[SOLVED] Internet goes down when streaming games

[rgbGamer]

Why does the Internet on my laptop go down while I stream games (Discord, Steam Link) ?

I'm using WI-FI for gaming (400Mbps upload, 500 Mbps download). MSI GE66 Raider laptop, i7 108750 CPU, RTX 2070 GPU, 16 RAM.
I'm only trying to stream my games (CS:GO, Assassin's Creed) to one friend, it really is minor streaming.

 

[serafin152]

By go down you mean completely turning off for a while or just spikes for second?

 

[Lutfij]

Are you working with a router between the laptop and your ISP? If so, what is the make and model of said router? If you're working with the modem from your ISP and the laptop, then see if uninstalling your WiFi adapter's drivers and reinstalling them with the latest version changes your experience.

Version of Windows 10 you're currently working with?

 

[rgbGamer]

By go down you mean completely turning off for a while or just spikes for second?

It spikes for a few seconds then it completely disconnects and I have to connect it manually.

 

[bill001g]

Have you tried this on ethernet to eliminate other issues other than the wifi causing this.

Wifi is a huge pain when it comes to anything that require a data transmission with consistent latency. Games and live streaming have many more issue than any other kind of traffic.

In almost all cases the problems with wifi is some kind of external interference. You can't really fix that which is why you see everyone recommending to not use wifi for online games.

Maybe you get lucky and it is a driver issue. Make sure you have the latency driver form the either the laptop manufature or better from the chipset vendor for your wifi card. Do not use the generic ones in windows.

 

[rgbGamer]

Are you working with a router between the laptop and your ISP? If so, what is the make and model of said router? If you're working with the modem from your ISP and the laptop, then see if uninstalling your WiFi adapter's drivers and reinstalling them with the latest version changes your experience.

Version of Windows 10 you're currently working with?

My laptop is brand new, I updated all the drivers and I'm using Windows 10 family. My router is Sagemcom Livebox 5, I'm using a french ISP, I don't know if that could help. And I'm using Wi-Fi for gaming.

 

[serafin152]

It spikes for a few seconds then it completely disconnects and I have to connect it manually.

For spikes im 100% sure lan would fix the problem, I had almost the same problem a while ago, even with 500mb and the same upload u may think its good connection but wifi disconnects anyway some time and then.

 

[rgbGamer]

I'm updating my situation, here's the post I made yesterday : https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/internet-goes-down-when-streaming-games.3690908/

I realized that streaming video games makes my Internet crash while I'm charging my laptop.
I tried streaming with and without being plugged. Streaming + gaming only works when it's not plugged.
Is it software or hardware related?

 

[Lutfij]

We're currently on version 20H2 for Windows 10. So, which version are you on? At this point, you should also check and see what BIOS version you're currently on for your laptop.

 

[rgbGamer]

We're currently on version 20H2 for Windows 10. So, which version are you on? At this point, you should also check and see what BIOS version you're currently on for your laptop.

I'm on version 20H2 for Windows 10. Here's my BIOS version : E1541IMS.10C

 

[bill001g]

That is interesting that it is related to it being plugged in. So first does it actually impact the internet connection or only this one device. I will assume other devices work ok.

Laptops have all kinds of garbage power save options etc in them. It is not too hard to get something set wrong.

I guess you could try a USB linux boot image. This tends to be the best way to eliminate windows software as the cause. Problem is if it is only certain application that do this they may not run under linux so you need to find something that will break the network but also will run under linux.

Does download of large files cause this or is it only software that is doing upload

 

[rgbGamer]

That is interesting that it is related to it being plugged in. So first does it actually impact the internet connection or only this one device. I will assume other devices work ok.

Laptops have all kinds of garbage power save options etc in them. It is not too hard to get something set wrong.

I guess you could try a USB linux boot image. This tends to be the best way to eliminate windows software as the cause. Problem is if it is only certain application that do this they may not run under linux so you need to find something that will break the network but also will run under linux.

Does download of large files cause this or is it only software that is doing upload

It doesn't impact the router only the internet on my laptop. I searched for power settings and didn't find anything related to my issue, only the basic windows settings.
I have no idea how to do a usb linux boot image, and I don't wanna risk messing with my new computer as I have no experience to be honest.
It doesn't happen with only one app, the issue concerns multiple apps such as Steam Link, Discord, anything that involves streaming while gaming.
Downloading large files isn't an issue for me since I have downloaded big games, the internet works fine. And my WiFi can handle streaming and gaming at the same time, only when I don't have my laptop charging though.

 

[bill001g]

Downloads are going to put a much large strain on the system because you are using much more bandwidth than the other applications. You would think this would actually cause more failures than just running games and streaming which takes only a fraction of the bandwidth.

The difference being how much of the traffic is upload. Your machine must use power to transmit the signal back to the router more than when it is receiving data from the router. So the wifi card is consuming different amounts of power when it downloads compared to when it is doing upload.

Your problem is you must find a way to test things or you just blindly replace stuff. Your first concern would be is it some software setting in windows or is the wifi hardware some how defective. This is why the recommendation for attempting to boot linux. I mean you could just replace the wifi card and see if it fixes the problem. You could also just reinstall windows and hope to get lucky.

It also does not make much sense it is related to if it is plugged in. I doubt it is a defective charger I guess it could be. Someone had a similar issue but it was killing a powerline network but I guess the power block could be interfering with the wifi. Do you have anyway to borrow a different one to test.