Really bizarre LAN chip/port issue

[RejZoR]

Anyone ever had this weird problem where LAN device integrated on motherboard (in my case on ASUS Rampage II Gene) almost 99% of time doesn't work at all with red cross in Windows 8.1 (it's not even detected at all in Device manager) when you boot system after having it turned off for few hours. Rebooting system doesn't resolve the issue. However, if I shut down the system, turn PSU switch to OFF, wait for all lights to go out on motherboard, power it back on and in same 99% of time, LAN magically appears.

This crap started happening all of a sudden for no real reason. I've rechecked everything and everything is in order. I've also tried stock clocks and everything and it's still happening.

Only thing that seems to somewhat corelate is installation of GTX 980. With HD7950 I nevr had such issues. Might be just weird coincidence though.

Any ideas? I'm really not in the mood for changing the whole system right now (was hoping to do that decision when AMD Zen will be released) so I'm looking for solutions. Any ideas?

 

[OneMoar]

disable any power-saving options for the LAN in the BIOS also may want to disable the UEFI PEG power savings
iv had similier issues on this board and turning off some of the power-saving junk fixxed it

 

[rtwjunkie]

You might also try reinstalling the LAN drivers. I know the Nvidia drivers SHOULDN'T have made a difference or screwed with it, but it's always possible.

Advice for when you do upgrade, that I always do, since it could just be coincidence that the LAN port went bad at that exact time, is next motherboard get one with two LAN ports. This has saved me before when one went bad.

 

[Blue-Knight]

If it this happens only on Windows... Then it is probably a driver issue of some sort.

Or no, who knows. Investigate it!

 

[RejZoR]

It was happening under Win10 as well. Updated Realtek driver and it's still happening. What's the chance of LAN chip going mad on hardware level randomly? Or things like this just degenerating on their own? Sure mobo is now almost 6 years old and has been tortured a bit with higher clocks but always well cooled. Hm.

 

[OneMoar]

It was happening under Win10 as well. Updated Realtek driver and it's still happening. What's the chance of LAN chip going mad on hardware level randomly? Or things like this just degenerating on their own? Sure mobo is now almost 6 years old and has been tortured a bit with higher clocks but always well cooled. Hm.

very likely then just get a x1 LAN-CARD(preferably intel)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G1XA5402
PCI-E x1 flavor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G1XA5402

 

[RejZoR]

Don't have any PCIe slots. The last one I had was abused by PCIe raiser cable so I could hook up soundcard at the bottom of the case... Besides, I like Realtek. Don't want anything else

 

[OneMoar]

Don't have any PCIe slots. The last one I had was abused by PCIe raiser cable so I could hook up soundcard at the bottom of the case... Besides, I like Realtek. Don't want anything else

intel nics are far superior to reltek

 

[RejZoR]

I'd just like to figure out what's going on with my board and LAN connection and fix it.

 

[OneMoar]

I'd just like to figure out what's going on with my board and LAN connection and fix it.

its 6 years old and dying thats what is going on ...
lan chips do not like to be hot and 6 years is pretty good for a reltek chip

 

[Aquinus]

Have you tried a different ethernet cable? You would be surprised how many network-related issues are due to faulty cables. A great example is a connection that should be running at 1Gbps just running at 100Mbps (if signal is bad enough to degrade, but good enough to work.) It's worth ruling it out imho.

 

[OneMoar]

could also be the solder joint on the board but the device disappearing all together usually means the chip is fried

 

[Aquinus]

could also be the solder joint on the board but the device disappearing all together usually means the chip is fried

Good point. Missed that. Most definitely sounds like a failure of some kind though.

 

[Mussels]

bad LAN cable shorting it out?

 

[RejZoR]

The cable is maybe 1 year old and never under any stress so I find that very unlikely. Especially since it works without any issues after I make a shutdown-reboot procedure as described in OP. If it was a hardware isssue, shouldn't it be happening all the time regardless of everything else?

 

[Mussels]

The cable is maybe 1 year old and never under any stress so I find that very unlikely. Especially since it works without any issues after I make a shutdown-reboot procedure as described in OP. If it was a hardware isssue, shouldn't it be happening all the time regardless of everything else?

i ran a cable for about 3 years without issue, ran a tester on it to confirm my tester worked and found out two of the wires were dead. you can never be sure until you actually rule it out.

 

[RejZoR]

Yeah, but if that would happen, I'd never be able to fix the issue. Instead it goes away when I cycle my system. That's why I'm excluding hardware issues of this sort and more focusing on hardware issues that might be on board itself. I'm just not sure what the hell could go wrong in such a way that cycling a system fixes the issue. Seems, well, bizarre.

 

[Mussels]

Yeah, but if that would happen, I'd never be able to fix the issue. Instead it goes away when I cycle my system. That's why I'm excluding hardware issues of this sort and more focusing on hardware issues that might be on board itself. I'm just not sure what the hell could go wrong in such a way that cycling a system fixes the issue. Seems, well, bizarre.

assumptions will funk you up could be something like a wire that shorts occasionally merely because you walked past it, or a static charge that builds up over time causing a fuse to trip. might be unlikely, but when the likely stuff is ruled out head back to the unlikely stuff. occams razor and all that.

edit: i used naughty words. silly me.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Have you tried a different ethernet cable? You would be surprised how many network-related issues are due to faulty cables.

