: tags=machine:q35
+    """
+
+    # Runs in about 17s under KVM, 19s under TCG, 25s under GCOV
+    timeout = 45
+
+    # Fetch assets from the netdev-ethtool subdir of my shared test
+    # images directory on fileserver.linaro.org.
+    def get_asset(self, name, sha1):
+        base_url = ('https://fileserver.linaro.org/s/'
+                    'kE4nCFLdQcoBF9t/download?'
+                    'path=%2Fnetdev-ethtool&files=' )
+        url = base_url + name
+        # use explicit name rather than failing to neatly parse the
+        # URL into a unique one
+        return self.fetch_asset(name=name, locations=(url), asset_hash=sha1)
+
+    def common_test_code(self, netdev, extra_args=None, kvm=False):
+
+        # This custom kernel has drivers for all the supported network
+        # devices we can emulate in QEMU
+        kernel = self.get_asset("bzImage",
+                                "33469d7802732d5815226166581442395cb289e2")
+
+        rootfs = self.get_asset("rootfs.squashfs",
+                                "9793cea7021414ae844bda51f558bd6565b50cdc")
+
+        append = 'printk.time=0 console=ttyS0 '
+        append += 'root=/dev/sr0 rootfstype=squashfs '
+
+        # any additional kernel tweaks for the test
+        if extra_args:
+            append += extra_args
+
+        # finally invoke ethtool directly
+        append += ' init=/usr/sbin/ethtool -- -t eth1 offline'
+
+        # add the rootfs via a readonly cdrom image
+        drive = f"file={rootfs},if=ide,index=0,media=cdrom"
+
+        self.vm.add_args('-kernel', kernel,
+                         '-append', append,
+                         '-drive', drive,
+                         '-device', netdev)
+
+        if kvm:
+            self.vm.add_args('-accel', 'kvm')
+
+        self.vm.set_console(console_index=0)
+        self.vm.launch()
+
+        wait_for_console_pattern(self,
+                                 "The test result is PASS",
+                                 "The test result is FAIL",
+                                 vm=None)
+        # no need to gracefully shutdown, just finish
+        self.vm.kill()
+
+    # Skip testing for MSI for now. Allegedly it was fixed by:
+    #   28e96556ba (igb: Allocate MSI-X vector when testing)
+    # but I'm seeing oops in the kernel
+    @skip("Kernel bug with MSI enabled")
+    def test_igb(self):
+        """
+        :avocado: tags=device:igb
+        """
+        self.common_test_code("igb")
+
+    def test_igb_nomsi(self):
+        """
+        :avocado: tags=device:igb
+        """
+        self.common_test_code("igb", "pci=nomsi")
+
+    def test_igb_nomsi_kvm(self):
+        """
+        :avocado: tags=device:igb
+        """
+        self.require_accelerator('kvm')
+        self.common_test_code("igb", "pci=nomsi", True)
+
+    # It seems the other popular cards we model in QEMU currently fail
+    # the pattern test with:
+    #
+    #   pattern test failed (reg 0x00178): got 0x00000000 expected 0x00005A5A
+    #
+    # So for now we skip them.
+
+    @skip("Incomplete reg 0x00178 support")
+    def test_e1000(self):
+        """
+        :avocado: tags=device:e1000
+        """
+        self.common_test_code("e1000")
+
+    @skip("Incomplete reg 0x00178 support")
+    def test_i82550(self):
+        """
+        :avocado: tags=device:i82550
+        """
+        self.common_test_code("i82550")
