Question Strange issue - KVM stops working & sometimes ethernet card. Reboot fixes

[Nazralte]

I have a strange issue that I cannot seem to figure out. A work PC that I built is having an issue of USB / Ethernet cutting out. While this may not sound like a software issue, I have a feeling it may be.
Quick Specs - Ryzen 3400G APU - Asus B450 - Samsung EVO m.2 (if you need anything for some reason, I can provide)

This is a work PC. We have two next to each other and we use an older Belkin KVM switch. Probably 4 years old I think at this point. After the new PC was up and running, every now and again the internet would die. After looking into it I noticed that the PC was acting like the ethernet cable wasn't plugged in. I did try and disable and reenable the ethernet card as well. Of course the cable is fine, because after a reboot all was well. It seemed like the card on the board itself might be bad. We ordered a PCI board to see if that would help. Unfortunately it did not.

What happens now is that the KVM stops working, and also the case USB ports. The USB from the motherboard still work. I say the case USB stops working because the mouse and keyboard won't work in those. They will work in the back. Also, the internet will usually die, but not every time. Typically it does. A reboot of the system does fix everything.

What I've noticed the last few times this has happened to me is when I opened up gmail in google chrome. While I am not sure why this specific website would be causing this, I have a suspicion. A program we run on the PC uses another program to send emails like invoices and such. It uses chilkatsmtpQ and a SQL to do this. So I kinda wonder if there is some sort of issue with this email sql and when I open gmail since that program does use our gmail to send out the emails.

While I don't think anyone here is going to know a fix, what I am hoping for is some way to figure out what faults may be happening. Is there a monitoring program built into windows 10 I can use? If not, is there one that I can get to see what may be happening?

Thanks for any help you all can give.

 

[Ralston18]

So an older work PC is now set up beside a new PC and you are using the Belkin KVM to share a mouse, a keyboard, and a monitor between the two computers.

Belkin KVM - manually switched?

Question: Are you also moving the Ethernet cable back and forth between the two pcs? Either physically or through some switch? If so, that may be problematic in itself.

Inputs to KVM being USB mouse, USB keyboard, monitor video cable (VGA, DVD-x, HDMI?) with corresponding outbound cables to each of the two pcs?

If the KVM is faulty then keyboard and mouse inputs may be being "distorted" and any applications open at the time may get erroneous input.

Need to narrow things down by elimination.

Disconnect the KVM switch.

Work with each pc individually using the USB mouse, keyboard, and the applicable video connection directly.

Determine if the problems continue with respect to one or both pcs.

If problems continue with both pcs then swap in known working mice and keyboards.

If only one pc then refocus your troubleshooting on that pc.

If the problems disappear with the absence of the KVM then the KVM is likely the root cause.

Do you have another known working KVM to swap in?

 

[Nazralte]

So, to answer a few questions. Yes, the switching is manual. There is a button that runs to the hub. The problem is only the new PC.
No, we aren't swapping around the ethernet. That would be silly.

Because this is a business and the PC must be used pretty much all the time, it's really hard to test things. Really the only thing I can test is just buying a new KVM, which of course we may do.
I may be able to use a wireless keyboard on the PC that is not having issues and mouse and plug these straight into the new PC. But I will still have to use the KVM to switch the video. We only have room for one monitor.

The very strange thing is why is the ethernet dying as well? And why does the keyboard and mouse work when I plug them into the motherboard USB but not the case USB?

 

[Nazralte]

Update: I plugged a keyboard and mouse straight in to the problem PC (still used the switcher to change video source). Didn't seem to have an issue so we went ahead and ordered a new KVM. (Which is an IOGear brand, as was the previous).

Seemed to be fine for a few days but then the Keyboard, mouse stopped working, as did the ethernet and the case USB ports.

While it can be the KVM switch being the cause, I feel like there is an underlying issue in the motherboard maybe.

If there is some program that I can use to determine why the ethernet drops when this happens maybe I can figure out the rest? Totally lost on this one.

 

[Ketchup79]

Is legacy USB support enabled on the newer PC? How much updtime does this PC have between reboots? Do you have fast startup enabled or disabled on the newer PC?

 

[Nazralte]

Uptime between reboots wouldn't have much to do with it. I leave my PC on at home for weeks at a time.
Legacy USB is a possibility I suppose.

I tried even using a different browser than chrome, but today the moment I opened the web browser the same thing happened. It's always when we open a web browser. It's not every time that the web browser is opened mind you. But when that issue occurs, it's when a web browser is opened.

Checked on Legacy USB and other USB settings. Everything is Enabled. I don't typically mess with motherboard settings unless I need to change boot configs.

 

[Ketchup79]

Uptime between reboots wouldn't have much to do with it. I leave my PC on at home for weeks at a time....

Excuse me.... I thought you were looking for help here. Weeks at a time can be (not will be) an issue, even for Windows 10. Is your computer at home on a KVM? Start a reboot cycle of once a week and let us know if the problem returns.

 

[Nazralte]

Well, let me say it again then. This issue, where the keyboard and mouse, case USB port AND ethernet stops working is when a web browser is running. Sometimes it happens the moment the browser is opened. Sometimes itll be as Im checking emails after the browser has been running for several minutes. Sometimes it doesn't do it at all for a few days.

BUT, since we have stopped using a web browser on that PC, the issue hasn't occurred. I did try a few different browsers and that didn't help.

Why a web browser running would stop that stuff is an odd one for me.

 

[Nazralte]

Small update. Since we have not been using a web browser on the PC having the issue it hasn't come up yet to my knowledge.