LAN occasionally disconnects connections on Windows 11 using Realtek RTL8168
LAN occasionally disconnects connections on Windows 11 using Realtek RTL8168
I’m facing problems with my wired internet setup: the LAN connection intermittently drops for a few seconds. When this happens, online games, Discord, and TeamSpeak become unstable. Ping tests in CMD show normal performance, but there are occasional timeouts. Wi-Fi remains unaffected during these periods.
System Details:
Operating System: Windows 11 Pro 25H2 (build 26200.7623)
Motherboard: ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0
Network Device: Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller (RTL8168)
Driver installed: 10.79.50.1003 (version 10.79.50.1003)
CPU: Ryzen 5 4500
BIOS Version: P10.10 (2024)
Router/ONT: Huawei HS8545M5
Network Configuration:
- Advanced EEE: Off
- Gigabit Lite: Off
- Power Saving Mode: Off
- Green Ethernet: On
- Speed & Duplex: 1 Gbps Full Duplex
- Tx/Rx Buffers: 128 / 512
- Checksum Offload TCP/UDP IPv4/IPv6: On
- LSO v2: Off
- Interrupt Moderation: On
- Flow Control: Off
- Auto-disable Gigabit: Off
- Default settings for other parameters
Power Management:
All features turned off.
Cable Used: FTP shielded twisted pair Cat5 (stranded, CableExpert FPC 5004E)
Network Parameters:
- MTU: 1500
- DNS IPv4: 1.1.1.1, 9.9.9.9
- IPv4: Enabled
- IPv6: Disabled
Additional Settings: All other components disabled except QoS and NDIS Sample Lightweight Filter.
What I’ve Attempted:
- Tried multiple driver versions, including official motherboard drivers
- Adjusted adapter properties and settings
- Reset router and adapter configurations
- Tested alternative DNS servers and routers with different cables
ISP confirmation: connection is stable overall.
Recently, a temporary fix involved changing some adapter settings, but the issue reappeared after restarting the router. I’ve since reset everything again, yet the problem continues.
Anyone else have encountered similar issues with Realtek RTL8168 on Windows 11? Please let me know if you need further details.
Try using Google: set DNS servers to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
Run "ipconfig /all" and post the full results. You should be able to copy and paste the results with no need to retype it all.
Look in Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer for any network related error codes, warnings, or informational events being captured just before or at the times of the drops.
Make and model information for modem, router, or modem/router if combined.
Hardware Version: 182F.A
Software Version: V5R019C20S050
Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . : pc
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
Ethernet adapter Ethernet:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . : 9C-6B-XX-XX-XX-XX
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled. . . : Yes
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . : 192.168.XXX.XX (Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . : Jan 30, 2026 14:23:28
Lease Expires. . . . . . . . : Jan 31, 2026 14:23:32
Default Gateway . . . . . . . : 192.168.XXX.X
DHCP Server. . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.XXX.X
DNS Servers. . . . . . . . . : 1.1.1.1
9.9.9.9
NetBIOS over Tcp/ip. . . . . . . . : Enabled
In Reliability History/Monitor and Event Viewer, no network issues were detected, even though the internet interrupted twice during log review.
I have used DNS 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 before, but connectivity remained unstable.
Determine whether the ethernet port is malfunctioning or if internet access is simply interrupted. If the issue persists for an extended period, you may observe a disconnect status in the IPCONFIG /all for that port. A disconnected status usually indicates a faulty cable or another physical problem. If the port appears active but doesn’t work, the situation becomes more complicated. It’s advisable to maintain a steady ping to the router and test with a known IP address, such as 8.8.8.8, to assess whether the problem lies within your home or outside it.
The Ethernet port remains active even when the internet connection is lost. I’m sending 1500 byte packets to my router and performing constant pings to external IPs such as 8.8.8.8 and 1.1.1.1 for roughly 15 minutes, including during gameplay when the link dropped. The ping results were generally consistent, with only occasional minor packet drops, but overall it stayed reliable.
The internet status in Windows always appears connected. I verified whether the network icon disappeared during drops, and it did not. This situation seems unusual. I also tested using a TP Link connection and different Ethernet cables, but no improvement was observed.
These types are quite bothersome. If your connection works with 8.8.8.8 and 1.1.1.1, everything in your home should function properly, the ISP link is stable, and the route through you, Google, and Cloudflare remains intact. This situation indicates a problem between your ISP and the ISPs used by game developers. Tracering to the game company becomes complicated since it often involves multiple connections to various servers. The key server is the game world server, but most are built to ignore pings. When many users experience issues online, denial of service attacks can occur. I keep testing to ensure your internet remains stable. The connection to 8.8.8.8 appears healthy. It’s unusual that teamspeak, Discord, and Google are affected while Cloudflare DNS servers remain unaffected. There’s really no straightforward solution. Any external factors or connections outside your home make it nearly impossible to influence the situation. There’s a slim possibility you might use a gaming VPN service, but you’d need to avoid losing connectivity during the path to the VPN server and ensure it routes differently from your ISP to the game server. This approach offers more reliability when there’s only one server involved, unlike multiple locations which are harder to resolve.
The more I attempt, the more I question my ability to resolve this issue. On Windows 10 I could halt the crashes in games and Discord simply by adjusting certain adapter configurations, yet now I lack clarity on the root cause and none of my efforts seem effective.
As a minor point, you don’t have to conceal those 192.168.XXX.X IP addresses.
(Or the MAC addresses too...)
This particular IP range is frequently used for small private networks. My router’s IP is 192.168.1.1, and all my devices rely on it for DHCP assignments when no static IP is given.
FYI:
https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-an-ip-address-2625920
https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-a-priva...ss-2625970
https://www.lifewire.com/what-is-a-publi...ss-2625974
It’s important to safeguard the public IP you receive from your ISP.
Understanding the IP addresses and MACs (or their expected values) is essential for troubleshooting.
Mismatches or incorrect settings can cause issues. For example, attempting a switch to TP Link for testing might introduce complications.
It’s very possible that router and other network devices struggle to distinguish users using IP and MAC information.
Further investigation is necessary – ARP protocol also plays a role here.
FYI:
https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/computer-n...-protocol/
I appreciate all the responses to my issue, yet I have decided to give up. I tested various methods today, but none succeeded.