GA-770TA-UD3: Problem with on-board LAN

[blackbee]

Hello!
My cable modem is connected directly to the on-board LAN, and sometimes it happens that I loose the Internet connection (usually at system start-up). The system behaves like the LAN cable is unplugged. When I unplug the cable and plug it back, nothing happens in windows. Also, the LED is not blinking on the LAN, at all. In device manager everything is ok. Tried with another LAN cable, but no luck. The only thing that helps is to unplug the power cable from PSU, and plug it back.
I bought the mobo in August, but first time this problem happened 3 weeks ago, and then 2 times in last 5 days. First time it was when I restarted the windows, and the last two times it was in the morning, when I turned on the computer.
The driver is the latest, 7.037, but I had 7.034 when it started to happen.
The bios is F4b, I updated it right after I bought the mobo. At the begging, I lost the connection while I was playing, but the troubleshooter in control panel solved the problem every time. Then it suddenly stopped, and since then it happened maybe once or twice in 4 months.
Now the troubleshooter doesn't fix the problem. The only way is to completely turn off the computer. Restart and shut down doesn't change anything. I need to unplug the power cable, too.
Any suggestion?
Thanks.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-770TA-UD3: Problem with on-board LAN

Does this happen to any other computers connected to the modem?

Please test for a while, it could just be the modem.

[blackbee]

Re: GA-770TA-UD3: Problem with on-board LAN

Unfortunately, I don't have any other computer at home to try.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-770TA-UD3: Problem with on-board LAN

Ahh! Well that's not cool because it very well could be the modem, so there's no way for us to rule that out first.

How about another modem instead, do you have one you could test with?

[blackbee]

Re: GA-770TA-UD3: Problem with on-board LAN

No, I don't have another modem either.
It is a Scientific Atlanta 2100 modem, and it is a property of my ISP.
Now I rolled back the driver which comes with the windows, and if it happens again
then I will buy a cheap PCI LAN, and will try with that.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-770TA-UD3: Problem with on-board LAN

Ahh ok. Well it would be nice if you could test with another PC to be sure.

It could be the driver as you suspected by rolling back. If that still errors too then you know it's probably not that since you tried old and new.

[ROSESTEEL]

Re: GA-770TA-UD3: Problem with on-board LAN

I agree with lsdmeasap.

If you are going to buy a nic, buy the Intel Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter. EXPI9301CT. Look for the BLK designation, which means "bulk." These are the same cards, but are sold cheaper--usually closer to $30 than $40. This is a PCI-E card. This should fit in the slot right above your video card expansion slot and just below the central chipset cooler. In general, I think you should only go Intel for desktop nics.

Also, is there a wireless access point connected to your network? The relevance of this is that if a neighbor just bought a wireless modem, he might be on your frequency and inadvertently kicking you off with a stronger signal.

Also, you should check your firewall setting. What kind of firewall program do you have? I run Comodo. Occasionally, Comodo will warn me that system.exe wants to contact the net. If I deny this, then Comodo will shut down Window's ability to contact the net. I will then have to rest the modem to regain access. Also, if I do not tell Comodo that I do have net access, then it will block everything.

Next time, when you lose network access, try this. Disconnect every connection from the wall to your pc. Plus, disconnect the power cord from your modem. Wait about a minute. Everything. And then reconnect everything. This is for if the issue is caused by the modem. You shouldn't really need to disconnect everything, but you would need to experiment a bit to tell what you would really need to disconnect to regain access. For my system, I need only to disconnect the power cord and wireless router from my modem--just two cables--to reset connection.

If you have no wireless ability, and your hardware is fine, then there is also the possibility that the fault is with your phone company. And you may have to contact them.

[ROSESTEEL]

Re: GA-770TA-UD3: Problem with on-board LAN

Newegg.com - Intel EXPI9301CTBLK 10/ 100/ 1000Mbps PCI-Express Network Adapter 1 x RJ45

This is the nic I was thinking about...

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-770TA-UD3: Problem with on-board LAN

Thanks for chiming in Rosesteel, hopefully he can narrow this down somehow without having to have another PC

[blackbee]

Re: GA-770TA-UD3: Problem with on-board LAN

Thanks for the nic suggestion. I will probably order it next time when the problem happens.
I don't have a wireless adapter and I'm using the Windows built-in firewall. But I think that something locks up the LAN at OS start-up because I found out on another forum that others have exactly the same problem with different Gigabyte motherboards (the last post is mine). They are talking about the power cord unplug method as a solution, which works for me, as well.
Or here, the same problem, but with ASUS boards, it was caused by the driver. In post #5, #7, #8... etc, they say the problem was solved by unplugging the power cable. As I wrote already, I rolled back to the windows default driver, and i will see if the problem reappears.
Or this, there is a word about bad lan initialization at OS load, and enabling the LAN Boot ROM in Bios fixes the problem.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: GA-770TA-UD3: Problem with on-board LAN

It could just be random issue, maybe modem overheating or ISP errors, since it only happens every so often.

You could test disable windows firewall altogether, it could be that? I've never used it so not sure?