Help - broken network card/chip

[R3k1355]

I think the LAN chip in my home PC is broken, but i don't know how to do diagnostics or find out for sure?

Symptoms:

Turn computer on, windows 7 loads fine and network centre says 'internet connected'
Go to load web page and nothing happens, or it's super-mega, ultra slow.

Web browser can connect to home router
Using command prompt I can ping Google DNS servers

Go into device manager, disable network card (the window hangs for a minute or two)
Re-enable network card and it usually works fine

What diagnostics can I do to figure out if it's a hardware or a software issue?

 

[Addicted]

Is it built into the motherboard or is it a separate card? Feels like incorrect/stock windows drivers are installed. I've had that where it's mega slow without the proper drivers.

 

[R3k1355]

Yea built in, I don't think I've changed the drivers unless windows update pushed one on?
Will try a driver re-install, but what are the chances it just sticks the same driver back on?

 

[Steveball]

When you uninstall make sure you tick the remove device drivers option.

Make sure you have the drivers already downloaded though.

 

[R3k1355]

When you uninstall make sure you tick the remove device drivers option.

Make sure you have the drivers already downloaded though.

Yep did that and nope didn't have the drivers downloaded, then sat there while the computer 'searched' for the driver.

 

[R3k1355]

Deleting/re-installing the driver didn't show any change.
Also the process of removing the driver was incredibly slow, like 10-15 minutes to uninstall.

Another note, the computer has a wireless card (which is software disabled as it's not used) but I had to enable it to download the new driver
The wireless card has all the same issues as the LAN chip, ie it needs to be disabled/re-enabled before the internet will actually work.

I think it's a software issue, the device manager app is mega slow to disable these bits of hardware - but enabling them happens in an instant??

 

[Goodj]

This has all the hallmarks of some malware if honest.

The olds' laptop did exactly the same, and malwarebtes came back with literally thousands of problems.

 

[R3k1355]

Had a look a while ago and found nothing but will double check again.
Don't tend to go near (particularly) dodgy sites or install much of anything off the internet.

Found Java running last night eating near 100mb of memory, i'd un-installed it, but a copy was included with a media server and running away.

 

[Steveball]

What operating system are you using

 

[R3k1355]

Windows 7 pro (updated regularly)

 

[Goodj]

Had a look a while ago and found nothing but will double check again.
Don't tend to go near (particularly) dodgy sites or install much of anything off the internet..

Neither do the olds, and I've blocked all their user accounts from being able to make changes in windows altogether. Still didn't stop it happening

 

[Steveball]

I think there maybe an update that’s been released by MS to a certain chipset. I have an old Dell laptop and the Wi-fi card drops signal randomly, although sky and the apple decides all stay connected.

I was on 8.1 and upgraded to 10 - still the same issue as both O/A’s were fully patched. I am going to look at flashing the bios and the chipset firmware to see if this helps.

 

[R3k1355]

So update:

Installed and ran Malwarebytes (twice) - found no threats
Uninstalled network card drivers, downloaded new from Gigabyte website - no change.
Same thing happens with the wifi card so I think it might not be the LAN chip thats fucked

Any ideas? Might download fresh chipset drivers, maybe pull the wifi card out too see if that helps?

I think there maybe an update that’s been released by MS to a certain chipset. I have an old Dell laptop and the Wi-fi card drops signal randomly, although sky and the apple decides all stay connected.

I was on 8.1 and upgraded to 10 - still the same issue as both O/A’s were fully patched. I am going to look at flashing the bios and the chipset firmware to see if this helps.

I'm on Windows 7, bios is the most recent version (even if it does date from 2011? )

 

[Goodj]

Have you got something like a USB WI-Fi stick?

If that can be made to work, then yeah, looks like your wi=fi card has shat itself

 

[R3k1355]

No it's a PCI (I think) card, quite old to be fair (not sure if it's even wireless-N standard). Will take it out and see what happens

 

[Rojer]

Have you only got the problem on this device? Have you connected other devices to the router directly and do they suffer the same problems? Is it an ISP router or an aftermarket one? Does it have the latest firmware etc?

Is the PC custom or is it a Dell/HP etc etc, did you get the drivers from their website?

Did you run the malware scan in safe mode? What were the last Windows updates applied, there may be a known issue with one of them. Also in device manager check that it's actually using the driver you want and not some random one.

 

[Gus]

1 uninstall and reinstall drivers
2 reset tcp ip stack - click start , type CMD press enter. type this in to the black window netsh int ip reset then reboot.
3 try another cable , see if any other devices that use ethernet are working.

 

[iain187]

have you changed the network cable?

 

[R3k1355]

Slightly late bump, but problem still persists.

Problem is limited to this machine, no other ones on the network (wired or wifi) have an issue.
Problem occurs using the LAN or the Wifi, pulled the wifi card out but nothing changed.

Un-installed and re-installed the drivers, no change
Reset TCP IP stack, no change.

I wonder if it's just old motherboard drivers that aren't compatible with something in Windows??
Obviously the most recent driver release was years ago

 

[iain187]

didn't really read this correctly the first time

if you can get to your router then your network device is working ok.

also - you probably access it via ip - eg 192.168.0.1 or similar
also - if you can ping dns servers, I guess you have IP address for them - i.e 2 successful IP tests suggests a DNS issue
but you can't get to the internet - can you get to this site?
http://216.58.213.110/

should go to google

if so, something is wrong with the your dns server - have you manually specified one or are you using your router? whichever the answer is, do the opposite