Loading sites takes a long time to respond.
Loading sites takes a long time to respond.
He has a powerful build with top specs, so hardware should be fine. He also has fast fiber internet without speed problems. The main issue is his internet acting odd—normal for games or large downloads but slow when loading media-heavy pages, like Instagram, and buffering heavily when streaming YouTube videos above 1080p. Speed tests show it starts around 50 Mbps and climbs to about 950 Mbps, which is unusually high. Downloading games from Steam usually matches the expected speed, so the speed itself isn’t the problem. He’s tried updates, different browsers, energy-saving network settings, even booted into Linux, but nothing helps. It seems like the issue might be with Windows 11 or a specific driver for his Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE card. Anyone have suggestions on what to check next?
His IPv4 configurations appear in the Windows Network Control panel. Both should be configured as 'auto' unless a static IP is required or a third-party DNS is in use. Have you considered reinstalling Windows? This process can be challenging when many personal files need backup outside the cloud, but it helps eliminate software problems. Have you attempted driver updates? When prompted, choose 'Browse for drivers on the computer' and then select 'Let me pick from a list'. If only one option remains, it may not assist further, though you might see alternative choices. Should there be more than one option, try them all to determine if it resolves the issue. There could also be a generic Realtek driver available. Finally, do you have an additional network interface card and PCIe slot available? Launching the Linux distribution was beneficial as it helped pinpoint the problem to Windows or the driver.
Check for installed antivirus software or third-party firewall solutions.
They are set to auto; we attempted Google DNS (8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4) since a DNS issue might be involved. He doesn’t have any other NIC to test, but the problem disappears when connected via Wi-Fi, suggesting it’s related to software on this specific card. We tried installing an older Realtek driver from their site, which had no effect, then updated to the latest version again—temporarily fixing the issue until a reboot. After that, the same problem returned. We followed your advice and installed a generic Microsoft driver, which resolved the issue now. Thanks for the suggestion; it’s unusual that official Realtek drivers don’t work while the Microsoft one does. We’ll likely continue using the latter.
No worries buddy, glad that worked. TBH, I kinda plucked that from the bottom of the bag. lol. With the basic MS Driver you might lose from advanced functionality like a fallback to 1GBs rather than the full 2.5 that the port can handle but if your ISP connection is only 1GBs then you should be fine.