Ethernet issues occur during a friend's Minecraft session join.
Ethernet issues occur during a friend's Minecraft session join.
I chose to start a modded Minecraft server for a casual session with a friend. Ports appear to work well enough so they can connect, but soon after joining, my Ethernet connection fails. The device won’t turn off, and disabling it doesn’t help. Running the troubleshooter leaves me stuck in an endless loop. A restart is the only solution, and this problem happens consistently. This hasn’t occurred before, which is unusual. I’ve also hosted a Dyson Sphere Program server and Minecraft servers on the same motherboard without issues. Could you suggest ways to diagnose or test further?
Your specs: Windows 10 Education, Gigabyte X570 AORUS PRO WIFI ATX, AMD Ryzen 7 3700X, RTX 3060Ti, 4x8GB DDR4-3600 RAM, Corsair RM750x, PSU. Motherboard age 2–3 years; USB power drops intermittently and XMP settings were disabled recently due to BSoD on startup. I also experienced unstable power cutting out. Any thoughts? Your experience seems similar to a faulty network card or overall board failure. Thanks for your help!
The setup looks quite stable with the listed parts. @Robchil's feedback is a solid beginning. 30 series cards typically need around 550W, but 750W would be more suitable for the setup. I lack sufficient expertise on Minecraft local hosting to explain how multiplayer handles server connections properly. However, I understand that under heavy load during handshakes, the power supply might struggle to maintain performance.
I verified my power supply and it matched the back exhaust cover, confirming it’s the correct 750W model. After trying to disable XMP, the system still booted with a BSoD, so I re-enabled it. Regarding RAM, it’s possible it could affect Ethernet performance, though that seems less likely. I’ve purchased two identical 2x8GB kits over the past couple of years, but they’re from different manufacturers and timings. The second one was installed a year ago without issues until XMP started causing problems. It’s hard to say whether the problem is motherboard, RAM, or PSU—testing each would help.
About “pro drivers,” using Windows 10 Pro drivers instead of Education ones means selecting the appropriate driver package for your hardware during installation. You’d go to Settings → Update & Security → Windows Update → Driver Viewer, search for your device, and choose the Pro version.
You should start with a baseline setup. On the server side, I’d remove all adjustments and bring everything back to the default state to observe the outcome. If crashes persist even with standard configuration, it suggests a faulty component. Mismatched RAM modules can be problematic on older systems, though they shouldn’t automatically reduce performance unless they’re new. What’s your storage setup like?
I own a 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD and a 5TB HDD. I haven’t done any overclocking, so everything should be running at default configurations. The memtest completed three passes without any issues, and the same applies.
when you find an intel network chip, install the corresponding intel pro ethernet drivers. this helps you control them better and ensures more stability when using them as a server.