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40oz

Dumb internet/ethernet cable question

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I feel stupid asking this but I've got a weird internet connection that has been driving me crazy over the past couple weeks ever since I got my new computer.

My computer is connected directly to my router, and when the internet works, it's fantastic. I have a Broadcom NetLink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet network adapter.

However, whenever I boot up my computer, there's like a 25% chance it will boot up without connecting to the internet, and when I look for the Network Adapter in the device manager, there's nothing there. Using the windows troubleshooter for my internet connection says I have no network adapter drivers installed, which is apparently not true. Usually after I reboot the computer 1-3 times it starts working again, and my network adapter appears in the device manager and my computer seems to behave like there was never a problem. But I can't seem to figure out why it sometimes recognizes my network adapter, and sometimes thinks it doesn't exist. When it doesn't work, the only consistent solution that has worked for me is to reboot my computer a few times until it's connected which is annoying and time consuming.

I tried googling it but I'm not sure how to narrow my search to my specific issue, and googling "why does my internet not work" is basically the worst thing ever, so I was wondering if there are any people here who have experienced a similar problem and figured out how to resolve it.

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ayy, this is why i'm on the IT track!

k, so first off, does the router and ethernet cable work with anything else fine? like other computers?

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Yeah I was previously using the modem and same Ethernet cable with a laptop that worked 100% of the time. Thank you for your interest in helping me.

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I've had issues like this before. Although I think it had to do with waking from sleep mode, not booting up.

Anyways, to fix it I simply had to disable the computer's ability to "turn off this device to save power".

To get there, go to your device manager > ethernet adapters > right-click on adapter > properties > power management > should be the first tick box

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I would follow Rayzik's advice except for this:
device manager (btw to do this, just perform a "search" on the windows start menu)> network adapters > right click on all your adapter software and attempt to update or repair all your adapters. Your adapters are basically sub-components of the entirety of the networking software. That's as much as I can offer you for right now.

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Rayzik said:

Anyways, to fix it I simply had to disable the computer's ability to "turn off this device to save power".


I found this last night and tried it. I booted my computer up just now and no dice. Worked after the second reboot. I'll try Cupboards advice.

I usually dont use sleep because I use my computer maybe twice a week, it doesn't make sense to leave it on all the time. Maybe that has something to do with it.

Catoptromancy said:

I have swapped in another ethernet card when that happens.


Is this easy to do? Will I have to take apart my case and everything?

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If your computer is sufficiently modern it will have the option to turn on the network card in the BIOS. You won't need those features, but doing it means when you're in the BIOS it will connect to the LAN. If you find it commonly fails to connect (no lights on the port) when you boot to the BIOS then it's broken.

If it's broken buy a new one. A $20 D-Link card is probably good enough. I've never had a problem with them. Installing them is easy. The instructions in the box are good enough if you've never done it. The only tricky part might be figuring out how to access the insides of your particular PC (manufacturer manuals are good for that if that puzzle is too hard). The only thing I do differently from the instructions you get with a cheap network card is I download the newest driver from their website first and just ignore the CD that comes with it.

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40oz said:

I feel stupid asking this but I've got a weird internet connection that has been driving me crazy over the past couple weeks ever since I got my new computer.

My computer is connected directly to my router, and when the internet works, it's fantastic. I have a Broadcom NetLink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet network adapter.


Are you running Windows 10? If that's the case. It's an known issue, in theory they fixed this issue with KB3206632. So if you have Windows try to update it.

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Sorry to bump this old thread, Windows is up to date, still having the same problem.

Ive observed that when I boot up my PC, sometimes there's a Dell splash screen where you can press F2 to edit the system settings. Sometimes when I boot up my computer it skips that part, and I've observed that sometimes there's a short screen that says Broadcom and some other stuff I cant interpret, but when I do see it, the internet always works after that. Whenever I dont see that screen, the internet does not.

Is there a reason my computer may be bypassing essential parts of the boot process? Ive tried changing the boot order/priority of different things but I didn't have any luck. Sorry if the explanation is spotty, ill answer any questions you may have.

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It sounds like the times it doesn't work are the times your computer decided to go into a sleep or a hibernation mode instead of shutting down. If your PC displays a Dell logo and a POST report when it boots then it should do that every time (those likely configurable in the BIOS if you push F2, btw).

First of all, make sure you're rebooting it properly. Secondly, try putting it to sleep from Windows and resuming. Does that break the LAN connection? If it does then see if you have the newest drivers for everything supplied by Dell. They're good at updates for buggy things most of the time.

What model of Dell PC do you have? I'm curious to see what google and/or their website shows me about your problem.

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