What could lead to this network issue?
What could lead to this network issue?
I own a Plex PC in the living room while my main PC is upstairs. There are no issues with my Plex PC, only the other one has been affected. It's been happening since December after a Windows update. Recently, within the past week, I've experienced about 5 hours of internet on the other device. While trying to play or browse, the connection would drop unexpectedly and I'd receive various error messages from Windows such as "no cable plugged in," "restart Ethernet adapter driver," "something with dhcp," or "another with DNS." I don't recall the exact wording, but it seemed manageable at first. Now it barely works while my Plex PC remains unaffected on the same network.
I've already attempted several solutions: resetting the modem/router, changing ports, contacting Verizon support who said nothing was wrong, using new cables, purchasing a network card for the first time, trying a different cable, and even wiping the C drive thinking it was a Windows issue before installing Bazzite, which still caused problems. A forum user suggested a gigabit switch might help, but they were unrelated. Someone else mentioned static IPS issues and another suggested two devices might be competing, though no replies came after that. I'm considering it might be hardware-related now.
My setup includes the Verizon g1100 router, an ONT I-211M-L, a motherboard model x670 gigabyte Aorus Elite AX with a 7800x3d chipset. At this point, I think the problem could be related to hardware.
There's no in wall cabling, it was a 100 foot cable that the Verizon guy gave me 5 years ago until I bought a new 50 foot cable maybe two weeks ago. The case is an old caselabs m8 and water-cooled with 2 rads but I'll try to carry it down and see what happens. I'll update in a bit.
It all hinges on the duration of the drop. Even a short period allows time to send commands and check the lights. The optimal command is IPCONFIG /all. The key factor is whether a physical problem would disconnect the port. If it remains connected, a software fault is more likely, though hardware issues could still exist if data loss continues—something Windows doesn’t always detect. It could simply be a coincidence around a recent Windows update. Microsoft probably has many users making mistakes, updating drivers with outdated versions, especially for graphics cards. There’s an option that prevents updates, but I question this is the main concern. There hasn’t been a new Ethernet chipset in several years, which caused problems with 2.5G ports. In any case, identify the chipset being used and visit the vendor’s site to download the appropriate driver. The most frequent cause of Ethernet issues is faulty cables. Many counterfeit cables are sold, with the flat ones being especially common. You don’t need a special cable—just a genuine Cat5e or better, preferably pure copper with a 22-24 gauge wire. Only a Cat6a cable is worth the extra cost if you’re using 10Gbps; otherwise, it won’t offer significant improvement over Cat5e.
Brought the PC downstairs, still facing connection problems with the cable I use for my Plex PC, which hasn't had any downtime since it was built about a year ago. I'm currently on bazzite and can't run the usual ipconfig commands. Once I regain a stable connection, I'll attempt to install a driver for the chipset, though that approach didn't work before. I've forgotten to note the previous attempts in my troubleshooting list.
Your case and cooling system are very unlikely to be the cause of this problem unless there is a short that would likely result in more noticeable damage. At most, a power supply issue might cause some instability, but you'd likely see worse issues if that were the case. You don't need to move everything to another location for testing. Simply remove the board, cooling system, GPU, and power supply from the case and run them on a tabletop. (I don't know why you'd have to take it all apart just to test it at your brother's house.)
Stay updated on network controllers, motherboard chipset, CPU, video card, and everything else. Then perform more detailed monitoring and log checks since it seems like you only glanced through them. I think when you connected it downstairs using the Plex's cable, you probably left that cable plugged into its original port on the router. You might try a very cheap router to check if the G1100 is the problem, as such low speed would not show any performance difference. (Or borrow your brother's router for a short time, or bring yours to his place to see if he has issues, if you're certain he uses the same service.)
Considering you've used a different OS, network card, cable, and location, it doesn't seem likely this is your computer.
There are no issues with the power supply here. I would disassemble it because I wouldn’t bring my GPU along, which is also connected, plus I could use fresh water. Any router port with a cable works the same on this computer. Nothing else on the network is impacted; I’ve tested all combinations with it. Earlier today I had nearly 20 minutes of stable connection before it failed. I’ve seen discussions about faulty CPUs and motherboards causing this, so I was planning to focus on that by testing it elsewhere to cover everything.
Additional points to verify.
#1 -- Is your motherboard come with any network optimization tools? For instance, Asus "Game First" could interfere.
#2 -- Try booting Linux from a USB stick. This would eliminate Windows entirely.