Question Taskbar icons flash, then ethernet connection hard drops

[dhaze579]

I've experienced this for about a month now, and is especially noticeable when playing online games. If I look at my network icon in the taskbar, it claims that there is no connection.

I do have a vpn, but it isn't relevant whether or not it is open, running, off, or completely closed - the issue still remains. I also just recently reinstalled the network drivers, and thought it worked for a little while, but then the issue came back.

At first I thought it was Windows Explorer, but I'm not so sure anymore. I also ran sfc /scannow through command prompt, and it found one corrupt file and "repaired" it: OneDrive.lnk. I removed OneDrive long ago, so I'm not sure why that would be the problem.

I run Windows 10 Pro 64bit (latest updates) with a home-built desktop:

Z370M Pro4 Mobo
G650M Coolermaster PSU
Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB
Intel i5-8400 2.8GHz
8GBx2 Anarchy RAM
500GB SanDisk SSD
1TB HDD
2TB External HDD (WD MyPassport) connected via usb3.0

Any ideas of what to do/what the problem could be would be incredibly appreciated, ran out of options on my end.

 

[rgd1101]

malware scan?
check event log for error?

after the drop, do you need to reboot to get it back?

 

[dhaze579]

malware scan?
check event log for error?

after the drop, do you need to reboot to get it back?

I'll scan everything again, even the external, but I seem to remember scanning them - can't hurt to try. Already scanned OS drive, no malware.

Checked event log - two security SPP errors every hour at around the 30 minute mark, seems slui.exe is actually causing my internet to cut out, and taskbar icons to disappear and reappear, as it actually cut out right as I was in event viewer and saw that was at the exact time. It has apparently been happening since May 14. Error code: 8198. But, thing is, it says the trigger=NetworkAvailable so, would it really cause my connection to drop?

Do not need to reboot - comes back in like 15 seconds.

Should I reinstall my OS? Seems like windows is sabotaging the PC every hour. Or is there a fix for it?