[SOLVED] Incoming Packet loss

[DataOSeE]

Hello,

About a month ago I started noticing packet loss while playing games. Started with your basic stuff reset my router and modem swapped cables around, then I tried updating my network drivers ( Realtek PCIe FE / CBE / 2.5G) no change then believed the router was faulty so I purchased a ASUS DSL-AC55U with the network tools I did a bunch of a ping tests and noticed 0% Packet loss Up and down. now thinking it was the long 20M Ethernet cable my pc used, so I tested half a dozen cables and I was still getting packet loss. My test consist of Rocket league, Fortnite and pining with command prompt I got packet loss with all cables but only incoming packets and averaged 1-5%. I called my ISP (DODO [AUS]) and they insisted that there's noting wrong with the line, I did finally convince them to bring a technician out but the technician cancelled a few days later after he tested and found no fault. So at a lost I borrowed I friends laptop its uses Intel Dual band Wireless AC 3165 and Realtek PCIe GBE (19.51.27.1) and did the same tests and got no packet loss on the 5GHz Wi-Fi and but some on ethernet but not nearly as much on my pc.

As of now it seems like there's some issue with my PC I've got a MSI z490-A-PRO motherboard and have done everything imaginable. I've Reset network adapter a dozen times, updated BOIS, Ipconfig /release flushdns renew every setting I can think that would make a difference. I'm at a loss I bought a USB to ethernet adapter but a doubt that'll be the fix. pls halp

 

[bill001g]

The USB adapter will rule out the motherboard chipset I guess. It is not very likely that it is bad but you will know for sure. Be careful to get full speed on a USB device it must be USB3 and be plugged into a USB3 socket on the computer. It will though be faster than your DSL connection so it should not be as much a issue if you bought USB2.

The key to cables is that they are pure copper cables (no CCA) and that they have wire size 22-24. There is a massive amount of that flat cable being sold because of the cost of copper metal. The wires are much too thin to meet the standards for ethernet.
It does not have to be anything more than cat5e, you also want to avoid shield cable because it can sometimes cause issues when used on equipment not designed for it. There is almost no equipment designed for it, it is very special need.

The 2.5g chipset have been massively unstable since they came to market. You would think the chipset manufactures would have this very stable by now but you still see lots of people having issues. You need to get the drivers directly from realtek in this case. Be happy it is not a intel chipset, they had a bunch in early motherboards that
had a hardware issue that could not be fully fixed with firmware.

The other things that we see lately that causes issues like this are so called "gamer" network accelerators or QoS. Many times it is bundled with the bloatware in motherboards and video cards. I do not see listed on your motherboard but look for any software that talks about giving some application priority.
It is commonly called CFOSspeed. You want to uninstall this type of software.

I have not used Asus dsl routers that have modems. Most asus have the ability to run ping commands from the router itself. This would let you eliminate the ethernet cable/port in your testing.

If you have multiple devices in your house you can try a old program called IPERF that will transfer data between devices with very little overhead from things like disks or cpu. It does not directly test ping loss but if you are getting even say 1% loss it will likely show errors of some kind or at least be slower. You should see 900mbps or more. If you had 2 devices with 2.5g ports and a router that had 2 you can get speeds well over 2gbit with this program.

 

[DataOSeE]

A part of the story I neglect to mention in the first part because I didn't think it was my ISP fualt but about a month ago we had a storm which knocked out our internet about a week later someone came by and replaced our modem and that's when the trouble started so back to now.

I factory reset my laptop and my PC and bought all new ethernet cables then ran a few test with the realtek diagnostic tool and a few others and I'm still getting incoming packet loss so I called my ISP again and trouble shot for 3 hours he change settingsI changed setting back and forth for a while trying to fix it , near the end he said something like "somtimes you just get packet loss" I tried to explain the storm and that there could be a fault on the line but he said they can't bring a technician if they can't detect anything wrong. what should I do? Should I change ISP?

 

[bill001g]

You need to go back and do very systematic tests so you can prove to the ISP it is there issue.

Since you have have 2 machines I would first start with tests inside your house. I doubt ping will show any loss but you might as well ping between the machines and to the router. I would then try IPERF. This tool should show packet loss and poor performance if you are getting loss.
If all this works well you have pretty much ruled out the cables/ports and even the machines to some extent.

Next you want to open multiple CMD windows. Leave a constant ping run to 8.8.8.8 and to the router IP address. What you hope to see is loss to 8.8.8.8 but not to the router. This pretty much proves the problem is outside your house. You could also run tracert to 8.8.8.8 and then ping hop 2 in addition.
This is the ISP first router and makes it harder for the ISP to try to blame the google (8.8.8.8) server.

If you do not see loss to 8.8.8.8 running the ping in the background while you play the game but the game claims packet loss the problem is going to be more complex than some issue with your modem or the cable to your house. Many times these are strange video driver issues rather than real network issues.

 

[DataOSeE]

I've already have done extensive cmd ping test to google and my router and got packet loss from google but only after a long while and after telling my ISP they pretty much just brushed it off. Also I strongly don't believe that it could be some driver/game engine issue seeing I noticed on 3 different gaming machines all with different drivers and not to mention 2 different games I'll try IPERF tomorrow (late for me as of right now) even if I do see more issues on my end there's no confirmation they will bring someone out, my ISP seem hell bent not to get a technician out unless they see a fault which they continue not to see apparently.

 

[bill001g]

This many times comes down to when you get tired enough of the problem you will just pay $50 or $100 to make it go away. If the problem really is in the ISP network they will not charge you. The tech should be able to hook his pc to the equipment and see the problem. If it happens to be in say the wiring to your house then it still was worth the charge to get it fixed. The main issue is to be sure you get the tech out when you fairly confident the problem will happen. Some people the problem only occurs during hours the ISP does not have tech out in the field.