Have a problem with your home Ethernet setup? It seems like the connection drops every day from 6 PM to 6 AM.
Have a problem with your home Ethernet setup? It seems like the connection drops every day from 6 PM to 6 AM.
Hello Everyone,
I’m reaching out for assistance with a rather bothersome and unusual networking problem I’ve encountered after setting up home Ethernet at my new residence.
Here’s a quick overview of my current network configuration:
My internet connection comes from Fiber to the Home ISP (Airtel India). The fiber optic cable is linked to an ISP-provided Modem-Router combo device (Zyxel PMG5617-R20B). From this router, I have a Netgear GS308 8-port Switch connected via a Cat 6 cable. All the Ethernet ports in my house are connected using Cat 6 cables. In total, there are 7 Ethernet ports throughout the house—4 in the living room and one in each of the three bedrooms.
The devices that remain connected 24 hours a day via Ethernet are:
- Two Tp-Link Deco X20 units (one in the living room, one in the master bedroom)
- A Sonos Beam Gen 2 in the living room
- An Xbox gaming console in the living room
- My Mac Studio in the Study/Office room
Most of my other devices are connected through Wi-Fi via the Tp-Link Deco. I’ve turned off the wireless router on my ISP-provided router and now rely solely on the LAN connection to the Netgear Switch.
The problem lies in the Study/Office room: during daytime, everything functions perfectly—full speed and stable connection. However, from around 6 to 7 PM every day, the Ethernet connection fails. It either assigns itself an IP address or enters inactive mode, forcing me to switch to Wi-Fi. It resumes working early the next morning between 5 and 6 AM.
At first, I assumed the issue was with my Mac Studio. I searched online, tried various fixes, but nothing resolved it. I also tested other devices connected to the same port—such as an Intel NUC PC, an iPad Pro via USB C to a LAN hub, and a Tp-Link Wi-Fi Repeater—and they all experienced the same problem during the day but stopped working in the evening.
I changed cables on different ports of the Netgear switch without success. Connecting the cable directly to the ISP router didn’t help either. I even bought an Ethernet cable tester to check for faults, but it confirmed the cable was functioning properly.
Despite this, only one Ethernet port in my house is affected, while all others remain operational. I’m struggling to identify the root cause.
If anyone has insights or solutions, it would be incredibly valuable. Thank you in advance for your help.
If every device is affected, the issue lies beyond your residence. What information did your ISP provide when you contacted them?
But you mentioned you changed the cable to various ports on the switch and also connected directly to the ISP device, indicating the issue spans several ports with multiple devices. This suggests the problem might involve more than just a faulty cable. Basic cable testers only check for continuity, not signal strength or interference, so even if the test shows it's fine, there could still be issues like poor quality or interference. How is the cabling arranged? Is it inside the walls or along the floor? Are the cables directly linking computers to the switch, or are wall jacks present? You might consider swapping it with a different cable and rerouting it. There could also be interference from something in the area where the cable passes at night. Also review the OS event logs around the time of the outage to see if any related events occurred, such as a disconnected network card. This information might not be detailed enough but could help identify the cause. You may also check the ISP router logs for further clues.
So the setup is this:
ISP Router connects to Netgear Switch using a cat 6 cable, then the switch uses another cat 6 cable through the wall to reach the office room as a wall jack. From that jack, it goes to the Mac Studio with yet another cat 6 cable.
Switching cables will need an electrician, so I’m trying to eliminate other problems. I’ve already replaced the ends of the cable to ensure they’re not damaged.
The issue is that Ethernet works perfectly during the day but fails around 6:30 PM, which could be up to ten minutes later. This behavior is quite unusual.
Besides unusual phenomena such as the sun warming a room or cable, it's hard to understand how time-of-day affects hardware. The switch operates with a very basic table mapping MAC addresses to ports. When a data packet arrives, it checks the destination MAC address against its table and forwards it through the corresponding port—all handled directly in hardware without any firmware updates possible. To filter traffic by time of day would require a more advanced switch. Assuming you didn’t install a rule that blocks traffic for just one device, it’s unlikely only one device is impacted. If the router has a problem, it should affect all connected devices. It seems the issue might lie elsewhere—perhaps with a wall-mounted device or remote TP-Link equipment connected to the wall, which could cause unexpected behavior. I personally dislike mesh systems due to their frequent software problems. You’ll usually see lights on the Ethernet port when plugging in a cable; if not, inspecting the switch should reveal whether the lights activate as expected. Setting an IP address manually on the Ethernet port is mainly for checking DHCP issues—disable IPv6 and stick to IPv4, as IPv6 often brings unexpected complications.
Hello,
Thank you for your response.
The device—usually a Mac Studio but sometimes an Intel NUC mini PC—is plugged straight into the Ethernet wall socket, without a router in between.
Mac/PC connects via Cat 6 cable → wall socket → another Cat 6 cable through the wall → Netgear Switch (unmanaged GS308) → ISP Modem/Router (I tried connecting directly to the ISP router and bypassing the switch, but no difference).
When Ethernet fails, there are no lights on the switch or router, and neither is there on the PC. It seems like nothing is connected.
On my Mac Studio, Ethernet displays either "Self assigned IP" or "Not connected."
I haven’t tried assigning a manual IP address yet. I’ll attempt it tomorrow morning when Ethernet works again and will update you (it’s currently night in India, so the connection isn’t active).
If there are no lights present, a static IP address won't have much impact. If the issue persists across several endpoint devices linked to various ports on multiple network equipment, it likely points to a cabling problem. Since the problem isn't tied to any specific configuration or scheduled disabling of MAC addresses or ports, the cause probably lies elsewhere.
Swap out the short cables connecting the devices and the wall jacks with those used elsewhere. If this resolves the issue, the problem may be related to the wall jacks or the internal cable. Even if you replace the ends of the cables, confirm whether you're referring to the shorter connections between jacks and devices. Consider reterminating or swapping the wall jacks as well.
To eliminate concerns about cable routing inside the walls, purchase a longer cable for temporary floor-to-floor use, ensuring it stays within acceptable length limits and doesn't obstruct pathways.
It's also possible that the cable encounters interference from a faulty electrical wire or is positioned near a poorly shielded device inside the house. If you have a clear idea of the cable path—such as going up to the attic, across walls, or down to a jack—it can help inspect those specific areas. At the very least, this suggests the issue isn't likely coming from outside your home, unless it extends beyond the property and affects other cables. You should be able to identify if the problem is isolated to this particular cable based on when it's affected.
Following up on a message by@evermorex76
Also review the system logs in the operating system to determine if they capture events such as a disconnected network card at the time of service loss. This might offer useful details, though it could be limited. You might also look for relevant entries in the ISP router logs, provided they are enabled.
Any records in the OS event logs or the ISP router logs?
Who possesses complete administrative access to the ISP router logs? You'll need assistance from that individual.