Question Loseing LAN internet connection durring big file downloads

[spartaentertainment3]

Good day everyone. I have a really wierd problem, every time I want to dowload a big file, after 2-5 minutes my internet completely shuts down and I need to restart the modem to regain acces. My home network is the following. I have a modem to acces the internet, whitch connects into a TP link router, and this router provied internet to 2 PCs, from 2 different ports. PC 1 (whitch is closer to the router) has no problem downloading, but mine: PC 2 (whitch is around 20 meters from the router (I used CAT-5c UTP cabel and we have a 240mb/sec internet connection)) has the before mentioned problem. I only started experienceing this after I uppgraded to Windows 10 but I'm not sure if that couseing it. I have an MSI B450 Tomahawk Motherboard. If anyone experienced the same, or know the solution to this problem I would really apriciate the help.
Thank you in advance for suggestions and help.

 

[Ralston18]

Try another known working (at speed) Ethernet cable betweent the router and PC2.

On PC2 (your PC) try running the built-in Windows network troubleshooters. The troubleshooters may find and fix something.

Be sure that your network adapter's drivers are correct and up-to-date. Download the drivers via the manufacturer's website.

The router's logs, if available and enabled, may provide some clue as to what happens during big file downloads.

What model TP LInk router do you have and who has admin rights to the router?

You will need assistance form the router's administrator to check the logs and perhaps make some applicable configuration changes within the router.

 

[failboat]

with oversized buffers this can happen. while you are swamping your link do you know what ping you get to any outside site? the increase should only be 100-200 extra ms. when it's greater than 2000ms connections can timeout. Which makes it appear as if you're offline. the ISP has full control over this. If you can detect it and complain they might adjust it for you. in the past 5 years or so buffer sizing recommendations have changed to be much lower than previously thought.

If the internet is dropping on everything including the downloading pc then it's another issue.

 

[spartaentertainment3]

I'd like to answare both comments at once. First thank you for trying to help me. I have a TL-WR1043N (TP link ofc) I tryed the built in WIndows throubleshoot but resoulted in nothing, it found nothing. If I'M correct PC 1 has Admin, that one deffenetly has, PC 2 I'M not sure. I haven't contacted the IPS beacouse like I said only PC 2 has this problme, PC 1 been tested, and there, internet never drops, nor times out durring big (10-100 GB) downloads. I also tried to choke my download speed, like on steam I have a MAX 10MB/s but it yields no help, the whole house's internet shuts down the same way like I would have done nothing. I'm also not sure how to chech TP link router logs and ect but I try to figure it out.

 

[failboat]

I'd like to answare both comments at once. First thank you for trying to help me. I have a TL-WR1043N (TP link ofc) I tryed the built in WIndows throubleshoot but resoulted in nothing, it found nothing. If I'M correct PC 1 has Admin, that one deffenetly has, PC 2 I'M not sure. I haven't contacted the IPS beacouse like I said only PC 2 has this problme, PC 1 been tested, and there, internet never drops, nor times out durring big (10-100 GB) downloads. I also tried to choke my download speed, like on steam I have a MAX 10MB/s but it yields no help, the whole house's internet shuts down the same way like I would have done nothing. I'm also not sure how to chech TP link router logs and ect but I try to figure it out.

So you've limited it to 50% or so and it still drops the internet for other computers? have you messed around with any of the settings in the router besides the default stuff?

 

[spartaentertainment3]

So you've limited it to 50% or so and it still drops the internet for other computers? have you messed around with any of the settings in the router besides the default stuff?

I have full acces to the 240Mbit/s but every time I start a download bigger than say 2-3 GBs after a couple of minutes the whole internet shuts down on both PC 1 and 2 and Wifi. No I haven't, beacouse PC 1 hasn't got this problem, so this makes me think that the problem is with PC 2. Also, I have base understading of router config, I don't know what to specificly look for in case of this problem

 

[bill001g]

This has to be a bug in the router firmware...although it is unclear since you said you reboot the modem to fix it. If you reboot the router and that does not fix it then it must be the modem. Modems are pretty stupid and most times only the ISP can update their firmware.

I would see if you can get a newer firmware version for your router.

Although pc2 is causing the issue to occur it is not really the true cause. Just because it sends some traffic that breaks the router does not mean you can fix it in the pc. A PC is suppose to be able to send/receive any traffic and it has no effect on the router. It would be a security exposure if end devices could crash routers just by sending a command to the router.

 

[spartaentertainment3]

This has to be a bug in the router firmware...although it is unclear since you said you reboot the modem to fix it. If you reboot the router and that does not fix it then it must be the modem. Modems are pretty stupid and most times only the ISP can update their firmware.

I would see if you can get a newer firmware version for your router.

Although pc2 is causing the issue to occur it is not really the true cause. Just because it sends some traffic that breaks the router does not mean you can fix it in the pc. A PC is suppose to be able to send/receive any traffic and it has no effect on the router. It would be a security exposure if end devices could crash routers just by sending a command to the router.

