looking for thoughts on a network problem i have

tomeryaul

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Nov 25, 2010
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started this day well, pc working fine, managed to play games and surf the net and everything in working order.
mid day my game crashed, the sound on the pc in any speaker or headphone sounded slightly stuttered or slow at times and also the big one: no wired internet connection just wireless.
the sound bit i'll fix later, the game i'll fix later so now my focus is on the network.

at the time of this happening:
I was using wired connection on 1 PC + 1 laptop + some kind of VOD switch for the tv.
Also connected wireless were 3 phones + 1 printer + 1 PC
the only use was the wired PC while everything else was idle and not in use.
the router plugged at the time was zyxel vmg3926 b10a

the problem:
both wired connections are showing no internet and giving me APIPA address (169.254.x.x)
every wireless connection receives IP just fine and can connect normally (including the 2 wired computers when i switched them to wireless).

first thing i did was unplug the switch just in case and kept it unpluged.
checked every setting in the router 5 times reseting 8-9 times, and checking network on the PC.
replaced the wires and changed their place on the router.
checked firewall both on PC and router. the router firewall was closed since i never used it and the pc Firewall i shut down eventually, still no change.
took a step further and replaced the router with a different one netgear vvg2000. still same results.
so i figured "hmm 2 computers, different wires, 2 routers and no change... maybe an ISP problem?"
so checked in with them as well. no, in fact i think this is a first for them too.
on top of it all after hours of pain trying to fix this, i decided to to a factory reset button to my zyxel. ooo boy never going to try that again. turns out factory software as a logon screen with and error page if you try to enter it. so i basically destroyed it and need to replace it. lucky i got the vvg2000 at hand.

so any thoughts on the subject?
 
Solution
If you had even mentioned killer I would have blamed that immediately :). You see all kinds of people having strange issue with killer drivers. They are all marketing hype you can not actually improve the most common causes of network performance...nothing on the pc can.

This is such a issue that killer has actually released generic versions of their drivers without the killer features. It generally fixes many of the strange issues. I really wish they would fix their drivers and just leave them alone, they keep adding garbage feature and mess things up.
Since the problem is only in the wired connection, follow the wire. If it is run through the walls, attic, basement, etc something could have damaged it, e.g. squirrel, etc.

Connect a cable straight to the router and a PC. If it still doesn't work it sounds like something shorted and may have damaged the circuits on the mobos.
 

tomeryaul

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Nov 25, 2010
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both wired pc are connected directly to the router via a 1m (around 3ft) length cable. thats the same router that takes the connection from the wall (and ISP) and give internet in this case wireless. also both wires (RJ45) have been replaced twice.

as far as squerals we dont have those. just crows and pigeons. and they can't get underground.
thanks for the try i am typing this as i go to work so i got a full day to think wqhat to do lol.
 
Try hard coding ip addresses on both pc. First try valid ones and see if it just works. Then try something else using your router as a dumb switch. For example put in 10.10.10.1 and 10.10.10.2. You want to attempt to ping between the 2 pc. Also do ARP -a and see if you are getting entries for the remote machine even if ping does not work. This is mostly to see if the PC really are working correctly.

Not sure when 2 different devices have issues it should be the router but after replacing it and it still does not fix it I am not sure.
 

tomeryaul

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Nov 25, 2010
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i tried static IP and all that jazz.
i got a few advice at work from co workers too (i work in an IT department and while i am a small timer there there are also great minds).
tried them all didn't work.
gave up for about 2 hours had some rest and found the solution while sleeping (or semi sleeping cause that problem bugged me too much)

all my PC with a wired connection have a killer network card that is both wired and wireless.
while the drivers for the killer networking work great, the software that comes with it favors wireless and disregarded my wired connection.
not sure if its because of an update, a malfunction or a user error (maybe i did set them up wrong who knows).
shutting the software to not run at all and let the driver work on its own solved it.

and now if you will excuse me, i am going to put myself in hibernate, this was mentally exhausting.
 
If you had even mentioned killer I would have blamed that immediately :). You see all kinds of people having strange issue with killer drivers. They are all marketing hype you can not actually improve the most common causes of network performance...nothing on the pc can.

This is such a issue that killer has actually released generic versions of their drivers without the killer features. It generally fixes many of the strange issues. I really wish they would fix their drivers and just leave them alone, they keep adding garbage feature and mess things up.
 
Solution