Networks·41,459 discussions

Home Network problems with Internet

Tags: Microsoft, Networking, Windows

Large home network of 6 Windows 11 PC’s. One Pc drops internet connection periodically when the machine is left idle. It does NOT drop the LAN. Other machines not affected. I have tried :-
7 different NIC cards and 4 wireless adapters.
All power/sleep settings left “open”
Many , many settings and ideas from the web
Countless updated drivers
6 Complete software rebuilds on 2 different “C” drives
3 Routers and 2 different ISP’s

It just started out of the blue one day and nothing seems to make a difference. It has been going on for months.

If anyone knows how to think outside the box, you could restore my sanity.

Topic

Re: home network issues

In reply to Home Network problems with Internet

It would have been much easier to replace the machine. If 5 of the 6 are OK now, there’s a good chance that the new one is OK also. If not, you know it’s a network or router issue.

Expensive

In reply to Re: home network issues

The machine in question would cost around £2000 to replace. As I spent many years as an IT engineer, I was able to borrow replacement parts for free. It’s not a router or internet problem if you read my post, both have been changed as has every network related item.

What hasn’t been replaced or done?

In reply to Home Network problems with Internet

I see mention of software rebuilds. Sometimes I find an IT maven that uses other than simple Windows installs. I can’t help them.

I’ve lost count of the times I grab the Windows installation USB stick, perform a clean install, a few drivers and it works. I have to tell the IT person no, I won’t troubleshoot their “build.”

Understood

In reply to What hasn’t been replaced or done?

I agree with you, but twice I’ve done JUST a clean build with nothing at all added. It still cuts of the internet. Just to be clear, the problem has only ever been with the one machine. I accept there must be a fault somewhere, but I just can’t figure out what!

Re: problem

In reply to Understood

If it isn’t the OS, and you didn’t install any third-party software and it isn’t the network related hardware, it’s other hardware: CPU, motherboard or RAM.
The easy way to change those is to replace the whole machine. Under warranty that should be free if the shop or the maker can’t fix it.

Wish it was that easy.

In reply to Re: problem

The thing is, the machine is out of warranty. It’s about 18 months old. It worked perfectly until around 6 months back when this all started. Besides, it’s got to the point where I need to KNOW!!!!!!!

To know.

In reply to Wish it was that easy.

We’d have to replace parts we haven’t yet. For home users that may be unacceptable so you have to fall back to ‘buy a new PC.’

Nothing in the discussion tells me what it is. It only tells me that the part hasn’t been changed is suspect.

Let’s swing back to the OS. On the clean install, once it works BE SURE TO DISABLE MICROSOFT’S AUTOMATIC DRIVER UPDATE. I’ve lost count of that being a problematic feature.

Then I have calls where the client tells me it’s not this or that and it is this or that. Example: It’s not the Ethernet cable. Pulls out 100′ cable, it’s fixed. Yup, it’s not the cable (now.)

Yes, it can be upsetting when the reason/cause doesn’t reveal itself until you swap that one part and it’s fixed.

[Author]

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