Exactly what I was going to suggest. I've lost much hair and had many sore butts because of Ethernet cables. Lost hair out of the frustration trying to figure out what was causing random network issues, and sore butts for kicking myself for not swapping cables at the beginning. Ethernet cables are cheap, not robust but critical network items that cannot take too many yanks or trip-overs - especially factory made cables. This is why I make my own. It is also how I learned to "invest" in a good crimper.

I also recommend trying a different Ethernet port on the router. They can go bad too.

 

[RejZoR]

It's not cable, because when netowrk is dead, there is no networking card listed in Device Manager. Like it's not even connected to the motherboard (despite being integrated and enabled on it). I've inspected the whole motherboard and there is not a single sign of any visible damage to the board. I've also cleaned all the dust, all the ports, everything. Even cleaned and re-seated the CPU with new thermal paste just to be sure. Capacitors are all solid so I can't even tell if any of them is potentially faulty (like with electrolytics).

It's so weird I'm just thinking of buying a cheap PCI LAN card and call it a day. PCI slot is the lowest one so it won't obstruct the airflow. Really weird why it works after you cold cycle a system. You can restart it 5 times and it won't work. Shut it down, turn PSU switch to off, discharge capacitors and reboot. And behold, LAN will appear. LOL. I've seen some weird shit in my life but nothing as weird as this. I still blame Canada for this though...

 

[Bill_Bright]

It's not cable, because when netowrk is dead, there is no networking card listed in Device Manager. Like it's not even connected to the motherboard (despite being integrated and enabled on it).

That does not eliminate the cable. If the cable (or port on either end) is damaged and there is a short (as opposed to an open) you may get some unexpected resulted. A new cable is just a couple $$$ and less if you make it yourself - if you don't have a spare laying around. And swapping router ports costs nothing. I would sure swap cables and ports before spending any money on a new card.

 

[RejZoR]

It's not cable as predicted. Replaced it after I cold booted the system and it had the exact same problem as before. I'm getting the LAN card tomorrow. We'll see how things will work then...

 

[Aquinus]

However, if I shut down the system, turn PSU switch to OFF, wait for all lights to go out on motherboard, power it back on and in same 99% of time, LAN magically appears.

That's telling me it's not getting fully powered down. I have a USB wireless adapter that acts funky after being turned off for a while because USB is constantly being fed power via +5v standby (controllable by BIOS settings.) This will require me to kill the power to the machine or unplug the USB device and plug it back in. This is making me feel like your PSU might not be completely powering down at shutdown.

Edit: That means all the standard rails, not stand by.

Question: Does it only ever disappear on reboot, or does it disappear after shutdown, restart, sleep, or hibernation? As in, Windows doesn't play some sound saying the device was "disconnected"?

If the answer is yes (doesn't occur when after Windows is already loaded and running,) could you be a sport and reset your BIOS back to stock and see if it still occurs? If it does, I would try re-flash the BIOS with the latest version, even if it's the same version as what you have. If the answer is no, it sounds like a hardware fault because a fault won't be picky about when it occurs in most cases.

 

[Bill_Bright]

This is making me feel like your PSU might not be completely powering down at shutdown.

It is NOT supposed to!

Unless you switch the master power switch on the back of the PSU to off (or unplug it from the wall), the ATX Form Factor standard "requires" all ATX PSUs to supply +5Vsb standby voltage to many points across the motherboard when the computer is simply shut down, including the NIC for such features set in the BIOS as "Wake on LAN".

Without this +5Vsb, you could not "wake" your computer by pressing a key on the keyboard or wiggling the mouse. In fact, with W8, even the RAM is kept alive when using the "hybrid" sleep mode to make booting faster.

@RejZoR - did you try a different port on your router? Also, I would look in your BIOS Setup Menu and disable Wake on LAN if enabled.

 

[Aquinus]

It is NOT supposed to!

Unless you switch the master power switch on the back of the PSU to off (or unplug it from the wall), the ATX Form Factor standard "requires" all ATX PSUs to supply +5Vsb standby voltage to many points across the motherboard when the computer is simply shut down, including the NIC for such features set in the BIOS as "Wake on LAN".

Without this +5Vsb, you could not "wake" your computer by pressing a key on the keyboard or wiggling the mouse. In fact, with W8, even the RAM is kept alive when using the "hybrid" sleep mode to make booting faster.

@RejZoR - did you try a different port on your router? Also, I would look in your BIOS Setup Menu and disable Wake on LAN if enabled.

I know that, I'm talking about the other rails or something connected to +5vsb when it shouldn't be, not that the +5vsb should be off, that defeats the purposes of being "stand by." Do you think I don't know what stand by means?

In fact, with W8, even the RAM is kept alive when using the "hybrid" sleep mode to make booting faster.

I was going to suggest this as well. The machine might not be "fully" off because of this.