Network issues occur intermittently during idle periods, especially when another device is inactive.
Network issues occur intermittently during idle periods, especially when another device is inactive.
I suspect a problem is causing the router switch to behave unexpectedly. I’d check for WOL, EEE, and see if disabling them on your wife’s machine helps. Also, try turning off Windows’ power control feature for that network interface entirely. The goal is for the NIC to fully turn on or off instead of operating in a strange low-power mode.
Great observation, Alex. While working through the troubleshooting, I did see the WOL options but never used them. I’ll try each one and let me know what works. I’ll also update my comment to remove any that weren’t tried. Thanks for the tip!
Check the BIOS/UEFI for any power management or NIC control options.
The only adjustment I found in the UEFI related to my NIC was to turn it on or off. When I removed the Ethernet connection from her machine, I experienced uninterrupted playback for four hours without lag, packet loss, or dropped frames—it felt great. This suggests there’s still something keeping the NIC active. I recalled disabling "Selective Suspend," which likely caused the NIC to stay connected, but enabling it on our internal NICs caused random drops. This matches the original problem I was investigating, where NICs would disconnect unpredictably. It seems the issue might point to faulty hardware. If Selective Suspend was the root cause, the NIC could have thought it was idle and disconnected, only to reconnect when it realized it wasn’t. Sorry for not mentioning this earlier. Unfortunately, my router’s shipping is delayed by a day or two, but I’ll update once I test with a new router. Thanks again for your help, Alex! Even though we haven’t fixed it yet, I know I’m not crazy.
It's important to recognize that the Intel Management Engine remains active regardless of other system power states. It cannot be disabled, though you can switch to a USB Ethernet adapter to prevent network usage. Another method to eliminate the router is by sending a ping to the router and google.com; if it responds, the problem likely occurs higher up in the network stack.
Check if your PowerShell script still reports packet loss or high latency when the new computer is removed from the network. This will assist in identifying the likely cause.
I've relied on Intel throughout my career and had no idea they kept the NIC active all the time. I'm considering purchasing another USB Ethernet adapter at BestBuy specifically for this purpose. This seems like a great solution! However, after running my test with your advice, I noticed the gateway router loses responsiveness and experiences latency exceeding 500 milliseconds during the same period as the Google.com check. I've included a table in the original comment detailing these issues. When my wife disconnects her computer from the network, the problem disappears. I've also added another table to the original comment with more specific timing information.
Consider adjusting the Netgear settings so they align on both ends of a connection. When your NIC is set to autonegotiate, does the problem continue? Check if your Netgear displays interface stats, such as input errors. In your script, test pinging your default gateway—look for any local latency increases that might relate to the other PC being powered on. You can try pingplotter for a free trial to assist with analysis.
Thank you for your feedback! I addressed your concerns in the same sequence as requested. The Netgear interfaces operate at 1 Gbps, and I have reset the drivers to ensure auto-negotiation works properly along with other settings set to defaults. In the Network Properties window, I confirmed that auto-negotiation functioned correctly and maintained the 1 Gbps speed. Despite this, the problem continues. The Netgear firmware includes a logs section, though it isn’t very helpful. It might display interface errors if needed. However, since I suspect the hardware issue, I’ll trust the router’s status. Previously, similar suggestions were made and verified in my earlier message. Great tip! I hadn’t considered pinging the gateway before, which also showed latency spikes. Thank you for the advice, but I found the PowerShell scripts to be adequate. DHCP remains enabled on the router. I assigned static IP addresses based on MAC addresses; if it appears in the lookup, it receives that address, otherwise it gets one from DHCP. The new router is expected to arrive today—just a short delay in my area.