Ethernet crashing

Question

Hello Everyone,

I recently switched to ethernet and I ran into a major issue. When I put a bit too much load on my ethernet (for example download a game on steam or stream a game on youtube) it just sometimes shuts off for like 20 seconds with no activity whatsoever:

sometimes its completely fine:

and sometimes it stops and skyrockets the internet speed to gigabit values when it comes back (i have 100mbps internet):

I already tried reinstalling the drivers, made sure the cable is not loose or anything, and watched like 20 tutorials. Anyone knows how to fix this? The shutdowns are really random too.

Here are some PC specs if they help identify the issue:
Motherboard: MSI A68HM grenade

CPU: AMD A8-7600

GPU: Radeon RX470

No pcie network card, using the motherboards ethernet port

Answer 1

Hi Oak Diamond

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

Based on your description, I understand that your Ethernet can randomly shut down, and I know exactly how you feel!

You have watched about 20 tutorials to solve this problem and commend your problem solving skills and thought process!

Since I have studied computer networks, I am very interested in your problem.

I'll start by giving you some troubleshooting options with known information, combined with what I've learned, which will hopefully help you find the cause of the problem.

Option 1: According to the hardware-related parameters you provided, you should be using a desktop computer.

So at this point we can try a different cable or a different Ethernet port to see if the problem persists.

Considering that the actual speed of your problem description is about 100MB/s, we need to use an Ultra Category 5 or Category 6 network cable.

Option 2: We try to adjust the connection speed of the NIC with full duplex.

This may involve some principles of computer networking, which simply means increasing the speed of the NIC with the speed of the network.

Open “WIN + i” to open Settings -> Double-click to expand “Network adapters” -> Right-click on the NIC device and select “Properties” -> Select “Advanced” in the upper tab -> In “Properties”, slide to find “Connection Speed and Duplex Mode”, and set the value on the right sidebar to the maximum connection speed and full-duplex that the NIC is able to handle.

For example, my NIC can be set up to 1Gbps full duplex, and my old NIC can be set up to 100Mbps full duplex.

Option 3: We tried updating the router firmware to make sure that the router firmware is the latest version provided by the manufacturer.

Replace the port that is plugged into the router.

It is possible that the problem occurs because one of the router's ports is not working at the correct frequency or there is a transient “network storm” condition.

Network storms do cause our network to be down or unavailable for a short period of time.

Option 4: This issue may be caused by actual network fluctuations.

Therefore, please try to use other devices that are in the same network environment, such as computers, cell phones, pads, etc., during the time period when the Ethernet is randomly off.

See if the overall network environment is working normally or is temporarily down during this time.

In addition to this, if you can tell us, what is the approximate bandwidth of your home.

Because downloading games and streaming games on youtube can result in a large amount of upstream and download traffic and take up the overall bandwidth, which can potentially cause the router and network to overload and temporarily crash. (Bandwidth is the bandwidth of the service provided by the ISP)

This has happened to me before, but at the time I just replaced a more expensive router for convenience to solve the problem.

Option 5: We check if the Event Viewer logged certain warning, error type messages during the point in time when the Ethernet was shut down.

Click “WIN” to open the search bar -> type “Event Viewer” and open it with administrator privileges.

I sincerely hope that the above solution will solve your problem. Please feel free to contact me if you have any problems or still can't solve them. (Photos related to the question would be great!).

I look forward to hearing back from you. 

Best Regards

Arthur Sheng | Microsoft Community Support Specialist