Hardware/Software fault with Z97X-Gaming 7 motherboard

nwgilbert

nwgilbert

nwgilbert

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14 May 2015
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162
Hello,

I have a problem with my GigaByte Z97X-Gaming 7 motherboard. The ethernet socket is not working. When trying to connect it shows the connection as limited. I also noticed it can disable all other devices connected to the router until I reboot the router again (sort of like a short circuit).

I have tried the same router, same ethernet cable on my macbook and it connects just fine so it is clearly a problem with either the motherboard socket (hardware fault) or drivers (software fault). I am trying to diagnose this but have hit a wall with it so I am hoping someone here can help.

The last thing I want to do is have to replace the motherboard as it is a newly built PC. Everything else on the motherboard and PC is working just fine and the AO(All Okay) code shows on the motherboard.

I have the latest drivers installed. The socket worked for about a week on the newly built PC but its now been a couple of months and hasn't worked since. I have been connected wirelessly since but wish to connect through ethernet again.
 
I can connect to the router on wireless no problems.
And I can connect to the router wireless and wired (with the same ethernet cable) on other laptops.. the problem is with my newly built pc not connecting via the same ethernet.

What settings should I check? In device manager it says its working properly and as mentioned I have the latest drivers installed.
 
I've had a similar problem before...

And actually it turned out to be the ethernet cable in the end. The reason it can happen like that is because some devices are better able to cope with dodgy gigabit cables than other devices.

A good way to test this theory is to force your Gaming 7 to 100mbit maximum speed. Not sure how you can do that in windows. But if you can, then it may start working allright... then you know it's a shoddy cable.

Trust me you don't want to skip this step.
 
Download Linux Ubuntu onto USB or DVD and run the OS live without installation. If the NIC still won't connect then it is not a software issue. I would then flash the BIOS. If its the on the latest re-flash it. If the issue persists then RMA the Board.
 
The Gaming 7 uses the Killer Network card chipset. Which drivers are you using for it ?

I originally used the Gigabyte ones which worked fine then I used the later ones from the Killer website and it caused all sorts of problems. So I then went back to the ones for the motherboard and it worked fine again.

Just a thought.

Also just noticed they have released the F8 bios although it just mentions better compatability for Intel 5th Gen processors.
 
Last edited:
Hello, this is a post from the past but I wanted to message again because I have still not diagnosed the problem.

I have now formatted my PC, downloaded all drivers/bios again and still the same problem as mentioned above.
Here is what windows diagnostics has told me :
http://postimg.org/image/ea77hsyyf/

What I have also noticed is that when I plug the ethernet in and try to connect it short circuits and disconnects all over devices from the router.

To clarify, the router works fine with my Macbook Pro connected with the same ethernet cable.
 
Does it disconnect ALL devices or just wired ones ?

Have you tried plugging the ethernet cable into the PC when the PC is turned off, does that cause the other devices to become disconnected ?
 
I can confirm it disconnects all devices (including wireless).
It makes the router stop and you cannot connect on anything until you restart the router.

I have just tried plugging the ethernet cable in when the PC is turned off. It does nothing when the PC is off (even though the yellow light on ethernet shows it is connected). But it is when the PC is turned on and windows loads and it tries to connect, that again it messes up the router and everything disconnects.
 
I would still tend to think it is a driver issue in Windows causing the problem. To confirm that you could try running Ubuntu as IPBA suggested earlier. I would expect it to work which would prove the board/port isn't faulty but that doesn't help with your windows install.

I'd suggest just going into Device Manager and uninstalling the network adaptor if you have already updated to the latest BIOS. When you reboot Windows will try and install it again.

If that still doesn't work then the next step would be to configure the adaptor manually rather than getting it automatically from the router.

These Killer ports were named this for a reason :(
 
Hello, I am bumping this post because I am still having the same problem and have not came up with a solution.
Today, I moved my computer to my new flat, plugged in the ethernet and it worked perfectly. Tried a reboot and again it still work perfectly.. until after about 1 hour of use.. the internet disconnected all devices and lost 2.4GHz wireless connections (kept 5.0GHz).

After rebooting the router again to fix the wireless, I now have the same problem with the desktop connecting via ethernet.
 
If you are running the Killer software on startup, you should either disable it or at least disable its 'Bandwidth Control' in the Killer Network settings.

I find it just causes browsing to slow to a crawl and eventually disconnect you from the network. Can sometimes take a a while before router will let you connect again even after pc reset or power cycle.
 
Thank you for your reply. As a last resort I will put an additional pci ethernet card.
My main reason for wanting to diagnose this would be to know if there is a fault with the motherboard whilst it still remains in its warrenty (couple of months remaining).

How do I disable BANDWIDTH CONTROL? Is this in BIOS?






Here is the connection status when plugged in ethernet :

Unidentified internet – Limited

IPv6 DNS Servers: fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
Manufacturer: Rivet Networks
Description: Killer e2200 Gigabit Ethernet Controller
Driver version: 8.1.0.25
Physical address: ‎FC-AA-14-9C-1E-24



Here is a killer diagnose info :

http://s000.tinyupload.com/index.php?file_id=43246785518626613662
 
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