Question Sudden loss of wired connection, noob at the computer.

[altceva]

New pc (call it PC1), bought a few days ago. The MB is Gigabyte B850 Gaming X Wifi6e. Installed Windows 10 Pro, everything worked fine, with wired and wifi internet.
Today I lost the wired connection. The wifi is fine, both on the computer and the router. Called a team from the ISP, they came quick, tested the direct connection and the signal, they said it's fine. "Maybe it's your drivers" they said on their way out.

Indeed, all that I have done today was messing with some drivers. I don't know if this is the source of my problem, but I will try to describe it.

[ Earlier today, I was trying to pair a bluetooth keyboard with some difficulties and having barely surface knowledge about computers, I installed QMK Toolbox as a recomendation from the keyboard manufacturer. Thinking it would help with the firmware of my keyboard, I clicked "install drivers" from QMK Toolbox. It installed a dozen drivers, automatically. I have no idea what.
I remember that soon after, my wired connection was struggling, disconnecting and reconnecting many times in a few minutes. Maybe it's a coincidence, maybe not. This is why I'm here, I'm not a wise man. ]


What I did:
- Went for network reset in Windows > Settings > Networking and internet > Status. No change.

- Uninstalled all the networkinng adapters, reinstalled them, updated. No wired internet.

- Connected another pc (PC2) at the same network and with the same cables, with and without router, working perfectly in wired (has no wifi).

- Put the cables back to PC1, no wired internet.

- Used commands from the Microsoft support page for resetting/renewing, with no results:

- netsh winsock reset
- netsh int ip reset
- ipconfig /release
- pconfig /renew
- ipconfig /flushdns

- I reset Windows. No wired internet.

- I reinstalled Windows all together with nothing kept on the OS drive. No wired internet.

- I pulled everything from the router, unpowered, reset (not factory reset). Left it a few minutes and reconnected. Nothing.




Considering the PC2 works fine with the router and without it, on the direct connection, I'm thinking the problem is at PC1. I would exclude a driver issue, as I reinstalled a clean Windows.


I am out of ideas. It might be a setting from BIOS? Maybe something physical happened with the motherboard?

What details should I provide more? Please bare in mind I'm a novice in everything computer related.

Thank you for any help.

 

[Ralston18]

On the PC do you have the wired and the wireless network adapters both enabled at the same time?

Only one network adapter should be enabled on the PC.

= = = =

Run "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) via the Command Prompt.

Post the full results.

You should be able to use copy and paste to do so.

 

[dingo07]

Update all Chipset and Motherboard drivers

 

[altceva]

On the PC do you have the wired and the wireless network adapters both enabled at the same time?

Only one network adapter should be enabled on the PC.

= = = =

Run "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) via the Command Prompt.

Post the full results.

You should be able to use copy and paste to do so.

Here it is:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : DESKTOP-4HPAE04
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Ethernet:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe 2.5GbE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 10-FF-E0-85-C4-EC
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::24e4:3cba:a2ff:9b7a%13(Preferred)
Autoconfiguration IPv4 Address. . : 169.254.75.251(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . :
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 219217888
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-2F-7D-48-BD-10-FF-E0-85-C4-EC
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 1:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : BE-C7-46-EE-BB-B7
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Local Area Connection* 2:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : B2-C7-46-EE-BB-B7
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wi-Fi:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek 8852CE WiFi 6E PCI-E NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : BC-C7-46-EE-BB-B7
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::a376:ba72:4ada:37ac%5(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.115(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, April 1, 2025 9:13:19 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, April 1, 2025 11:13:19 AM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 79480646
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-2F-7D-48-BD-10-FF-E0-85-C4-EC
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : BC-C7-46-EE-E6-F0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

C:\WINDOWS\system32>

 

[altceva]

These adapters are all enabled by default.

 

[cruisetung]

see if setting a static ip manually (not using dhcp) for the wired ethernet will solve the problem

 

[altceva]

I ran the troubleshooter on the Ethernet network both with the automatic IP and with a manually set one. I got these messages.

In the second picture, it's what I see in the network: Unidentified Network is my wiring through the router.

The bottom picture is the example I used for static IP from a tutorial found on tp-link.com.

 

[Ralston18]

The "ipconfig /all" results are revealing.

1) Both the wired and wireless network adapters are enabled. Only one of network adapters should be enabled. Wired preferable over wireless.

2) The wired network adapter appears to be misconfigured. For example, the subnet mask is 255.255.0.0. For most small networks I would expect to see 255.255.255.0

Unless there are known requirements warranting a static IP address allow the router to provide a DHCP IP address to PC1.

The router's IP address is 192.168.0.1 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0 - normal and expected for many small networks. (There are variations: for example, my router uses 192.168.1.1 with the subnet mask 255.255.255.0. And end users can reconfigure the settings instead of using the manufacturer's default settings.)

3) IPv6 is enabled. Often problematic for many users. Disable IPv6.

