Question Computer experiences Ethernet disconnection occasionally after turning on, alongside other problems.
Question Computer experiences Ethernet disconnection occasionally after turning on, alongside other problems.
I've been working with an old work PC (an HP 290 G1 Microtower) as a temporary NAS. Recently, it's started having issues.
At the beginning of the week, while transferring files, it suddenly lost network connection. Now, when I say it isn't connected, I mean the Ethernet port wasn't working. Windows reported that "no network cards were detected, check drivers" (the Ethernet port is built into the motherboard). I tried everything: verified the cable and router, updated the HP network drivers from their site, reinstalled Windows completely—still no success.
I gave up and retried the next day. It connected for about five minutes, then the problem came back. Yesterday, I left it unplugged completely, and today it stayed online for nearly 30 minutes.
What should I do to resolve this?
Additional notes:
- Yesterday, it encountered CMOS checksum errors. I replaced the CMOS and updated the BIOS just in case. No more CMOS/BIOS issues, but network problems continue.
- This afternoon, one of the USB ports stopped working for me. I only noticed this because it was the port where my keyboard was connected; otherwise, the PC wouldn't detect it or warn me. The keyboard works fine, but since both the USB and Ethernet ports are failing, I worry the I/O might be completely lost.
>inb4 consider a new motherboard/power supply
Can't, these are specific to this chassis+mobo setup. Are business PCs affected?
>inb4 get a network card
The only PCIe slot is currently taken by a graphics card. Unless the built-in Ethernet port fails permanently, I'd prefer to keep it.
You could see if the prebuilt is pending any BIOS updates. You could look into this;
https://www.tp-link.com/bd/home-networki.../#overview
if your Ethernet adapter conks out.
It did.
Sidenote: The system started with a 500GB hard disk and an optical unit. Currently, it uses the same 500GB drive, an additional 1TB drive, and a 2.5" SSD caddy instead of the optical drive. Is it possible I'm overloading the power supply? It had spare SATA cables.
It was a strange update. I left the PC off for the weekend, and the Ethernet worked fine for most of the afternoon yesterday. It stayed functional today too, until Windows 10 made a noise and played through the built-in speaker. After that, networking stopped completely. I shot it in the dark here—could the built-in speaker be interfering with the network somehow? I won’t be around near the PC until next week, so I’ll try unplugging it when I can (it’s just annoying either way).
Are you verifying the lights to confirm the port is truly inactive upon activation? It might be due to a faulty cable or link instead of the port itself. If the port is indeed faulty, initiate the machine in safe mode with networking to check its functionality.
The lights dim when the connection drops. I’m sure the cable is properly plugged into the Ethernet port on my laptop. I recall seeing it there before. Trying Safe Mode with Networking didn’t help either. Now I’m giving up on fixing this port and plan to use a USB to Ethernet adapter instead.