A few days ago, my internet connection stopped working. I figured there was an outage in the area, so I decided to shut down my computer for the rest of the day. The following day I turned the computer back on and immediately saw the “no internet connection” icon present on the display bar. At that moment I recognized there must be a problem and I needed to take action.
How I diagnosed the problem in five simple steps:
Note, this step-by-step can be used for many devices including Mac or PC. In this particular case, a Windows based PC was the subject.
Step one
The first thing I did was click on the connection icon, then select “diagnose”. Once my computer began the process, there was an option to reset the network adapter, so I chose to do that. After I made the selection, I waited and then I received a notification that stated, “Can’t reach the DHCP server”.
Step two
I decided to move to step two to verify if my network adapter was operating correctly. So, I opened “Device Manager”, (Windows PC), and navigated to network adapters. Once I located the proper component, I inspected its properties and found there were no issues and the device status showed: [This device is working properly].
Step three
My next step was to check for a newer version of the “driver”, which there was none. I then decided to “roll back” the driver but that did not change anything. So, I made a final attempt to solve this by checking Windows Update. I was hoping there might be a needed update that could resolve this problem, but there was none. At this point I realized the issue is not software related, so I transitioned to the next step.
Step four
I disconnected the ethernet cable from my computer and connected it to another device. Once I connected it, I found the internet was working just fine, which also confirmed the cable was in good condition.
So now, after completing all the diagnostic steps I concluded that my network adapter is faulty. And even though the Device Manager’s self-test showed it was working properly, clearly it wasn’t!
Step five
The next step was to shop for a new network adapter. Since I have a mini tower/desktop computer I searched for a Windows compatible PCI Express network adapter, specifically with an ethernet port. I found a brand I trust then selected the speed.
As far as the speed is concerned, I knew that my current internet speed is about 900+ MBPS (Megabits per second) so I opted to buy the 2.5 GB knowing that should hold me over for a couple years.
The very next day I installed the new PCIe ethernet card and performed a speed test. Everything works fine. My internet connection is fully operational, and my computer is back to normal.
Conclusion
These diagnostic steps will work fine for many different devices and computers that utilize an ethernet port or similar cable configuration for data. Usually, most internet related connection issues are commonly resolved by a restart to the device, modem, router, switch, or a software/firmware update. Such hardware restarts should also include disconnecting the power for a few moments.
After any reset or repair, perform an internet speed test to verify normal operation.
