Ethernet says it is connected to internet, nothing will load

[AwesomeBathtub]

I have a desktop that has a wired ethernet connection. It's reporting that it has internet access, yet every time I try to load a webpage it times out (after an extremely long time. 3+ minutes).

OS is Windows 7
Network adapter is Realtek RTL8168C(P)/8111C(P)

Things I have tried:
-Updating drivers
-Resetting DNS with ipconfig /flushdns
-Restarting my computer
-Restoring Windows
-Using Ubuntu live (worked once, now it's broken again)*
-Unplugging the cable and plugging it back in
-Using Google's DNS (8.8.8.8)
-Resetting WinSock

*This first happened when I moved to college. The school's tech couldn't figure out what was wrong, so after he left I tried using my Ubuntu live disk. It connected fine in Ubuntu, and when I booted back into Windows the problem was mysteriously gone. It reappeared when I moved my System/Boot partition to my new SSD.

Other weirdness:
-I can ping servers (there's usually a high packet loss rate, but some still make it through)
-Task Manager reports network usage
-The desktop connects perfectly fine when tethered to my laptop
-Sometimes it won't even register that the ethernet cable is plugged in
-My laptop connects using the same cable, same wall port just fine.

The only thing I can think of is that there must be a hardware issue, but it works flawlessly when tethered in to my laptop.

Possibly a BIOS or motherboard issue? I'm not familiar enough with that stuff to know.

Any ideas? I've never had a problem as undiagnosable as this one, so any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[digitaldoc]

Assuming the internet connection, including the Ethernet cable, is otherwise good, this sounds like it is a driver issue for the Ethernet. I would see if there is an updated driver, and see if that helps (be sure to uninstall the current driver). Otherwise, the options include an add in Ethernet via a PCI slot which will come with a separate driver, or tossing the wired connection and going with WiFi and a separate adapter (USB). One of these solutions should bypass your current issue.

 

[AwesomeBathtub]

Assuming the internet connection, including the Ethernet cable, is otherwise good, this sounds like it is a driver issue for the Ethernet. I would see if there is an updated driver, and see if that helps (be sure to uninstall the current driver). Otherwise, the options include an add in Ethernet via a PCI slot which will come with a separate driver, or tossing the wired connection and going with WiFi and a separate adapter (USB). One of these solutions should bypass your current issue.

Alright, removing and then updating the driver seems to have fixed it. Hopefully it won't relapse this time.

 

[digitaldoc]

Glad it worked out.