Hardwired Ethernet Connection and Wi-Fi Problems with My HP or Windows Computers.

[oldschool1978]

Hi everyone,

I've been having trouble trying to get a hardwired ethernet connection with my HP Pavilion desktop since I moved to another state. I had a dual-band Netgear Nighthawk router before my last move and there was no problem with internet intermittency, let alone a dead hardwired ethernet connection in my new home.

I upgraded to a tri-band Netgear Nighthawk router (R8000/AC3200) last year and took care of the buffering issues on Netflix, but there was still the internet intermittency with my HP computers. A message still pops up saying "Hmm...We're having trouble finding that site...Try again", which eventually loads after several clicks, but it shouldn't do that. Our mobile devices include: an android phone, a MacMini (2011), an iphone, two ipads and a Roku, all of which do not have internet intermittency or wi-fi issues of any kind.

I never had any internet intermittency or ethernet connection interruptions in my previous home. It all started to happen the moment I moved. Other technicians have suggested an ethernet adapter, which will be my next troubleshooting step, followed by a portable router/hotspot to see if that takes care of the problem.
Our neighbor next door has solar panels and its box is right next to my hardwired computer, but I don't know if that's creating any kind of intermittency in the signal.

I contacted Spectrum (my ISP) to come and check out the issue. The first technician that came picked up that the internet signal intensity was 38.5 dBmv, so he tweaked it down by adding a splitter on the circuit panel, but that still didn't solve the problem. I then asked for a new Spectrum cable modem and they gave me a Hitron, but that didn't fix the issue either.

I then bought another HP desktop (Win11, Intel Core 10th Gen) about 18 days ago to see if that would take care of the problem, but it didn't. I tested connecting the ethernet cable from the modem to this PC and disconnecting the router to see if I got a hardwired connection with this new computer, but strangely, I didn't.

Today I tested my MacMini by doing a hardwired ethernet connection and disconnecting the router, and it worked flawlessly. But what puzzles me is that there were no intermittency issues in my previous home with the oldest HP desktop. It can't be the Nighthawk Tri-band router because it's a year old and it works awesomely.

I had also purchased but returned a Samsung Galaxy Book 2, and it was also having intermittency issues saying that it can connect to the DNS. I had to click on try again or refresh the page.

Three windows computers have that intermittency issue but not the MacMini, which puzzles me even more. My next step is to buy an ethernet adapter and ask a neighbor if they're having internet intermittency problems, followed by buying a portable router/hotspot.

Has anyone ever experienced this issue and/or can provide any solution please? Does anyone think the solar panel box has anything to do with the intermittency? Is it a Spectrum cable modem problem? Could it be an HP issue? Thank you very much.

 

[beers]

and it was also having intermittency issues saying that it can connect to the DNS

Might be more of your overall issue, try using a static entry in your router such as 1.1.1.1 for the client DHCP settings.

You can also try setting it to that on your PC statically and testing, a lot of ISP DNS servers don't perform that well.

That's also the only 'variable that is a constant', being that you've changed hardware and similar, and the new DNS server is different than your old one (new ISP), but it's probably been the same value across all of the other changes you've conducted.

If you wanted to rule out DNS from a more underlying connectivity issue you could do a looping ping to 1.1.1.1 and see if you lose lower layer network connectivity during these periods of observed intermittency. If you still receive ping replies while your browser is having issues with new sites, it's probably a DNS problem.

 

[oldschool1978]

Might be more of your overall issue, try using a static entry in your router such as 1.1.1.1 for the client DHCP settings.

You can also try setting it to that on your PC statically and testing, a lot of ISP DNS servers don't perform that well.

That's also the only 'variable that is a constant', being that you've changed hardware and similar, and the new DNS server is different than your old one (new ISP), but it's probably been the same value across all of the other changes you've conducted.

If you wanted to rule out DNS from a more underlying connectivity issue you could do a looping ping to 1.1.1.1 and see if you lose lower layer network connectivity during these periods of observed intermittency. If you still receive ping replies while your browser is having issues with new sites, it's probably a DNS problem.

Thank you for your reply. I know very little about this area of DHCPs, ISP DNSs thus I don't know how to use a static entry in my router for the client DHCP settings or setting it to my PC. I have no idea how to do a looping ping to 1.1.1.1, let alone understanding layer network connectivity. I do appreciate your generous reply because it gives me a lot to work with and do my own research because I don't know squat about this, lol.

 

[oldschool1978]

Hi beers,

I've been reading about DHCP but don't know how to use a static entry in my router, nor do I know how set that on my PC statically and test. How do I access the DHCP settings and how do I use that static entry on my router 1.1.1.1? How do I set that on my PC?

How do I do that looping ping to 1.1.1.1. and where? How do I know if I lose lower layer network connectivity?

Even though I moved, my ISP has been the same, before and after my move.

Would you be so kind and patient to address my concerns because you've been very helpful? After trying this, I'll contact a technician and pass on this thread of what the issue could be. Thank you very much.

 

[beers]

Try this:

How to change DNS settings on your PC running Windows 10

Yes, you can change the Windows 10 DNS settings for more private and reliable services, and in this guide, I'll show you how.

www.windowscentral.com

If it doesn't make a difference you can set it back to 'automatic'.

If it works then we can change the lease given out by the router so that all of your internal network clients get the same DNS address.

You can do a looping ping by Windows Key + R, ping -t 1.1.1.1

 

[oldschool1978]

Hi Beers,

Thank you so much for your generous and enormous help. I tried all those recommendations, I first tried the control panel method on my Win 10, but then realized it was for Win 11, so then I went to do it through Win 10 settings, leaving two of them tweaked. After tweaking them both, it left my computer speed slower, so I just untweaked the control panel method to the way it was, leaving the win10 settings tweaked, the intermittency still occured. I also tried the ping test as recommended but that small window closed immediately, thus not knowing what that means. I chose Cloudfare for the two tweak attempts, but I'll have to try Google DNS and the other along with the Command Prompt method. I'll keep you posted.

I disconnected the eternet cable from my hardwired HP and it set it to wireless and it's working well without any intermittency so far!

 

[beers]

I disconnected the eternet cable from my hardwired HP and it set it to wireless and it's working well without any intermittency so far!

Nice fam, do you have another cable to use on your PC to test with? Sometimes they can become damaged or have 'silly' issues like one of the pins not making full contact in the connector.