Have trouble with packet loss happening every 1 to 2 minutes
Have trouble with packet loss happening every 1 to 2 minutes
Hello,
I've been experiencing a network issue during the past few days. Let me explain :
I notice I was being disconnected every few minutes while playing online games. At first I thought it was a Steam issue but I started digging and noticed it was bigger than that.
I basically have huge packet loss between my computer and my router on a very regular basis.
My configuration :
there is a wall socket in my office where my computeur is wired (W11, all drivers updated - just checked), connected to a small panel in my garage, plugged to my routeur. My motherboard (ASUS PRIME B450M-A - Realtek) does the job (no network interface controller)
What I've tried so far :
1. Changing the RJ45-> problem still here --> Cables arent the root cause
2. Plugging my computer to the routeur itself. The problem does not disappear -->Cabling system between my office and the garage isn't the root cause either
3. Plugging another computer (W10) ->
no packet loss issue !! What I thought was a routeur or internet provider issue seems actually wrong.
4. I made sure all my drivers are up to date (windows and peripherals). Uninstalled and reinstalled my Realtek driver too
5. Messed a little bit with my network settings (static DNS, removing IPV6, disabling a few other settings like Speed & Duplex, Green energy etc...)
6. Tried booting on safe mode
7. Turned off Windows Defender
I didn't bother updating my bios (last update in late 2024). The second computer that had no issue is equipped with a motherboard from 2014 which has not been updated for at east 6 years.
You'll find a screenshot of PingPlotter where I'm pinging ipv4:
www.google.com
(~30 minutes activity) :
https://imgur.com/a/u9VwRXK
View: https://imgur.com/a/u9VwRXK
What I fail to understand here :
1. The top table indicates around 50% packet loss while the bottom graph shows constant 100% packet loss when the issue occurs. Ping is fine.
2. I can't find any reason why this would happen as I didnt do anything (I think?!) to trigger this behavior. One day it was fine, next day I had an issue. I didnt mess up with anything...just played games
Is there anything I missed ? Or something I misunderstood in PingPlotter ?
What I'm thinking about now is buying a NIC and hope for the best...
Thank you very much for reading my book (and for your help in advance
)
It is quite unusual. You’ve already handled all the basic tasks I usually suggest. The ping plotter behaves oddly—it generally recognizes hops between 2 and 12, but it lacks IP addresses for them. This might be due to the ISP filtering information from their routers or a firewall rule that blocks certain ICMP data.
If you run a simple traceroute, you’ll see what happens if you obtain IP addresses. Then opening cmd windows and effectively owning ping plotter could reveal more details. You only need to check hop1, hop2, and the final hop initially.
It’s normal for hop1 to show loss in pingplotter, while subsequent hops appear normal. This often points to software on the router trying to restrict traffic from pingplotter, as you can perform denial-of-service attacks with the ping command against a router. Many ISP routers either ignore ping requests or limit the response time.
Having numerous routers set to block all ping traffic seems odd. It likely means something is preventing ping responses from unknown IPs or delaying time-to-live messages.
I’d recommend doing some manual testing to confirm and see if you get clearer results.
Hello Bill, thank you for your reply!
I fail to retrieve the IP adresses between Hop 2 and 12...when I right-click on the hop, I get
this
. It is probably related to your explaination about the ISP blocking information.
Earlier in the evening, I played an online game to see how these packet loss would affect my gaming session. It was actually smooth and had only one disconnection which can be seen
here
at 20:23. At the time, there was an issue with the last hop too.
Now what confuses me the most (probably due to my lack of knowledge), is that there is no issue at all
when I simply ping my router IP 192.168.1.254.
Here's the data I get.
I thought I'd get the same result as in the other screenshots since I'm supposed to ping Hop1 and stop...
Yesterday I did what you suggest (pinging my router and google through cmd) but didn't save anything. I'll try again tomorrow with more care.
Thanks again for your help, it's greatly appreciated.
It is quite uncommon to experience loss at hop1 when using an Ethernet cable. This usually points to an unusual software problem on the PC or a faulty router. The most frequent source of actual loss is typically hop2, which connects your home to the ISP’s main router. This is often the only issue the ISP can resolve. If you encounter problems starting at hop10 and see related results in search results, you might be able to address it. The best solution remains switching ISPs or employing a VPN.
In many cases, you anticipate issues at hop2. The ISP may need some persuasion, but it is feasible. There’s also the possibility of observing no loss or very minor losses during tests. This could stem from a game-related glitch—many games might freeze during video frame generation and then report high ping times. Even if the ping response is delayed in a buffer, the game may attribute the lag to network problems. This usually results in unusual lag spikes rather than complete disconnections. It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact cause without more details, especially since some issues might be linked to server farms, which are relatively rare.
What you should focus on is confirming that your problem lies at hop2. Something like dirt or water near your home connection could easily be resolved by the ISP.