Thanks — that info helps. You’ve done the right driver steps (removed old package, installed Realtek 10.77.20.25, disabled Fast Startup and power savings). The adapter is present (MAC shown) but LinkSpeed = 0 bps and MediaConnectionState = Unknown, and NlaSvc was stopped — so the OS sees the NIC but there’s no active link or the stack isn’t finishing initialization.
I’ll keep this focused and practical. Try the steps below in order (I’ll show short checks and a few safe commands). After each step, tell me the result (or paste the output) and I’ll give the single next move.
Top-level checklist (do these in order)
1) Physical check (very quick)
- Confirm the NIC LED(s) on the card or backplate light when the network cable is plugged in.
- Swap the cable and use a known-good Ethernet port on the switch/router (and a known-good cable). If you have another PC on the same cable/port, confirm that link works at the expected speed.
Why: link flapping / broken cable or switch port is the most common cause.
2) Confirm adapter enabled and reinitialize the driver (safe)
Run these in an elevated PowerShell and paste back the short outputs if the problem continues:
show adapter status
Get-NetAdapter -Name "Ethernet" | Format-List Name,Status,AdminStatus,MediaConnectionState,MacAddress,LinkSpeed
disable then re-enable adapter
Disable-NetAdapter -Name "Ethernet" -Confirm:$false
Start-Sleep -Seconds 3
Enable-NetAdapter -Name "Ethernet"
show status again
Get-NetAdapter -Name "Ethernet" | Format-List Name,Status,AdminStatus,MediaConnectionState,MacAddress,LinkSpeed
If you see Status = Up and LinkSpeed > 0 then test network (ipconfig /all, ping gateway).
3) Start/enable NLA and related services (short)
Your output showed NlaSvc stopped. Start it and verify DHCP/NLA/Network Location services:
Start-Service NlaSvc
Set-Service NlaSvc -StartupType Automatic
Start-Service Netprofm
Get-Service -Name Dhcp, NlaSvc, Netprofm | Format-Table Name,Status,StartType
Then re-check adapter status (Get-NetAdapter as above). If NlaSvc was the blocker, this may help.
4) Check available speed/duplex options and force a test value
Sometimes auto-negotiation fails — force a known-good setting (1.0 Gbps Full) to test.
First list the current Speed & Duplex options (this shows the exact DisplayName/values to use):
Get-NetAdapterAdvancedProperty -Name "Ethernet" | Where-Object DisplayName -match "Speed|Duplex" | Format-Table -AutoSize
If you see a DisplayValue option such as "1.0 Gbps Full Duplex" or "2.5Gbps Full Duplex", try forcing 1.0 Gbps first:
Set-NetAdapterAdvancedProperty -Name "Ethernet" -DisplayName "Speed & Duplex" -DisplayValue "1.0 Gbps Full Duplex"
Then reinitialize adapter (Disable/Enable) and re-check LinkSpeed.
If 1 Gbps works but 2.5 Gbps doesn’t, the link partner (cable or switch) may not support 2.5G or negotiation for 2.5G is failing.
5) Driver fallback / vendor installer
- If forcing speed didn’t help, try the Realtek full installer package (not just INF) from the Realtek or motherboard vendor site — that installer sometimes adds the service/filters Windows driver misses.
- Alternatively, roll back to the older driver you had previously if that used to work.
6) Event Viewer & NIC errors
If the adapter still shows no link, fetch these short logs and paste them (they’re small):
show last 60 System events related to network/NDIS/DHCP
Get-WinEvent -FilterHashtable @{LogName='System'; StartTime=(Get-Date).AddMinutes(-30)} |
Where-Object { $_.ProviderName -match 'NDIS|Net|Tcpip|DHCP|NetAdapter' } |
Select TimeCreated, ProviderName, Id, Message -First 50
Paste the output and I’ll read for clear errors (link flapping, NDIS errors, driver unloads).
7) Hardware isolation
- If still no link, test with a cheap USB‑Ethernet adapter (or add a different PCIe NIC) and see whether that connects immediately to the same cable/port. If an alternate NIC works, it points to a hardware problem on the Realtek board or the negotiation with the switch.
What I need from you next
- After your reboot test, run step 2’s block (Disable/Enable adapter + show status) and paste the three lines of output (before disable, after enable). If that still shows LinkSpeed 0 bps or MediaConnectionState Unknown, run step 3 (Start NlaSvc etc. and paste that service status output and the adapter status again.
If you prefer I can give one full command block to run now that does steps 2–4 in sequence and prints results — say “Run block” and I’ll provide it. Otherwise run the commands above step‑by‑step and paste the outputs you get and I’ll interpret them and give the single next action.
Short troubleshooting priority: cable/port check → reinitialize adapter → start NLA → force 1Gbps → vendor installer or test with another NIC.
