[SOLVED] Random packet loss

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andrew051098

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Hi,
For the past few months I've been having random packet loss. I run 3 ping tests side by side 8.8.8.8 (google), 1.1.1.1 (cloudflare), and 192.168.1.1 (my router), and all three tests have "request timed out" at the same time every 30 seconds or so, which effects games etc.
Some days it wont happen, or at least I didn't notice it. Sometimes it will be a lot worse, it will say "request timed out" once every 2-3 pings. Changing the speed & duplex from auto to 1Gbps or from 1Gbps to 100Mbps or from 100Mbps to 1Gbps seems to temporarily fix it or at least get it back to how it normally is (timing out once ever 30-40 seconds).
Other devices on my network don't seem to be effected. It seems to only affect the ethernet connection to my PC, when I use a 2.4GHz WiFi USB, the connection is fixed but it's not as fast as an ethernet connection.

Things I've done to try fix it:
  1. I have done a clean install of windows,
  2. Reset int ip, winsock and flushed DNS,
  3. Installed a new gigabit ethernet network card (TP-Link TG-3468),
  4. Bought a new ethernet cable (CAT6),
  5. Reinstalled the newest network drivers and rolled back my network drivers for both the motherboard ethernet and the new network adapter,
  6. Using a new router from my ISP,
  7. My ISP has checked my broadband line multiple times over 2 months and said there is no fault on the line,
  8. Tried different DNS servers.
Strangely I've noticed that playing certain games (not all) will fix the internet 95% of the time until the match finishes and I'm back into the menu, then the packet loss will come back immediately and I can see the frequent "request timed out" again. It might be useless information but I don't know what to say, except that this might point to a setting that's limiting network bandwidth until certain requirements are met, I don't know.
On rare occasions, opening a website will say something like DNS server not responding, and this will trigger a bigger packet loss and request timeouts. And during these times I can trigger it every time I open a website, and this is also fixed by changing the speed & duplex to a different speed and then back again to the original speed, but like I said this is rare- it's usually just random packet loss I face.
My event viewer shows nothing except (name of website) timed out after none of the configured DNS servers responded.

Please will someone help. If there's any info that will help you, please ask.
Thank you
 
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Solution
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Problems like this are hard to find. The most common one is there is a issue with 2 devices using the same IP address but it mostly trying to figure out what device seems to break things.
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kanewolf

kanewolf

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andrew051098 said:
Hi,
For the past few months I've been having random packet loss. I run 3 ping tests side by side 8.8.8.8 (google), 1.1.1.1 (cloudflare), and 192.168.1.1 (my router), and all three tests have "request timed out" at the same time every 30 seconds or so, which effects games etc.
Some days it wont happen, or at least I didn't notice it. Sometimes it will be a lot worse, it will say "request timed out" once every 2-3 pings. Changing the speed & duplex from auto to 1Gbps or from 1Gbps to 100Mbps or from 100Mbps to 1Gbps seems to temporarily fix it or at least get it back to how it normally is (timing out once ever 30-40 seconds).
Other devices on my network don't seem to be effected. It seems to only affect the ethernet connection to my PC, when I use a 2.4GHz WiFi USB, the connection is fixed but it's not as fast as an ethernet connection.

Things I've done to try fix it:
  1. I have done a clean install of windows,
  2. Reset int ip, winsock and flushed DNS,
  3. Installed a new gigabit ethernet network card (TP-Link TG-3468),
  4. Bought a new ethernet cable (CAT6),
  5. Reinstalled the newest network drivers and rolled back my network drivers for both the motherboard ethernet and the new network adapter,
  6. Using a new router from my ISP,
  7. My ISP has checked my broadband line multiple times over 2 months and said there is no fault on the line,
  8. Tried different DNS servers.
Strangely I've noticed that playing certain games (not all) will fix the internet 95% of the time until the match finishes and I'm back into the menu, then the packet loss will come back immediately and I can see the frequent "request timed out" again. It might be useless information but I don't know what to say, except that this might point to a setting that's limiting network bandwidth until certain requirements are met, I don't know.
On rare occasions, opening a website will say something like DNS server not responding, and this will trigger a bigger packet loss and request timeouts. And during these times I can trigger it every time I open a website, and this is also fixed by changing the speed & duplex to a different speed and then back again to the original speed, but like I said this is rare- it's usually just random packet loss I face.
My event viewer shows nothing except (name of website) timed out after none of the configured DNS servers responded.

