Embodiments of the present invention provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and computer program product for an Internet protocol (IP) address resolution process during an original switch stack fragmentation, by employing a secondary communication link. A method for IP address resolution of a fragmented switch stack over a secondary communication link (e.g., an I2C bus) can include detecting a first switch stack fragment by a first stack master, detecting a second switch stack fragment by a second stack master, disabling all switches of the first switch stack fragment and the second switch stack fragment, connecting the first stack master and the second stack master to a stack management module via a secondary communication link, and electing one stack fragment to use the IP address of the original switch stack based on at least one election criteria. The method can further include instructing the stack master of the elected one stack fragment to power up the switches of the elected one stack fragment.