Hello all, this is my first time posting here. Today I encountered an issue with my Ethernet on my Windows 10 Desktop after restarting my router, losing access to the internet, and I can't seem to figure out what went wrong at all.
I recently restarted my router since my internet was hiccuping the past couple days and would disconnect for a couple minutes at a time. I did the same thing a few days ago, and the first time I restarted my router, no issues occurred on my desktop. It naturally reconnected after a few minutes once the router came back online. Today I did the same thing and restarted my router; however this time, I tried Troubleshooting on my desktop to try and reconnect faster. I have a Macbook that I also use, and I saw it reconnected first, so I thought my Desktop needed an extra boost and I started the Troubleshooting process. During the process, I saw it said it disabled the Ethernet and reenabled it. Once the process was complete, it showed it couldn't find any problems, but my internet was still disconnected.
Now my Ethernet is shown as an Unidentified Network with no internet access, on a Public Network. I've tried disabling and reenabling my Ethernet, restarting the router once more, and rebooting my PC, all to no avail. Whenever I troubleshoot it, it says no issues could be found.
My laptop and the other computers in the household are connecting just fine. It seems like my PC lost the credentials to connect to the network automatically during the router's restart, and now is stuck in limbo. At least, that's my guess. The ethernet shows there's no network access on IPv4 or IPv6 connectivity, and when going to Ethernet Properties, it shows my IPv6 DNS Servers as: fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1, fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1, and fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1. The manufacturer is Realtek.
I really don't see how it's a hardware or software issue, as it was working completely normally before I did the router restart. As I said, the one thing I did different was initiate Network Troubleshooting while the router was still starting up, which I thing caused the desktop's connection flub out. Regardless, I'm at a loss on what to do. Any help would be appreciated, and please forgive me if I didn't provide enough details here my first time. I'll do my best to provide any needed info if necessary.
Okay...so now all of a sudden it's fixed. I just went and jiggled one of the ethernet cables plugging into the router since it seemed one of the lights was dimmed, and apparently that was what was wrong, since moments later I come back to see the computer connected.
All that troubleshooting and worrying and that was the issue...I feel so stupid. Well I guess I'll mark this as solved.
Don't feel too stupid, electrical connections heat and cool and can loosen or get a bit of corrosion on them. Also of note is the plug on the end of the cable, if not completely crimped the sheath will work away from the clamping area which in turn can cause the wires to loosen the connection with the contacts in the plug.
Yup, apparently my cable has a loose clamp on the end that connects to the router. What threw me off was I had checked all the wires when I restarted the router during my troubleshooting. Apparently not well enough, though. Plus the indication light on the router's front doesn't dim to a complete black, just a dimmer red, so I didn't notice at first. I had to push the cable in harder the second time; so long as the router doesn't move its fine, but if we ever go to restart it the cable might get loose if it moves too much.Don't feel too stupid, electrical connections heat and cool and can loosen or get a bit of corrosion on them. Also of note is the plug on the end of the cable, if not completely crimped the sheath will work away from the clamping area which in turn can cause the wires to loosen the connection with the contacts in the plug.
Guess I'll have to keep that in mind now. Thank you for the insight.
You're welcome, have a good evening.