Internet disconnecting whenever playing a Steam game on PC

khriso

Reputable
Jul 11, 2015
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4,510
Wasn't really sure where to ask about my problem so I thought I'd give this forum a go. Quite a long post ahead.

Let me preface this with the fact that the exchange I'm connected to is under repair (I live in Melbourne, Australia) according to the ISP advisor I was on the phone with, but I do not think my problems should be this bad. My internet isn't the greatest either but I've never encountered these issues. My PSU particularly has been making some weird noises (a crackling/clicking type noise) for the past couple of months but everything has been fine - No performance drops, no problems under heavy load - aside from the fact that it makes a weird noise, but at this point I'm thinking it could possibly be linked to my problem. I'm with Telstra running ADSL2+ (yep, no cable or NBN here).

Basically, around the past 2 months I've been constantly disconnecting whilst gaming. Initially I thought the issue was linked to playing online games only but then I realised that whenever I play any game on Steam (haven't tried any non-DRM games or any DRM other than Steam), my internet disconnects completely and then comes back up after some minutes - Other devices can't use the internet, I'm put on offline mode for Steam, being offline means I can't see people on my Friends List, can't browse on Chrome, the internet is literally disconnected for a couple of minutes. I am connected via Ethernet and unfortunately I don't have a wireless adapter.

A good example is when I'm playing a simple game of CS:GO Deathmatch and from 3-8 minutes in I will get the 25-second auto-disconnect message and my net will proceed to disconnect afterwards, not being able to use the internet on any device but then it will be back up and running minutes later. Oddly enough, my ping hasn't been a problem and has stayed at a constant 50 ping. This however, has effectively stopped me from being able to play any online games as I will disconnect eventually.

Then I tried playing single player games like Witcher 2 or Metro 2033 Redux and too, noticed that I would be playing in Offline mode (and internet disconnected in general) after a couple minutes after start-up. Similar to when playing CS my internet will disconnect and then come back later after a couple of minutes. That's when I realised this issue wasn't linked to only online gaming, but strangely enough for light games like BoI: Rebirth or Rogue Legacy my internet is fine and it doesn't disconnect.

Even stranger, is that this issue isn't exclusive to my PC, but also to my PS3. Another problem I've been experiencing is my PS3 (connected via Wi-Fi) not being able to hold a connection with PSN or internet. It will connect to PSN but disconnect moments later with an error message. I just recently got Netflix too and I'm unable to watch it because my PS3 keeps disconnecting from PSN. This has been done when PC has been turned off.

Internet hasn't been the greatest lately either, as it has been fairly intermittent with drops in general download speeds (coming from a constant down speed of 1.5mbps, to fluctuating speeds ranging from 200-1000kbps), but I would assume this is mainly due to the exchange under repair. However, I would not expect that I'm not able to online game anymore.

Not sure what the issue is and what to do and it's getting incredibly frustrating at this point I've almost given up. I'm not sure if by the slightest chance this could be due to my PSU, or the exchange under repair is causing this issue, maybe there's an option that's accidentally been enabled that prevents me from playing, or perhaps a virus (Avast! runs whenever my PC is on)? I have no idea. But if anyone would have a clue what's going on, or possibly a way to alleviate these issues, I would be extremely grateful.

My specs:
CPU: i5 4690
Motherboard: AsRock H97M-Pro4
RAM: 8GB Patriot 1600 MHz
GPU: Gigabyte R9 290
SSD: Sandisk Ultra Plus 256GB
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB
ODD: Samsung DVDRW
PSU: Antec HCG 620
Case: Corsair Spec-02
OS: Windows 8.1 64 bit

 
This is certainly one of the more unusual ones I've seen...

Does it happen if you download a large file? Whatever the issue is, it being able to discriminate between games and bulk file seems unlikely.

If you look in the modem/router's Web UI, it should have an uptime value for both the device itself and the ADSL link. What do they show?
 


I think downloading for the most part has been fine (such as downloading games on Steam) and there's been no problem. I have my modem's stats here, I do notice there are some errors, but for the most part I think it shows it's fine. I feel like it may be hardware related though, perhaps a faulty ethernet port on the mobo, maybe my mobo/BIOS needs to be updated etc. There are still a lot of things I need to try.

Modem stats:

Uptime: 0 days, 1:39:06

DSL Type: ITU-T G.992.5

Bandwidth (Up/Down) [kbps/kbps]: 1,020 / 15,187

Data Transferred (Sent/Received) [MB/MB]: 25.00 / 215.33

Output Power (Up/Down) [dBm]: 12.1 / 18.9

Line Attenuation (Up/Down) [dB]: 16.0 / 26.5

SN Margin (Up/Down) [dB]: 8.2 / 6.4

System Vendor ID (Local/Remote): TMMB / ----

Chipset Vendor ID (Local/Remote): BDCM / BDCM

Loss of Framing (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Signal (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Power (Local/Remote): 0 / 0

Loss of Link (Remote): -

Error Seconds (Local/Remote): 4,059 / 0

FEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 2,845,764

CRC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 53,153

HEC Errors (Up/Down): 0 / 253,659
 
Uptime: 0 days, 1:39:06
This means it last lost the DSL uplink around an hour and a half ago. Does that agree with when your connection last dropped out?

That means it's something in either your exchange, your telephone line, or your modem/router.

Those error numbers are ridiculous. I'd suggest taking a screenshot of it and trying to send it to your ISP's helpdesk, if it's their modem.
 


Yeah, like I said, the exchange has been under repair for the past months and my internet has always been riddled with out of the blue disconnects but not to the extent where I would disconnect every single time I hop in a CSGO match or any game for that matter. I could actually play before hand. And I refreshed the modem myself about that time. If anything I may have a talk with my ISP and talk about the modem stats too.
 

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