PC losing internet, but says it’s connected

[Kenjiin]

Hi all,

My PC has started acting strange and I can’t seem to figure out the issue alone. Fundamentally, my pc keeps disconnecting from the internet a couple of times a day, seemingly very randomly, and it’s the only device that’s having the issue at the time.

What makes it weirder, is windows will say that it’s still connected to the network and the internet. The only indicator that I’ve lost connection is browsers won’t load, or I’ll lose connection to servers in an online game.

Today I was playing a single player game on steam and realised it had happened again because I got about 7 friends online notifications all at the same time once my pc reconnected. Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? It’s been happening since the weekend, and I installed a new PSU, GPU and Ram, but I can’t see how that would effect anything.

PC is connected via Ethernet. All other WiFi and Ethernet devices remain connected.

 

[Haze]

You have tried the most obvious thing of changing the cable?

 

[ChrisD.]

As above, try swapping the cable.

Any security software installed?

Live boot Ubuntu and see if you have the same issue. That will narrow down whether it’s hardware or software related.

 

[Kenjiin]

Yeah, I've tried different cables. I've tried reseating cables and rebooting the router. The cable also works fine on my partners PC. I also have a cable tester from work, no issues.

I think the important factor is that this wasn't happening at all until Friday when I installed the new GPU/PSU/Ram. After a good bit of googling, I've found people posting the exact same issue after a GPU install but never any clear resolution within the posts. A lot are wifi related, but there are some with Ethernet too. I'm trying some of there suggested advice, such as turning off 'Allow computer to turn off this device to save power' in the advanced settings of the network adapter.

I'll try Ubuntu.

 

[Nemiyen]

When you get the disconnect, can you log into your router (or keep the page opened) and make sure the Internet/ wan port is up.

Your PC might just be taking longer to come up than other devices and mobiles will automatically swap between mobile and Wi-Fi so aren't a great way to check things are OK.

It does sound related to your new gpu if that's when the issues started happening, but could be a coincidence.

You've not damaged any pins on the ethernet port or can try a USB ethernet adapter?

 

[tangey]

I'm sure you have already tried, but just in case, try a different port on the router ?

Does it regain internet access itself....if so how long does it take ?

 

[Kenjiin]

When you get the disconnect, can you log into your router (or keep the page opened) and make sure the Internet/ wan port is up.

Your PC might just be taking longer to come up than other devices and mobiles will automatically swap between mobile and Wi-Fi so aren't a great way to check things are OK.

It does sound related to your new gpu if that's when the issues started happening, but could be a coincidence.

You've not damaged any pins on the ethernet port or can try a USB ethernet adapter?

I'll give it a go. The weird way that it goes down makes it quite hard to detect sometimes. The network indicator in the bottom right of windows will still show connected, even if you click it, it says connected to 'router' with internet access. I haven't found a way to replicate it yet for testing. It's a bit of a random waiting game.

I know other devices are fine though, just because my partner was playing an online game at the time it happened on my PC. I was disconnected from the servers and couldn't load any web pages. She continued playing without issue. Would be a big coincidence if so! And I was going to put it down to that, but it seems very easy to find others who have had the exact same issue online in the past.

I'm sure you have already tried, but just in case, try a different port on the router ?

Does it regain internet access itself....if so how long does it take ?

I've got it plugged into a different port now. I've also set a manual IP address, updated my chipset drivers and turned off the option for the network adapter to be switched off to save power. Just have to wait and see if it happens again now. I have no known way of forcing it to dc, so it's a bit of a pain for testing.

But yeah, it reconnects by itself. Usually a minute or two on the occations where I've noticed it drop immediatly. When I've just been playing single player games on Steam, the only way I notice that I've dropped and come back online is when it reconnects and I get a 1-10 Online notification all at once for my friends.

I'll keep an eye on it this evening and post if anything changes.

 

[bledd]

Right.

Are you connected directly to the router via an ethernet cable?

Do you use power line adaptors anywhere on your network?

Do you have any switches on your network?

Find out the IP of your router..


Open up 2x cmd windows, type this...
ping -t 1.1.1.1
ping -t IP_of_router

This will keep checking for a response from cloudflare and your router.

Look at both windows when this problem happens and report back.