Windows 10 Internet stops working randomly until I restart the device

olat

Well-Known Member
Hello Team!

I'm experiencing a really frustrating issue on my Windows 10 PC.

I lose internet access randomly during the day on my wired connection (Wi-Fi works just fine).

When this happens, the internet icon in the lower right corner remains the same, shows "Internet Access" and I get no error messages.

But when I try to open a website in a browser, it just hangs and after a while shows the following error: Screenshot

I've tried this in several browsers, including Firefox, Edge, Chrome, Brave and Vivaldi. No browser works, but Firefox is the only one showing an error message after a while - the other ones just hang.

One interesting thing I have noticed is that whatever game service I have running and downloading stuff when this happens, it can continue to download without issues. Most of the time this issue happens randomly, so regardless if I have any programs open or downloading anything, but for example if I'm downloading a game through Steam or Battle.net, I am able to pause and continue that download even after this issue happens. Interestingly enough, if I log out and try to log back in into any of those programs, I can't.

I've recorded the whole process with all the symptoms and error messages visible and uploaded to YouTube:

I tried using the ipconfig commands in CMD to fix this, namely release, renew and flushdns, as well as commands like: netsh winsock reset and netsh int ip reset, but these did not make any change.

Under Device Manager > Network Adapters I found my network adapter (Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller), clicked on Properties and disabled the following: Energy-Efficient Ethernet, Green Ethernet and Wake on Magic Packet (as suggested in another post I found online). Again, this did not prevent the issue from happening.

I'm on Windows 10 Version 10.0.19042 Build 19042
My motherboard is: B450 TOMAHAWK MAX (MS-7C02)

I removed the network driver completely while in Safe Mode without network and installed the latest network driver and chipset driver from the official website for my motherboard, which is a B450 Tomahawk Max, and this did not change anything as well. I also tried the Windows built-in feature "Update Driver" and let Windows automatically install it's own driver after removing the old one, to no avail.

Finally, I tried using that same wired connection on my Linux powered laptop, using Pop OS. I've used the laptop for 2 days without disconnects.
This might mean something, but I want to point out that there have been periods when this issue did not happen for a few days at a time, but lately it's been happening 3-5 times a day.


When this happens, I'm able to access my router settings at 192.168.1.1, so I'm guessing communication is being established correctly there. Also, Wi-Fi works all the time, which makes me thing that there's nothing wrong on my ISP's side.


The only thing that fixes the issue is if I:

a) restart my PC
b) go into the Device Manager and then disable and enable my network adapter.

I've spent weeks browsing all kinds of different forums and pages trying to fix the issue, but could not find anything that solved it for me.
I also called my ISP and they sent over a technician who tested everything out, concluded there are no issues on their side and replaced my router with a brand new one, for good measure.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Please let me know if I can provide any further information.

Thank you so much!

- Olat
 
UPDATE: I was trying out tips and advice I got on 7 different forums and nothing helped solve my issue.

I ended up buying a dedicated network card. I don't have this issue anymore, but another one appeared. Ethernet only connects and shows up in device manager every other time I turn my PC on.

Since this issue seems to be unrelated, I'm going to open a new thread for that.

Thank you!
 
I would not necessarily think of software or my computer.
Maybe trying with another laptop and you know a bit more.
Things I would check
- Is the shield of the incomming cable in your house propperly grounded or is the modem/router itself properly grounded.
- The lengh of the utp cable should not exceed 100 m.
- Any other device in between?
- Is the cable itself and are the connectors in good condition.
- Is your computer properly grounded to the same central point in your house, differences in grounding may introduce huge noise levels.
Not much to go on, I am afraid
 
I would not necessarily think of software or my computer.
Maybe trying with another laptop and you know a bit more.
Things I would check
- Is the shield of the incomming cable in your house propperly grounded or is the modem/router itself properly grounded.
- The lengh of the utp cable should not exceed 100 m.
- Any other device in between?
- Is the cable itself and are the connectors in good condition.
- Is your computer properly grounded to the same central point in your house, differences in grounding may introduce huge noise levels.
Not much to go on, I am afraid
Thanks for replying here as well!

As I said, I switched back to the onboard lan yesterday and when the issue happened I tried just connecting the cable to my laptop. It worked normally, I had internet access.
When I returned the cable back to my computer, I again had no internet access and had to disable/enable the device in device manager.

So, whatever it is, I doubt it's related to my router or cables. My cable is around 15-20m long btw.

As for the computer being properly grounded, I believe it is, but then again I did not change anything when this started happening, and I've had this PC for years.
 
Hello! I set up a static IP on my integrated card as well. This one will take a little longer to test out since internet disconnects randomly. I'll follow up with the results.
 
I've tried setting up a static IP on my integrated card, but the same issue still persists.
 
I've got another update on the issue:

I replaced my CMOS yesterday as suggested in another forum, but the issue persists today as well...

I did discover something interesting in the process - I can ping and tracert websites once the issue happens.

I've attached a screenshot below and also made another video showing this:
 

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  • ping_tracert_during_issue.jpg
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Just an thought, in the advanced settings of your Realtek controler are a number of number of items where flowcontrol Rx & TX should be enabled: Datatransport, (TPC-)(UDP-)IPv4-checksum-offload(IPv4)(IPv6) and Speed and Duplex should be set on auto. These settings should be set automaticly on installation. Does It look a little bit like a flow control problem?
 
Just an thought, in the advanced settings of your Realtek controler are a number of number of items where flowcontrol Rx & TX should be enabled: Datatransport, (TPC-)(UDP-)IPv4-checksum-offload(IPv4)(IPv6) and Speed and Duplex should be set on auto. These settings should be set automaticly on installation. Does It look a little bit like a flow control problem?
TCP/UDP IPv4/IPv6 Checksum Offload are set to "RX & TX Enabled", Speed and Duplex is set to automatic negotiation, but I was not able to find anything similar to Datatransport.
 
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