Internet keeps dropping while playing games

FSG · December 20, 2022

Hi! So I've been having this issue for a few months now. Occasionally, and very specifically, when I'm playing SOME games: MWII, OSRS, Dark and Darker, FIFA 23, not all games, my internet will suddenly drop from the game but only the game and only for a second or two. Just enough time for it to disconnect me from the server. There are also no apparent signs that I'm going to disconnect in the games either (like nobody moving or guns not shooting or something) it'll just randomly drop quickly. You'd probably think it's server side on part of the game but these things only happen to me, not my buddies who live a street away from me. It's never happened to them any of the times we have gamed together (with the exception of MWII because the servers were actually bad) Discord and music services I'm using while gaming will also continue to work with no interruption when the game disconnects me.

Additionally, it doesn't seem like the problem is happening to any other device in the household, including phones, TVs, media players, etc. Although it is a little hard to tell if it is because most of the things used in my household are for video streaming like Netflix, YouTube, etc. So even if the connection is dropping it comes back fast enough to where the buffered video was playing and no interruption happened. The only exception is Twitch (I'll see a Reconnecting to Chat for a few seconds before chat starts working again) on my PC where I do the gaming mentioned above.

I use Ethernet and my ISP is Spectrum. Again as mentioned before, my entire area uses spectrum including my friends and none of them have this problem.

I'm kind of just looking for any hints or tips as to what could possibly be the problem. If you have any additionally information you need/want just let me know and I'll try to provide it.

Thank you all for whatever comes out of this!

191x7 · December 20, 2022

Wireless or wired?

If wired, turned off Green Ethernet, Energy Efficient Ethernet, Energy Saving, Gigabit Lite in the network adapter options?

Using the latest drivers for the network card? (Try Iobit Driver Booster, it updates the Realtek drivers extremely well.)

Is the router overheating? Try having a fan blow at the router and check.

Also, are you using a DNS like Cloudflare, Google, Quad9?

FSG · December 21, 2022

17 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

Wireless or wired?

If wired, turned off Green Ethernet, Energy Efficient Ethernet, Energy Saving, Gigabit Lite in the network adapter options?

Using the latest drivers for the network card? (Try Iobit Driver Booster, it updates the Realtek drivers extremely well.)

Is the router overheating? Try having a fan blow at the router and check.

Also, are you using a DNS like Cloudflare, Google, Quad9?

Thank you for the response.

Yes I am wired so I turned off all those settings that you mentioned.

Currently installing drivers with Iobit Driver Booster. Which really bugged me because it auto installed other applications even though I unchecked them. Like its 2022 how is this still a thing.

As far as I know, it doesn't get hot. I've gone to check up on it as soon as the game disconnects but I've picked it up but it is never hot the hand at least.

No custom DNS just on automatic.

Any recommendations on application to monitor my internet on the PC to see when it drops?

191x7 · December 21, 2022

33 minutes ago, FSG said:

Thank you for the response.

Yes I am wired so I turned off all those settings that you mentioned.

Currently installing drivers with Iobit Driver Booster. Which really bugged me because it auto installed other applications even though I unchecked them. Like its 2022 how is this still a thing.

As far as I know, it doesn't get hot. I've gone to check up on it as soon as the game disconnects but I've picked it up but it is never hot the hand at least.

No custom DNS just on automatic.

Any recommendations on application to monitor my internet on the PC to see when it drops?

Set your pc to use a custom dns. You'll notice the small speed boost.

As for monitoring the network, you can use the network properties in Windows. Should show how long your connection is up.

Or you can ping a location continuously and monitor when it drops.

FSG · December 21, 2022

5 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

Set your pc to use a custom dns. You'll notice the small speed boost.

As for monitoring the network, you can use the network properties in Windows. Should show how long your connection is up.

Or you can ping a location continuously and monitor when it drops.

Alrighty thanks!

I won't be able to say if this works for a while as it's random but I'll keep yall updated in max a week.

FSG · December 21, 2022

Update: even with everything I changed it happened again. The network actually didn't drop according to the Network Status that I had running.

Now I'm going to run a continuous ping to 8.8.8.8 see if that tells me anything and also going to switch DNS just in case. Probably after it happens again.