Internet disconnects when PC tries to connect

[thatsmekristy]

Hi everyone,
We are having a strange issue. We have had Rogers ignite for years and a few months ago upgraded from the 500mbps package to the 1gbps package. A tech came out to install a new modem and replaced part of the line. Everything has been good since April. Just since Friday the internet keeps disconnecting. On Sunday a tech came and replaced a different part of the line that had been chewed on by any animal, he did tests and the connection was clean and strong. Here is the strange part. The internet works fine until my son turns on his PC which is connected via Ethernet cable to the router/modem which is in his room. We unplugged him and had him connect via wifi and the router/modem went offline again. It usually stays offline for quite a while before returning to service again. He can get small periods of connectivity via both Ethernet and wifi where it stays on but inevitably the router/modem resets and doesn’t always come back online. So a tech came yesterday again (Tuesday night) and replaced the modem and tested everything. Again - a clean strong connection. Until my sons computer connected. Tech suggested a new Ethernet cable but the problem happens on wifi too. The computer is a fairly new MSI gaming rig. Scanned with malware bytes and didn’t find anything, scanned all running processes for anything suspicious and it looks clean.

Before I reformat his PC, does anyone have any other ideas about why his computer connecting is tanking the connection after months of working properly?

Router/modem is plugged into the wall. Plugged the pc into the wall too just to test but same result.

***EDITED LABELS***

[-G-]

@thatsmekristy  My first thought was that this is device driver-related.  When I was part of the XB8 test group, I ran into all sort of stability issues where the gateway would reset when I connected by Wi-Fi.  Also, going back a few years, when Wi-Fi 6-equipped devices were still new, we also saw reports of Ignite gateways going down when newly-purchased laptop computers connected.

These sorts of things should NEVER happen.  The software in the gateway needs to be stable-enough that it never crashes, nor should any network-connected device ever affect its stability.

In my case, I was able to stop the gateway crash/resets by downloading and installing the latest drivers for the AX200 from the Intel web site.  Stability and performance improved when Rogers pushed out new modem firmware.

After upgrading the AX200 module to an AX210, I ran into even more problems, and it took a while for Intel to finally deliver a stable driver that also performed well.

I am not aware of any problems with gateways resetting caused just by connecting a device with an Ethernet cable.  Some chipsets (e.g. the Intel I225-V) don't have stable device drivers, so the PC might randomly disconnect or may not connect at the highest link rate... but I'm not aware of anything that would trigger an Ignite Gateway crash from the Ethernet side.

You never said which model Ignite gateway you have (it would either be an Arris or Technicolor XB7 or a Technicolor XB8) or the Wi-Fi and Ethernet drivers/chipsets that are in the PC.  I would start by making sure that your drivers are up-to-date.

My XB8 gateway still has the same firmware that got pushed out late last year and my parents' XB7 is running firmware that is even older.  I have no idea why Rogers is not keeping their gateways up to date (perhaps they are still testing 6.0 code that Comcast released earlier this year) but I know that the Technicolor 5.2 code had really buggy Broadcom Wi-Fi drivers.  If you have interoperability issues between a connected device and the Ignite gateway, you may be able to address this by swapping a Technicolor XB7 gateway with an Arris XB7.

Yet another possibility is that the gaming PC may be generating driving a lot of network traffic at high speed.  If there are stability issues with the Rogers network in your area and  DOCSIS channels are dropping, this could also trigger a modem reset.

I would send a private message to @CommunityHelps  and ask them to run some tests to see whether they can determine what underlying problem is actually triggering the resets.