Issues with Win10 laptops and network connections

kosymodo

kosymodo

kosymodo

Associate
Joined
18 Jun 2020
Posts
382
Location
Warminster
Hey knowledgable folk, I'm after some advice...I am having issues with a new work laptop (Lenovo L14) I have recently been given. It is having problems with its network connections.

I am using the laptop with a Lenovo dock (ThinkPad USB-C Dock Gen2). This is providing the network connection. However, every day I am experiencing problems, as the network connection drops, usually in the middle of Teams calls.

When the network connection drops, it will fall back to WiFi, and the Teams call will resume. However, when it's fallen back to WiFi, I have no VPNs visible, so can't connect to the work network. Also, there seems to be some kind of DNS issue, as webpages fail to open. The only way of reestablishing a connection is to restart the laptop. However, this in itself is problematic, as it takes a while, and usually results in a BSOD (Stop code: DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE).

I have totally reset the network settings, without any improvement.

I had a previous laptop, using the same dock, without issues. Also, my wife has a work laptop, and is unaffected by any issues. Therefore, it's not the dock, and it's not my home network connection. It sertainly seems like a driver/hardware issue.

Our IT Dept agreed with me that this is a driver issue, so thought reinstalling drivers may resolve the issue. They asked me to go to Device Manager, and go to Network Adapters, then right-click all of the ports there and select 'Uninstall device'. Once done, to then go to 'Action' at the top, and select 'Scan for hardware changes'. This seemed to resolve the problem for a week or so, but it resurfaced again today, after a few days of annual leave.

Any ideas what I could try next? I'm more then willing to run any command line commands to provide additional info as required.
 
AlphariusOmegan said:
you have wifi and ethernet active at the same time connected? my old work laptop would do this until i disabled wifi, occasionally it would decide that the wifi would become the primary connection and switch. You could also check network and sharing settings and potentially bridge the two
Click to expand...
No, the laptop prefers the ethernet connection, but falls back to WiFi if the ethernet connection drops. Whilst connected via ethernet, the WiFi connection is inactive
 
mejinks said:
It sounds like a power saving mode possibly? Look to disable hybrid sleep etc in the power settings. Also look to disable anything like green mode in the settings of your ethernet adaptor when connected.
Click to expand...
I'd be surprised if it's a power saving issue, as it happens in the middle of doing things, not when the laptop is idle. I will however take a look to see what I can tinker with in terms of power settings
 
Early days folks, but I think I *may* have found the solution...

Microsoft
Spiceworks

TL;DR - an incompatibility between Teams and Realtek

I now remember having to also do this with my previous laptop...

Realtek driver for the USB Ethernet was on version 8.68.1102.2021 and it's now on version 10.61.20.327 after having manually installed the latest drivers from the Realtek download site (both Lenovo Commercial Vantage and Lenovo Service Bridge were showing no updated drivers available). Fingers crossed this resolves the issue!
 
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