I am quite puzzled here hoping for some help. Have an ASUS Z170 Sabertooth Mark 1 board with an i7-6700k CPU and 2x16GB GSKILL TridentZ RAM (not that really matters imo). Been running Windows 8.1_64Bit for a few years now no problem. So I finally decided to put in Win10_64bit and now my ethernet cable network ports (not just internet) don't work and am struggling to figure out if those ports actually failed or if there is some software (or I guess hardware) based issue that disabled them.
Prior to upgrade, created a Win8.1 "system repair disc" and then "created a system image" using the Windows Backup and Restore utilities (which I've both created and used for restore a few times before on this computer with no problems).
Then using a bootable Win10 USB deleted the partitions on my "system" SSD and let win10 install. After install everything seemed to be working fine and I started loading my "base" programs before making another system image (I do this so I can refresh my PC every few months to keep it clean and clear of clutter). I hadn't finished installing my programs yet and went to bed. Woke up the next morning and noticed that Windows 10 had done a few Windows Updates and that I had no network connectivity. Was told by the troubleshooter that "no ethernet cable was plugged in". Keep in mind that I had not touched/changed anything on this PC other than the OS install for weeks. I didn't unplug or newly plug cables into the computer. I checked to see if there was a restore point but none had been created yet. So after googling saw a bunch of stuff about windows 10 breaking peoples internet and uninstalled EVERY windows update. No change.
Now puzzled and pissed off, I thought I'd install a fresh copy (again) and create a system image and restore point immediately after install. Deleted partition, reinstalled and this time when it loaded up noticed the resolution was different, was in the basic VGA (or whatever) no driver resolution and that the network was again not found. I then realized that the network hadn't been available for the installation and therefore couldn't download some of the necessary drivers, that's my guess anyway.
NOW, really pissed off, I said screw it and used my Win8 repair disk, deleted partition again and used restore to put my old win8.1 image back on. Booted...NO NETWORK?!?!?!?!
Everything else on the motherboard seems to work fine, audio, USB, i7-6700k intel video driver (no video card) just not the network ports (there are two of them). I just find it hard that they and only they failed especially since I only use one ethernet cable /port, the other still has the ASUS black plastic plug in it.
In the BIOS I checked everything I could to see if the network port were deactivated or something but I couldn't see anything disabled.
QUESTIONS:
Q1: Is there a BIOS or some other utility to test the network ports (outside of windows) to see if they really are fried?
Q2: Is it possible for Windows Update to change something that actually affects/disables/ruins the hardware?
Any help/thoughts would be really appreciated.
Thanks
Ben
PS - Oh and the kicked of course, I bought the ASUS TUF model because it had a 5 year warranty. I purchased from NewEgg on 30Jan16 and my ASUS account says as muchy so I should be within in that 5 year window by my ASUS account says the warranty expired on 12Jan2021??? Literally a few days before this potential hardware happened...seems fishy to me lol!!
Prior to upgrade, created a Win8.1 "system repair disc" and then "created a system image" using the Windows Backup and Restore utilities (which I've both created and used for restore a few times before on this computer with no problems).
Then using a bootable Win10 USB deleted the partitions on my "system" SSD and let win10 install. After install everything seemed to be working fine and I started loading my "base" programs before making another system image (I do this so I can refresh my PC every few months to keep it clean and clear of clutter). I hadn't finished installing my programs yet and went to bed. Woke up the next morning and noticed that Windows 10 had done a few Windows Updates and that I had no network connectivity. Was told by the troubleshooter that "no ethernet cable was plugged in". Keep in mind that I had not touched/changed anything on this PC other than the OS install for weeks. I didn't unplug or newly plug cables into the computer. I checked to see if there was a restore point but none had been created yet. So after googling saw a bunch of stuff about windows 10 breaking peoples internet and uninstalled EVERY windows update. No change.
Now puzzled and pissed off, I thought I'd install a fresh copy (again) and create a system image and restore point immediately after install. Deleted partition, reinstalled and this time when it loaded up noticed the resolution was different, was in the basic VGA (or whatever) no driver resolution and that the network was again not found. I then realized that the network hadn't been available for the installation and therefore couldn't download some of the necessary drivers, that's my guess anyway.
NOW, really pissed off, I said screw it and used my Win8 repair disk, deleted partition again and used restore to put my old win8.1 image back on. Booted...NO NETWORK?!?!?!?!
Everything else on the motherboard seems to work fine, audio, USB, i7-6700k intel video driver (no video card) just not the network ports (there are two of them). I just find it hard that they and only they failed especially since I only use one ethernet cable /port, the other still has the ASUS black plastic plug in it.
In the BIOS I checked everything I could to see if the network port were deactivated or something but I couldn't see anything disabled.
QUESTIONS:
Q1: Is there a BIOS or some other utility to test the network ports (outside of windows) to see if they really are fried?
Q2: Is it possible for Windows Update to change something that actually affects/disables/ruins the hardware?
Any help/thoughts would be really appreciated.
Thanks
Ben
PS - Oh and the kicked of course, I bought the ASUS TUF model because it had a 5 year warranty. I purchased from NewEgg on 30Jan16 and my ASUS account says as muchy so I should be within in that 5 year window by my ASUS account says the warranty expired on 12Jan2021??? Literally a few days before this potential hardware happened...seems fishy to me lol!!