Question My internet connection keeps dropping out when connected to ethernet while I am gaming.

[-Wig-]

Problem:
My internet connection keeps dropping out when connected to ethernet while I am gaming. It does not happen on Wi-Fi and only drops out for a second or two.

I have tested it on multiple games. I have not noticed it happening when not gaming, this includes watching live streams. There is also nothing showing on my pc that the ethernet is disconnected when it is happening.

The build is nearly brand new and the problem only started recently without any clear route cause.

Build:
Network adapter - Realtek Gaming 2.5gbe Family Controller.
Motherboard - Asus Prime Z590-P Wi-Fi

What I have tried already:
I have confirmed it is only happening to my PC on the network and that it is not the ethernet cable or router.

I have wiped my PC which did not fix it.

I have confirmed it is not related to antivirus or windows defender/firewall. I am also fairly certain it is not a DNS issue.

I have tried to update my drivers for my Ethernet Adapter as well as manually install the newest one from Realtek.

I have tried to change the Power Management settings on the Ethernet Adapter Device. I have also tried to change other settings on the Adapter as per some instructional videos.

Question:
So far nothing has worked which is very frustrating as it definitely worked a week ago and I can't see anything that happened to cause it so suddenly.

Does anyone have any idea what if could be? Or any ideas as to how to further troubleshoot the issue?

 

[bill001g]

I would search the even viewer for any ethernet errors around that time.

The simple first test is to open a cmd window and leave a constant ping command run to your router IP. This will quickly show if you are losing connectivity on the ethernet or it is something more complex.

 

[-Wig-]

I would search the even viewer for any ethernet errors around that time.

The simple first test is to open a cmd window and leave a constant ping command run to your router IP. This will quickly show if you are losing connectivity on the ethernet or it is something more complex.

Hi Bill,

I have searched the Event Viewer and cannot see any relevant errors.

I have run a continues ping to the router for about 10 minutes, and it did have one failed ping.

Thanks!

 

[bill001g]

one means nothing. I have seen it many times for example lose the first one.

The next step is to leave a ping run to 8.8.8.8 I would at the same time leave a ping run to the router IP just in case the issue is very random.
If you are actually correct that no other device is having issues then you will see no loss since those device share the same internet connection.

Problem now is you have eliminated any network source of your problem.

There is other stuff you can try. First I would make sure IPv6 is disabled in the nic settings. You get very random test results when some sites are using IPv6 and other IPv4. It is unlikely you actually need IPv6 for anything.
The other fairly common one when you have a Asus motherboard is the bloatware that comes with the motherboard. They have changed the name of the worst offender over time. Used to be called lanfirst but I think they now call it CFOSspeed which is the more common software that their other version was based on.
In any case any software that claims it favors some kind of traffic or claims it can reduce say latency you need to uninstall it. This software has a long history of causing strange issue and it is totally stupid. It can only control data inside the machine and if you have some kind of network bottleneck between application in your machine you have a much larger problem.

 

[-Wig-]

one means nothing. I have seen it many times for example lose the first one.

The next step is to leave a ping run to 8.8.8.8 I would at the same time leave a ping run to the router IP just in case the issue is very random.
If you are actually correct that no other device is having issues then you will see no loss since those device share the same internet connection.

Problem now is you have eliminated any network source of your problem.

There is other stuff you can try. First I would make sure IPv6 is disabled in the nic settings. You get very random test results when some sites are using IPv6 and other IPv4. It is unlikely you actually need IPv6 for anything.
The other fairly common one when you have a Asus motherboard is the bloatware that comes with the motherboard. They have changed the name of the worst offender over time. Used to be called lanfirst but I think they now call it CFOSspeed which is the more common software that their other version was based on.
In any case any software that claims it favors some kind of traffic or claims it can reduce say latency you need to uninstall it. This software has a long history of causing strange issue and it is totally stupid. It can only control data inside the machine and if you have some kind of network bottleneck between application in your machine you have a much larger problem.

I have tested and run the ping while playing a game, and when the request time out happens I am getting the issue in game that I am trying to solve. I have also pinged 8.8.8.8 and get similar results of occasional request timeouts. From what I can tell other people on the network are not having the same issue, and there is someone else who plays games on an ethernet connection.

IPv6 is indeed disabled and I have double checked that there is no bloatware running in processes that could be causing the issue.

 

[bill001g]

So you get more than say just 1 timeout when you ping the router.

Do you get multiple ping loss in a row or does it just lose a ping and then maybe minutes later loose another.

There is very little involved here which is good and bad. Pretty much the data was either damaged say by the ethernet cable or the ports or some software has a issue. For example the router has some kind of issue where it never sent the response. I guess it could also be the response was sent but the pc software somehow lost it between the ethernet buffer and the OS.

The easiest thing to try is a new ethernet cable. Bad ethernet cables are very strange, they can function on some devices but not others. This is even more true if you have one of the many fake cable being sold. I would try a new cable. You only need cat5e but be very sure it is pure copper (no CCA) and has wire size 22-24 (none of that flat or thin cable). If it is not the cable this is going to be tricky to find. You would think if it was the router you would get issues on wifi as well as other machines.

Used to be the 2.5g port had all kinds of issue but if you have already loaded the realtek driver it likely is ok. They seem to have fixed it but sometime microsoft will be "helpful?" and load generic drivers.

 

[-Wig-]

So you get more than say just 1 timeout when you ping the router.

Do you get multiple ping loss in a row or does it just lose a ping and then maybe minutes later loose another.

There is very little involved here which is good and bad. Pretty much the data was either damaged say by the ethernet cable or the ports or some software has a issue. For example the router has some kind of issue where it never sent the response. I guess it could also be the response was sent but the pc software somehow lost it between the ethernet buffer and the OS.

The easiest thing to try is a new ethernet cable. Bad ethernet cables are very strange, they can function on some devices but not others. This is even more true if you have one of the many fake cable being sold. I would try a new cable. You only need cat5e but be very sure it is pure copper (no CCA) and has wire size 22-24 (none of that flat or thin cable). If it is not the cable this is going to be tricky to find. You would think if it was the router you would get issues on wifi as well as other machines.

Used to be the 2.5g port had all kinds of issue but if you have already loaded the realtek driver it likely is ok. They seem to have fixed it but sometime microsoft will be "helpful?" and load generic drivers.

Tends to be just one ping loss, but occasionally can be more.

Ok I will get a new ethernet cable and try that and see how we go. At least if it doesn't work I have ticked off another thing.

Thanks for your help, it is very much appreciated!

Will let you know how I get on after new ethernet arrives.