Unstable Internet on my PC

[JMP_2203]

I come here in search of help for a problem that has me tearing out my hair, and hopefully someone here will be able to help me. I built my first PC last fall and this issue has been present from the start. It is an annoyance and not a critical problem so I have put up with it until now, though I have been trying to solve it for months. Basically my wireless internet is laggy and unstable (only on this machine). My actual connection to my router is rock solid, but I have trouble loading web pages, downloading large files, playing online games, etc. The problem seems completely random. Sometimes the internet works great but then all of a sudden it will just stop for a few seconds. Usually when this happens and I try to load a web page I get a DNS error (only happens on this machine). If I wait a few seconds it automatically resolves itself and takes me to the web page. Occasionally I need to reset the wireless adapter through windows troubleshooting as well. When trying to download something, the estimated time remaining varies rapidly and wildly (indicating to me that the download is not stable) and sometimes the download outright fails. When playing online games I get random lag and disconnection. Again this is issue is only on this machine and not my laptop or any other device in the house. 

 

Initially I thought it was a problem with the motherboard (which has built in wifi) so I RMA'd the board, but the issue persisted after they gave me a completely different board. Here are the other solutions and troubleshooting steps I've tried: reinstalling Windows 10, updating the BIOS, clearing CMOS, updating all drivers, trying 2.4GHz and 5GHz wifi bands, scanning for viruses, and probably a few other things I can't remember. Finally I decided that maybe the issue was with the built in wifi in these boards so I decided to order a PCIe wifi card to use instead. I disabled the built in adapter in device manger, installed the new wifi card, began using it and I still have the same issue. At this point I'm at a loss and have no idea what could be causing the issue. Anyone out there have any ideas? Thanks in advance!

 

System specs:

Motherboard - ASUS Crosshair VII Hero (WiFi)

CPU - Ryzen 7 2700X

RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws V (32GB 3000MHz)

Power supply - EVGA 1000GQ 80+Gold (1000W)

GPU - ASUS Radeon RX580 O4G OC Edition

Boot drive - Samsung 970 EVO 500GB m.2 SSD

Cooler - Corsair H100i pro RGB 240mm

I also have 2 5TB Toshiba HDD's in RAID1, a 120GB SanDisk SSD, and an ASUS CD drive installed

 

[moriel5]

First of all, let's break up the possibilities.

The motherboard should be alright, since the issue had persisted after replacing it.

The WiFi cards should be alright, at least hardware-wise, since the one supplied with the motherboard (you can pop whichever one you want, no need to outright put another one, however since you did, at least it gets rid of some of the possibilities) was replaced, and you had bought another one.

 

This leaves us with several possibilities:

1. The OS is unstable (could certainly happen, you can try refreshing the PC from the settings if you are running Windows 10, I prefer a fresh reinstall in any case).

2. The WiFi card's drivers are not up to scratch (if you are using Realtek, replace it immediately, their networking drivers are completely incompetent).

3. The issue is external to the computer, but at your end (check your router, the antennaes, your network cabinet (where the POTS splitter is if you are using DSL).

4. The issue is not at your end at all, and you will need to speak with your ISP.

[JMP_2203]

@moriel5 Thanks for the reply! But I feel like all of the solutions you gave I have already tried. I have reinstalled Windows 10 once already, my wifi drivers are up to date, and it's definitely an issue with this PC specifically since I don't have the same problems with my laptop or any other computer in the house. I suppose the next thing I'm going to try is to run a Linux distro off of a USB flash drive and see if I have the same problems -- that way I'll know if is the OS or not. 

[moriel5]

3 hours ago, JMP_2203 said:

@moriel5 Thanks for the reply! But I feel like all of the solutions you gave I have already tried. I have reinstalled Windows 10 once already, my wifi drivers are up to date, and it's definitely an issue with this PC specifically since I don't have the same problems with my laptop or any other computer in the house. I suppose the next thing I'm going to try is to run a Linux distro off of a USB flash drive and see if I have the same problems -- that way I'll know if is the OS or not. 

What WiFi card do you have? You did not answer that.

Realtek is absolutely atrocious, while Intel and Qualcomm are superb (Broadcom is also good, however they force you to utilize closed-source firmware that you have to compile on your own from their website to use their cards on Linux).

[JMP_2203]

On 7/30/2019 at 4:24 PM, moriel5 said:

What WiFi card do you have? You did not answer that.

Realtek is absolutely atrocious, while Intel and Qualcomm are superb (Broadcom is also good, however they force you to utilize closed-source firmware that you have to compile on your own from their website to use their cards on Linux).

The card built into the motherboard is Realtek & I got the latest driver from the ASUS website. The new card I bought is a Qualcomm. 

[moriel5]

On 8/1/2019 at 7:15 PM, JMP_2203 said:

The card built into the motherboard is Realtek & I got the latest driver from the ASUS website. The new card I bought is a Qualcomm. 

That does it, I'm not surprised Realtek's WiFi card gave you so much grief.

My IdeaPad 300-15ISK came with a Realtek RTL8221AE, and until i switched to Intel, it gave me no end of grief (switching to Linux and testing the beta drivers, until they were merged into the kernel did give me some respite, since Realtek WiFi is much more stable on Linux (no thanks to Realtek themselves)).

[JMP_2203]

To anyone who happens to read this thread, I still have had no luck. I even tried installing a fresh copy of Windows on a new drive but have the same issue. At this point I give up. I have tried everything I can think of. It must be a hardware issue on some level. At some point I'm going to upgrade my CPU to the Ryzen 3000 series so maybe by some miracle that will solve my problem... but I doubt it. If anyone happens to have any other suggestion please let me know. Thanks! 

[moriel5]

On 9/16/2019 at 7:35 PM, JMP_2203 said:

To anyone who happens to read this thread, I still have had no luck. I even tried installing a fresh copy of Windows on a new drive but have the same issue. At this point I give up. I have tried everything I can think of. It must be a hardware issue on some level. At some point I'm going to upgrade my CPU to the Ryzen 3000 series so maybe by some miracle that will solve my problem... but I doubt it. If anyone happens to have any other suggestion please let me know. Thanks! 

This is weird.

Perhaps the RAM is to blame (not necessarily bad)? Ryzen 3000 is the first Ryzen generation where you can throw just any random RAM stick without worry, after all.