LAN connecting at 10Mbps or 100Mbps randomly...

[Fourjays Veteran]

Hey all,

Got an odd problem with my computer and it's LAN connection to my Netgear DG834G router (to my motherboard's built-in LAN port), which has been going on for a while but is just getting annoying now. I think it might be Windows 7 related, but I can't be sure.

Basically whenever I turn my computer on or wake it up from sleep mode the router shows my computer's connection with an orange light instead of the usual green, which means the connection is at only 10Mbps instead of 100Mbps (confirmed via Windows network connection information). If I physically plug and unplug the cable in the back of the router it will usually then reconnect at 100Mbps (sometimes takes a few goes). Once it is connected at 100Mbps it stays connected at that speed, until it is next restarted or awoken from sleep mode.

I have already had to disable the "turn off this device to save power" feature under Windows 7 as it struggled to reconnect when coming out of sleep mode, which has made me suspect Windows 7 as it was not an issue on Vista. Although I have had Windows 7 a while, I have had this problem just as long. I definitely had no issues with the network on Vista.

I have tried a new LAN cable to no avail, and a second computer with a much older network card connects to the router with no issues. I even tried one of the other router ports. Have done a lot of searching for answers with few results to show for it... :(

Any advice on settings to try, ways to diagnose the problem?

Thanks :)

[tsutton]

Try turning off auto and set it t the highest speed.

[Fourjays Veteran]

Try turning off auto and set it t the highest speed.

Where can I do that? :p

[blake]

Where can I do that? :p

Look in the nic properties, advanced tab, in the device manager.

Edited July 2, 2010 by blake

[ViZioN]

Problem seems a little similar to this although that seems to say that its merely a display issue, whereas you're seeing that the port is actually connected to the router at 10 Mbps.

[Fourjays Veteran]

Problem seems a little similar to this although that seems to say that its merely a display issue, whereas you're seeing that the port is actually connected to the router at 10 Mbps.

It does seem like it is actually connecting at 10Mbps - if I look at the device properties it says so and the router's orange light apparently means the same. :/

Look in the nic properties, advanced tab, in the device manager.

<snip>

Tried both full and half duplex 100Mbps and rebooted to be sure - in both cases it would just flick from "enabled" to "connecting" to "connected" to "disabled" repeatedly in the network connections center (it was actually working in-between too as I managed to half-load Wikipedia before it got forceably cut-off). I then changed it to "auto" and it instantly picked it up... at 100Mbps. :s I guess that means that enabling/disabling the device via the control panel would have the same effect as unplugging/plugging the actual cable.

If it helps the onboard ethernet controller is an "Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114".

[Aergan]

Turn off BIOS level PCI-E and LAN power saving settings.

Turn off Windows 7 power saving for PCI-E link level state.

Install latest lan driver, turn off power saving settings (Keep an eye out for 'Green Ethernet' or 'Energy Star Compliance'). Turn off Priority & VLAN support as well for network compatability (DG's do not support Priority packets unless you own a DGN2000 with DG-Team's latest fw).

DG834G* don't permit forcing duplex modes, stick with Auto.

Issue is driver or bios related with Windows Vista or Windows 7, not really an MS issue though.

[Fourjays Veteran]

Turn off BIOS level PCI-E and LAN power saving settings.

Turn off Windows 7 power saving for PCI-E link level state.

Install latest lan driver, turn off power saving settings (Keep an eye out for 'Green Ethernet' or 'Energy Star Compliance'). Turn off Priority & VLAN support as well for network compatability (DG's do not support Priority packets unless you own a DGN2000 with DG-Team's latest fw).

DG834G* don't permit forcing duplex modes, stick with Auto.

Issue is driver or bios related with Windows Vista or Windows 7, not really an MS issue though.

Turned off the PCI-E link level state power saving and am about to try some newer drivers. Will see how we go...

[Fourjays Veteran]

Well the newest driver and PCI-E link level state changes haven't worked. :( I think I've got the power saving on LAN already turned off - I disabled the "turn it off to save power" option a while back as it frequently failed to turn it on again, and I haven't noticed other power saving options for LAN that are on.

Do you know where I can change the priority and VLAN support options? Anything else I can try?

[Raa]

Changed network cable?

I was going to say drivers - noticed it didn't help you.

Can you try another switch (just to test!)

[Fourjays Veteran]

Changed network cable?

I was going to say drivers - noticed it didn't help you.

Can you try another switch (just to test!)

Yes, I tried a different cable. Was the one used by the second computer on the network that has no problems at all. Made no difference to this computer though. :(

By switch do you mean the router or the network "card"?

[aj_walters]

dumb question, but have you tried plugging into another switch port? could be the switch which is not syncing correctly

[Fourjays Veteran]

dumb question, but have you tried plugging into another switch port? could be the switch which is not syncing correctly

I've tried different router ports, yea. Got the same result on the other ports.

[aj_walters]

you probably seen this http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itprohardware/thread/a7fdce10-fd61-4291-9a72-8c0ea77cb420 but it sounds like the problem you are having

[Lovell]

I'm having the same problem with my Netgear router, rebooting it usually works for me.

[Fourjays Veteran]

you probably seen this http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7itprohardware/thread/a7fdce10-fd61-4291-9a72-8c0ea77cb420 but it sounds like the problem you are having

Will give the drivers from Atheros' site a go. Tried the latest one from ASUS (motherboard).

[Fourjays Veteran]

Tried the Atheros drivers, but discovered they are actually older than the ones from ASUS and will seemingly only connect at 10mbps. I was uninstalling those to give the beta driver from ASUS a go and noticed Windows install its own driver which so far hasn't dropped to 10mbps despite me restarting and sleeping the computer several times. So I think I'll stick with it for a while and see what it does before trying the beta.

Also, is the LAN supposed to "turn off" when going into sleep mode? I ask as I've noticed that the LAN light for my computer goes off whenever I put it to sleep or shut it down. However, the light for an old machine that is on the same network is always on, even when the computer is shut down or put in stand-by.

[TheElite]

If I put my computer to sleep, my Netgear WNR3500 still has a yellow light show.

If I turn it off, no light.

[Fourjays Veteran]

I think this is fixed now. Not had it at all since I let Windows install its own drivers... would seem that the drivers being distributed on the disc with the motherboard, and on ASUS' and Atheros' sites, were causing the problems. Furthermore these drivers seem to get the connection to wake-up a lot quicker. Previously I'd have to wait 30-40 seconds after coming out of sleep mode before the Internet would work (despite the LAN apparently being already connected), but now it is almost instantaneous. :)

Thanks for all the help guys.