Question Ethernet connection is spotty and seemingly stops all data movement

[Skylineace]

So, my computer was working fine and dandy, and then suddenly my internet started disconnecting me from the games I was playing. Now, the power did go out for like 3 seconds, but came right back on. But my PC was on and was turned off by it. I do have it in a surge protector strip, and things worked fine for like 3-4 hours after the power went out. I assumed it was just my ISP acting up (as it has been.). But it's now like 15 hours later with no fixes.

What's happening: Things will work fine for like 2-5 seconds, and then just stop entirely for like 10-20 seconds. It just continues like that forever. I have restarted my computer, tried new cables, checked the drivers. Etc etc. The device manager says everything is working fine, but it's clearly not.

I've even hooked up my brothers PC using the same cables and port, but his works fine. WIFI is also perfectly normal. It's just my computers ethernet connection.

The lights on the back inside the port are solid green, and then also a blinking orange/amber color. (theres two lights). I don't really know what else to do. Is there anyway to tell if it's the motherboard or something? And is there any fix to this without rebuilding my computer?

My computer is over 6 years old, but I haven't really had any problems with it until now.

Motherboard is ASRock Z77 Extreme4

 

[Skylineace]

Eh, just gonna install a new motherboard and see what happens.

 

[SamirD]

Don't do that! No need to!

Boot up a linux live cd. If your ethernet adapter works on the linux live cd browser, then it's just something wonky in windows.

If you still have the same problems, probably hardware at that point, but still may not be your nic.

Get a usb nic which is about $20-30 and try it. If it works fine with the same cable then it was your motherboard nic, but no worries since now you have a usb one.

If there are still problems with the usb nic, I would change the cable as it may have been marginal to begin with and had some sort of a failure during the power blip.

 

[Skylineace]

Thanks for your reply, but a friend gave me a new CPU and motherboard anyway. Issue is resolved, but if it happens again, I'll keep that in mind. Appreciate it. Take care.

 

[SamirD]

Wow--you have great friends! Hope you pass on your old stuff to someone who can fix it and use it!