4) The wireless configuraton indicates that the lease time is only two hours. Technically not an issue per se. However, the time should be (barring other specific known requirements) much longer. Set for a week or more as the router permits. Setting may be in minutes, hours, or days. The lease time is configured/established via the router's admin configuration screens. Whoever has admin rights to the router will need to make the change.

Wireless is working because the wireless network adapter Wi-Fi is configured to the router (192.168.0.1/255.255.255.0) and being provided with DHCP IP address of 192.168.0.115. (Remember that the DHCP IP address can and does change depending on the availability of DHCP IP addresses within the router's configuration settings.

What to do.

Leave the wireless network adapter alone - make no changes.

Reconfigure the wired network adapter to match the network/router. If you have other wired computers you can use their "ipconfig /all" results as a reference. Differences likely to be just the DHCP IP address and different MACs.

Disable the wireless network adapter, enable the wired network adapter. Reboot.

Do make some notes about what you change, where you changed it, plus the original and new values.

Take and print screenshots for reference purposes.

Set aside the lease time for now. Immediate objective being to establish a working wired connection.

[Re: per the just posted screenshots. Obtain IP address automatically via your router at 192.168.0.1.]

 

[bill001g]

So I agree with Ralston18 you really should not have both the ethernet and wifi activated at the same time.


Normally windows is smart enough to figure this all out. It seems to know that most ethernet is faster than wifi......but it is still a stupid program and sometimes picks wrong. There are also setting that control these "metric" which it uses to select. When it work correctly this is a nice feature. Someone might unplug the ethernet from their laptop when they say go to a meeting and it will just switch over to the wifi mostly transparently.

What is very strange though is there ethernet port still appears to not be getting a IP address from the DHCP server on the router. Normally when you have multiple interfaces active they will all have different IP addresses. The router is not smart enough to know it is the same machine. So if this was working properly both ethernet and wifi should appear to have valid congurations and you would have to look elsewhere to see which interface was actually being used.

DHCP is pretty simple function and since your wifi works and other machines work it almost has to be a problem with the pc.

So for testing I would disable the wifi interface. Then key in a valid static IP. 192.168.0.250 likely will be a safe IP to test with. use 255.255.255.0 as mask and 192.168.0.1 as gateway.

Now see if you can ping the 192.168.0.1 IP. If this works you can continue to try to figure out why DHCP does not work or you can continues to use a static IP. If it does not work with a static IP you start to suspect a defective port. It can be the drivers. The 2.5g ports have a very long history of buggy drivers....although it has mostly been fixed in last few years. I would try the latest driver from realtek site.

 

[cruisetung]

You have to set DNS, you can't leave it blank.

Set DNS 1 to 8.8.8.8 and DNS 2 to 8.8.4.4

Your default gateway should also be 192.168.0.1, not 192.168.0.254 according to your dhcp info.

 

[altceva]

So for testing I would disable the wifi interface. Then key in a valid static IP. 192.168.0.250 likely will be a safe IP to test with. use 255.255.255.0 as mask and 192.168.0.1 as gateway.

Now see if you can ping the 192.168.0.1 IP. If this works you can continue to try to figure out why DHCP does not work or you can continues to use a static IP. If it does not work with a static IP you start to suspect a defective port. It can be the drivers. The 2.5g ports have a very long history of buggy drivers....although it has mostly been fixed in last few years. I would try the latest driver from realtek site.

I installed the latest realtek driver from the Realtek website. I used the values provided by you to set a static IP. I disabled the wifi adapter. I disabled IPv6. Rebooted the system. Pinging 192.168.0.1 gave me this:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>ping 192.168.0.1

Pinging 192.168.0.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64

Ping statistics for 192.168.0.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

The network still has no internet.

 

[altceva]

You have to set DNS, you can't leave it blank.

Set DNS 1 to 8.8.8.8 and DNS 2 to 8.8.4.4

Your default gateway should also be 192.168.0.1, not 192.168.0.254 according to your dhcp info.

IT WORKED!!!!

OMG I'm so happy. thank you kind sir.

Yes, the DNS fields were blank. Now I set even "obtain IP automatically" and it works. the DNS values needed to be there. I'm sorry for troubling al this people, but I'm also happy it's fixed.

Thank you so much, everyone! I'll drink a beer in your name.

 

[bill001g]

I suspect it was the driver and me forgetting to tell you to set the DNS confused things. I neglected to mention it because I was more concerned that port itself did not work at all.

I tend to recommend the configuration you now have even though you could change the DNS back to automatic if you really want. The reason I don't like the automatic setting is the default is for the router to give you its address as the DNS server. When you run this way it uses the router as a proxy to the ISP dns server. Both these tend to have many more problems than just using google (8.8.8.8) directly. Note in the advanced tab there is a option to use encrypted DNS. I like that option, mostly what it does is greatly reduces the ability of the ISP to track what sites you are on.