Bad cable? Bandwidth restrictions? or poor internet?

[kdawwgg1221]

So just recently I have been struggling with my internet acting up. Essentially, it will appear that my cable is unplugging itself off and on and I can hardly use my internet on the PC. I do not have a wifi card to test if it is only the cable acting up. IF that is the case, what type of cable would you prefer and the most rugged to be routed partially outside the house? If it is neither of those, help me find out if it is bandwidth restrictions or poor internet. I highly doubt it is poor internet as it has never had these problems before. Please let me know what y'all think!

[Windows7ge]

First thing I'd do is try a different cable & try a different port on the switch/router.

 

Is this the only wired device you've noticed being affected?

[kdawwgg1221]

9 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

First thing I'd do is try a different cable & try a different port on the switch/router.

 

Is this the only wired device you've noticed being affected?

Ive tried all 4 ports but nothing changed. I don't have another cable long enough to reach my PC. My PS4 is wired and I don't think it has been affected. This happened suddenly 2 days ago and I am leaning towards a bad cable. It was fairly cheap

[Eigenvektor]

The cable might be broken, but could just as well be your network card/port (or motherboard) that is acting up. Since the cable is routed outside as you say, maybe check the cable for physical damage and/or try a different cable.

 

Cat 5e should be good enough for gigabit (Cat 6 or 7 is most likely overkill). Try searching for "Cat 5e outdoor cable".

[kdawwgg1221]

Just now, Eigenvektor said:

The cable might be broken, but could just as well be your network card/port (or motherboard) that is acting up. Since the cable is routed outside as you say, maybe check the cable for physical damage and/or try a different cable.

 

Cat 5e should be good enough for gigabit (Cat 6 or 7 is most likely overkill). Try searching for "Cat 5e outdoor cable".

There isn't any physical damage visually speaking. My parents bought it awhile back for something else and I just started using it at the beginning of this year. Maybe I should just get a new cable and see how it works. 

[Windows7ge]

4 minutes ago, kdawwgg1221 said:

Ive tried all 4 ports but nothing changed. I don't have another cable long enough to reach my PC. My PS4 is wired and I don't think it has been affected. This happened suddenly 2 days ago and I am leaning towards a bad cable. It was fairly cheap

If you had a cable tester that'd be great. As Eigenvektor just said it may also be the motherboard's NIC itself. If you had a NIC AIC that would also be nice to test that theory.

 

Depending on how persistent the issue is you could also try booting another OS. This could help quickly say if the problem is hardware or software.

[Eigenvektor]

7 minutes ago, kdawwgg1221 said:

I don't have another cable long enough to reach my PC. My PS4 is wired and I don't think it has been affected.

Could you temporarily move your PC to where your PS4 is? Then you could check if the problem still happens if you use its cable.

[kdawwgg1221]

Just now, Eigenvektor said:

Could you temporarily move your PC to where your PS4 is? Then you could check if the problem still happens if you use its cable.

Oh of course. I planned on it when I get home. My mobo is fairly new (as of late june) and the drivers are kept to date. I just wanted to make sure that anything else wouldn't be interfering with this conflict.

[Eigenvektor]

6 minutes ago, kdawwgg1221 said:

Oh of course. I planned on it when I get home. My mobo is fairly new (as of late june) and the drivers are kept to date. I just wanted to make sure that anything else wouldn't be interfering with this conflict.

A broken cable that's being moved might cause it, but based on the symptoms I'm actually leaning more towards the NIC having some issues Since the PS4 works fine, this should be the fastest way to rule out one or the other. You could also get a short cable and plug the PC directly into the router to double check.

 

Does your PCs cable go around any hard bends or has it been pinched? Ethernet cables typically don't like that, so that could have caused it.

[kdawwgg1221]

3 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

A broken cable that's being moved might cause it, but based on the symptoms I'm actually leaning more towards the NIC having some issues Since the PS4 works fine, this should be the fastest way to rule out one or the other. You could also get a short cable and plug the PC directly into the router to double check.

 

Does your PCs cable go around any hard bends or has it been pinched? Ethernet cables typically don't like that, so that could have caused it.

It is very likely that is being pinched in between the crawlspace and the instance it is outside.

 

I'll test the shorter cable that is plugged into the PS4