Restarting Ethernet to 100 Mbps
Restarting Ethernet to 100 Mbps
Hi, I'm Anup from Chennai, India. We usually rely on a network connection with 300 mbps or higher. Recently, we experienced a significant drop in speed to nearly 100mbps, so we reached out to our ISP for assistance. Unfortunately, they didn't help much, so we switched providers. Now we're using a reliable ISP that claims to offer 450 mbps, but on all devices the speed is capped at 100 mbps. We're currently using a TP-LINK WR1043ND router, with one LAN port connected to a TP-LINK X55 for mesh networking and another to my son's Windows 11 PC. After checking the Ethernet properties, we noticed the connection was limited to 100 mbps. My son fixed it by disconnecting and reconnecting the Ethernet cable—suddenly the speed jumped back to 1000 mbps, and the ISP's 450 mbps promise became possible. The mesh network also returned to 400 mbps. When we restarted the PC, the network reset to 100mbps. This seems unusual. We're using CAT6 cables, and there hasn't been any physical change. I'm unsure if Intel updated its network card or if something else is affecting performance. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Checked if I had refreshed the network drivers. Turned off Green Ethernet, Energy Efficient Ethernet, and Gigabit Lite.
Generally, your PC and the following devices will agree on the maximum speed they can handle. Should the link drop, they’ll re-negotiate. A sudden drop from 1Gbit/s to 100Mbit/s could indicate a physical issue like a damaged cable or dirty ports on either side. If it’s just a software problem, open your device manager, pick the network interface and adjust its speed manually. This prevents incorrect speed settings. Occasional disconnections suggest a network problem. Spoiler: it’s usually something physical.