SOLVED Not sure if I have a problem with my ethernet connection

[bimfi]

For the past few weeks or more, I've noticed that the wired ethernet connection icon in my system tray every once in a while shows a yellow triangle. When I open Network & Internet settings, it says No Internet access even though I can access the internet. Sometimes it goes away when I reboot, but sometimes it stays there. Like I stated in the title, I'm not sure it is a problem because I can still browse and download. I'm running Windows 10 pro and have not made any upgrades to the system in six months or more. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with my VPN connection. I'm connected to the internet with AT&T 1gb Fiber and my workstation PC does not have a wifi card installed. I've thought about plugging the ethernet cable into another port on my switchbox to see if that might be a problem. As I am typing this post, I looked at the icon and the yellow triangle has disappeared. Not sure if it has anything to do with my disconnecting from my VPN a few minutes ago.

Anyway, if anyone else is having issues similar to this, I'd like to know how you are dealing with it. Thanks!

 

[BigFeet]

I've had this happen occasionally. Not sure that it might not be a bug. I do know when I connect to my VPN, it does briefly disconnect me. But I haven't seen the alert in the system tray when that happens. I'd say if your speed and connection aren't affected, it's probably a bug. But you may want to try an ethernet card and see if you have the same issue. Networking isn't my strength, so I probably can't help beyond that. Hopefully you find a solution.

 

[bimfi]

Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[bimfi]

I am a bit of a novice when it comes to networking, so I need some clarification. I'm still getting, periodically, a yellow triangle on my Ethernet icon in the system tray. I did a speed test with "testmy.net" and it showed around 26 Mbps. I then went to the AT&T Uverse Router page and did a speed test from there. It showed the speed between the network and the gateway as 904 Mbps upstream and 994 Mbps downstream. Exactly what is this saying? Is it saying that the speed is there but my PC is not making use of the whole thing, or are the numbers fictitious?

I ordered a new 1Gbit NIC card that I will install in my PC to try to troubleshoot my issues. Thanks for any info that can be given.

 

[BigFeet]

What speed are you supposed to be getting from your ISP?

 

[bimfi]

I have AT&T Fiber 1000 Mbps plan, so I'm guessing I should be getting around 1,000 Mb/s or somewhere in that vicinity (probably closer to 500 to 700)

 

[BigFeet]

That depends on a few things. One is that you're using at least a cat 5e or cat 6 ethernet cable (distance can also be a factor). Also if you're using a switch, make sure that's gigabit. In my case, I have a 10/100 switch even though I have a 400 Mbit connection, so my speed is around 94 Mbit.

You may also want to make sure you have the latest driver. Windows 10 has a habit of sometimes not installing the correct or outdated drivers. If it's integrated you'll have to visit you're motherboard or PC manufacture's website and download the latest driver.

 

[davehc]

Have you looked at this in the device manager? If you say you still have a connection, perhaps not appliceable. But one can never be sure!!

 

[bimfi]

So far, I replaced the integrated Intel Ethernet connection with a PCIe TP-Link 1Gbit Ethernet card. I am also in the process of making some Cat-6 patch cables to replace all older cat cables. So far, there is no yellow triangle in the wired port icon in system tray. I guess only time will tell if this will improve my speed.