Please will someone help. If there's any info that will help you, please ask.
Thank you
Click to expand...
Until you resolve you instability of the ping to your router, nothing else will be stable. You have to focus on that symptom. You could try booting a Linux USB. See if that can reliably ping the router.
 
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andrew051098

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kanewolf said:
Until you resolve you instability of the ping to your router, nothing else will be stable. You have to focus on that symptom. You could try booting a Linux USB. See if that can reliably ping the router.
Click to expand...
I tried what you suggested for a while and it never lost any pings, then I tried Ubuntu in a virtual machine whilst running the ping tests on windows and windows was still losing some pings whereas Ubuntu wasn't.

EDIT- I did more tests to double check and Ubuntu did also lose some packets but it looked like it wasn't losing as many as Windows. But if they're both losing packets this means it can't be a software issue?
 
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Ralston18

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Make and model router?

This:

"Strangely I've noticed that playing certain games (not all) will fix the internet 95% of the time until the match finishes and I'm back into the menu "

What "certain games"?

What games have packet losses?

You also mentioned websites - what websites?
 
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andrew051098

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Ralston18 said:
Make and model router?

This:

"Strangely I've noticed that playing certain games (not all) will fix the internet 95% of the time until the match finishes and I'm back into the menu "

What "certain games"?

What games have packet losses?

You also mentioned websites - what websites?
Click to expand...
Make and model router?
It's an ISP supplied router, Vodafone THG3000

What "certain games"?
Valorant, Satisfactory online coop, ARMA 3 are the only ones I can think of right now

What games have packet losses?
All other games and applications including discord. The packets randomly time out in between my PC and the router, so when ever that happens on the ping test on my second monitor it happens in game too.

You also mentioned websites - what websites?
It seems random, but once it happens with a website it will be that exact website for an hour or until I switch from my motherboard ethernet to the ethernet adapter card- or vice versa. But the website problem is pretty rare
 
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Ralston18

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On your pc run "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) via the Command Prompt.

Post the results.

= = = =

This router?

https://guidessimo.com/document/1642053/vodafone-thg3000-setup-manual-8.html

Go to the link and scroll down some to get to the 8 page manual.

The cover page is bright red - stay in that window as you review the pages.

Be careful to not click any "download" or "view" links.

As near as I can determine, the router does not offer any logs that can be used for troubleshooting.

If possible, access the router's admin screens and take a look.

Who has full admin rights to the router? You will need help from that person.

Also familiarize yourself with the status lights per Page 6. Watch for status changes when packet losses occur.
 
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andrew051098

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Ralston18 said:
On your pc run "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) via the Command Prompt.

Post the results.

= = = =

This router?

https://guidessimo.com/document/1642053/vodafone-thg3000-setup-manual-8.html

Go to the link and scroll down some to get to the 8 page manual.

The cover page is bright red - stay in that window as you review the pages.

Be careful to not click any "download" or "view" links.

As near as I can determine, the router does not offer any logs that can be used for troubleshooting.

If possible, access the router's admin screens and take a look.

Who has full admin rights to the router? You will need help from that person.

Also familiarize yourself with the status lights per Page 6. Watch for status changes when packet losses occur.
Click to expand...
Results:
Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : DESKTOP-V51EN53
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : broadband

Ethernet adapter Ethernet 2:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : broadband
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (7) I219-V
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : B4-2E-99-4B-0C-19
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::445f:4ffe:3109:4307%13(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.191(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 21 May 2022 13:38:16
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 27 June 2158 20:14:41
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 179580569
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-2A-0E-DE-54-B4-B0-24-2C-B0-39
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fe80::d635:1dff:fe6b:6b03%13
192.168.1.1
fe80::d635:1dff:fe6b:6b04%13
fe80::d635:1dff:fe6b:6b03%13
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled
Connection-specific DNS Suffix Search List :
broadband
broadband
broadband
--------------------------------------------
Yes it's that router.
There is an event log on the admin page, it shows firewall logs, system, LAN, WAN and USB.
And I've checked the router lights before, there are no changes in the lights when a packet is lost.
 
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andrew051098

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It feels like it's breaking more frequently now. Switching between the network adapters would usually temporary fix it for a while. But even that's not as effective anymore, restarting the PC seems to be better at temporarily fixing it but it's still not fixing it every time. Today none of my previous temporary fixes have worked. Please can someone help? Thank you
 
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bill001g

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There are not a lot of possibilities left.
You have eliminated pretty much everything. This means you likely missed something in your testing.