Well if not the PC than I think its the router, I did not tested it many times, but now I'm going to, shuting down my internet with the bug, than only restarting the router to see if the internet comes back, if not than as you said probably its the modems fault. Thank you for the suggestion and clerification!

If anyone has any tips, or thoughts about this topic I'm more than welcome to listen to it, but now at least I know what to test to find the couse of the problem.

 

[mihen]

I would move PC2 to where the router is, plug it in directly into the same port and see if the same issue occurs. If it does it eliminates a lot of possibilities.

 

[failboat]

Well if not the PC than I think its the router, I did not tested it many times, but now I'm going to, shuting down my internet with the bug, than only restarting the router to see if the internet comes back, if not than as you said probably its the modems fault. Thank you for the suggestion and clerification!

If anyone has any tips, or thoughts about this topic I'm more than welcome to listen to it, but now at least I know what to test to find the couse of the problem.

Did you try pinging something while you download?

 

[spartaentertainment3]

Did you try pinging something while you download?

Today I've done some testing, same method, downloading big file, internet shuts down, restart router, nothing happens, I can only regain internet if the modem is reseted. On the router I disconnected PC 1, plugged PC 2 into the port that PC 1 was in, the problem still persist. I also checked my ping durring dowloading and it was around 50-70 (my base ping is 11). Even when I saw that the dowload is slowing timing out my ping did not went higher the lowest I had durring download was 17, before the timeout happened, really wierd. I think I forgot to mention, PC 1 has Windows 7, PC 2 has Win 10. Can it be, that the firmware of the modem is outdated and has problems with WIN 10? Durring games and ect, I have no issue what so ever, only durring file downloads, dunno I'm just thinking about every possibility at this point.

 

[bill001g]

You can do very little with a modem even if you own them. There was a issue with intel processors in some modem. I forget what the actual issue was but it was patched. The ISP is responsible for pushing firmware to your modem. Most are pretty good about this. They tend to have all the modem on the same level and only push software out if there is some large issue.

The modem should have a log on it. The log is cleared when you reboot it so you have to hope you can still log into it just before you reboot it. The messages in the log are generally sent to the ISP also so even if you can't get them the ISP should still have them..

In general you should be able to see the levels and number of errors you are seeing on each channel in the modem.

What I have seen is if a modem get excessive errors it will reset itself. Normally this just means you go down until the modem reboots it does not stay down.

 

[spartaentertainment3]

You can do very little with a modem even if you own them. There was a issue with intel processors in some modem. I forget what the actual issue was but it was patched. The ISP is responsible for pushing firmware to your modem. Most are pretty good about this. They tend to have all the modem on the same level and only push software out if there is some large issue.

The modem should have a log on it. The log is cleared when you reboot it so you have to hope you can still log into it just before you reboot it. The messages in the log are generally sent to the ISP also so even if you can't get them the ISP should still have them..

In general you should be able to see the levels and number of errors you are seeing on each channel in the modem.

What I have seen is if a modem get excessive errors it will reset itself. Normally this just means you go down until the modem reboots it does not stay down.

Well mine do stay down, until I reset it, I have a Cisco modem (I know I didn't said mutch with this, but I don't know the exact type of it) whitch I don't own, only provided for me by the ISP. I honestly don't know how shoud I acces the error log of the modem but I'm planing to contact the ISP about the, but I still can't get over the fact that PC 1 has no issues.

 

[digitalgriffin]

If you are pinging back a lot of NAK's with bad packets (Possibly due to a bad cable) the server may think you are trying to attack it, or take too many resources. I don't know if you are using UDP or TCP/IP. But also with TCP/IP a NAK creates a longer stack as the devices wait for the holes in the missing message. (Imagine putting together a jigsaw puzzle by going through a box of pieces and they arrive in random order and you look at a piece and put it back because it doesn't fit. It slows you down)

Also using 1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8 as your DNS can cause issues on some routers and windows 10. (I've experienced this myself and it's a known issue.) Try using your ISP's default DNS.

Intels Network tools for Intel's LAN based chipsets include LAN connection signal connection strength. They rate it from 0->100% ideals.

 

[mihen]

I'm thinking it's either a bad cable going to PC2 or an electrical grounding issue at PC2.

 

[failboat]

Today I've done some testing, same method, downloading big file, internet shuts down, restart router, nothing happens, I can only regain internet if the modem is reseted. On the router I disconnected PC 1, plugged PC 2 into the port that PC 1 was in, the problem still persist. I also checked my ping durring dowloading and it was around 50-70 (my base ping is 11). Even when I saw that the dowload is slowing timing out my ping did not went higher the lowest I had durring download was 17, before the timeout happened, really wierd. I think I forgot to mention, PC 1 has Windows 7, PC 2 has Win 10. Can it be, that the firmware of the modem is outdated and has problems with WIN 10? Durring games and ect, I have no issue what so ever, only durring file downloads, dunno I'm just thinking about every possibility at this point.

It's very useful to have a second router for trouble shooting. Do you have anything else you can test with? you will have to reproduce the issue and change up some variables to narrow this down.

Are any of the devices not inside your home, eg non climate controlled area? overheating can cause things to stop working after a brief time of heavy use.