The ping function is pretty simple. I mean it does not care about fancy web browsers or even things like DNS.

You pretty much have ports in the router and the pc, a piece of wire and some simple drivers.

Having to restart the pc is acting more and more like a hardware problem but if you have replace the nic card already then that "should" have resolved it. They likely also use different drivers so that also is less a concern.
 
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andrew051098

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I've already double checked all the previous tests I've done, but I'm gonna try them again to make sure. I'm wondering if it could be a hardware fault with my motherboard or even the storage drive my OS is installed on, but I'm not sure if those can affect the network in the way mine is being affected. Strangely enough, some online games are still fixing the issue 90% of the time.
 
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bill001g

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Maybe try to use a USB linux image and boot that rather than use a virtual machine. That would directly put the connection to the ethernet hardware on linux rather than it be a virtual things in windows. Also since a USB image runs completely from the stick it would eliminate your storage but in general a ping command runs 100% from memory and stores nothing so it is unlikely storage. It still is a pretty easy test to run and if it too has issue then you likely have some very strange hardware issue. The onboard ethernet card and a pcie card do not share a lot in common. If there was a generic issue with say pcie you would likely see massive video issues rather than just some ping issues.
 
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andrew051098

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bill001g said:
Maybe try to use a USB linux image and boot that rather than use a virtual machine. That would directly put the connection to the ethernet hardware on linux rather than it be a virtual things in windows. Also since a USB image runs completely from the stick it would eliminate your storage but in general a ping command runs 100% from memory and stores nothing so it is unlikely storage. It still is a pretty easy test to run and if it too has issue then you likely have some very strange hardware issue. The onboard ethernet card and a pcie card do not share a lot in common. If there was a generic issue with say pcie you would likely see massive video issues rather than just some ping issues.
Click to expand...

I did boot from a linux USB, I tried a virtual machine afterwards. But both tests had bad ping losses
 
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bill001g

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So before spending big money try to buy another cable maybe you just got unlucky. Make sure you get a cable that is pure copper with wire size 22-24 you only need cat5e unless cat6 is cheaper. Be careful to read specs lots of fake cable especially that flat stuff.

Next maybe consider a USB3 ethernet adapter. Since the linux boots and runs from USB you would think there is no issue with the USB interface to your computer.

If you have another machine maybe ping the router from that machine to be sure there is no issue and then try to ping between the machines rather than the router IP. Maybe there is some strange duplicate IP issues.
 
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andrew051098

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bill001g said:
So before spending big money try to buy another cable maybe you just got unlucky. Make sure you get a cable that is pure copper with wire size 22-24 you only need cat5e unless cat6 is cheaper. Be careful to read specs lots of fake cable especially that flat stuff.

Next maybe consider a USB3 ethernet adapter. Since the linux boots and runs from USB you would think there is no issue with the USB interface to your computer.

If you have another machine maybe ping the router from that machine to be sure there is no issue and then try to ping between the machines rather than the router IP. Maybe there is some strange duplicate IP issues.
Click to expand...
Ok, thanks for the suggestions.
I think I can already eliminate the idea of it being the cable as I've already got multiple good copper cables; cat7,6a,5e and 5- the issue happens on all of them when connected to my PC.

I'll look into getting a USB3 ethernet adapter for testing.

And I have a laptop which I was using for comparing the tests using the same cables and the laptop wasn't having the same issue, but I noticed the laptop is only capable of 100 Mbps full duplex and my PC doesn't seem to have issues when using the same 100 Mbps full duplex, the issue is only happening when using 1Gbps full duplex even if the connection is barely being used- only running the ping test. But I need the 1Gbps speed instead of the 100Mbps
 
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andrew051098

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Hi.
I'm still having this problem. I stopped trying to fix it for a while because I was just tired of it. I did a few tests and the problem only happens on this PC whether I ping the router or a different PC on a direct connection. The only temporary fix I've found that works consistently is to just restart the PC 1-2 or 3 times, or until it stops happening, then it'll be fixed until I next turn the PC on.
Thanks
 
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andrew051098

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Hi.
I've bought a new motherboard (and cpu for compatible reasons) but its still happening sometimes when i first turn on the PC until I restart.
I can't have much options left so I must be getting close to fixing it.
  1. ISP has checked the line
  2. New router
  3. New ethernet
  4. New network card
  5. New motherboard
  6. Windows reinstalled from a boot USB
  7. Tried Linux Ubuntu
What else could I do? its nearly a new PC now except storage, RAM and GPU
 
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