Hey folks! I recently had to do a fresh reinstall of Windows 11 because I ran into a black screen issue during boot—just my cursor was showing. After the reinstall, everything seems to work fine except for my Ethernet connection, which is now labeled as 'Unknown Network'. I'm unable to get online, and here are the specs and what I've tried:
**Specs:**
- Motherboard: ASUS Z790-C
- CPU: i7-13700KF
- GPU: RTX 4070 (it's on a riser, not directly in the motherboard)
- OS: Windows 11 Pro (clean install from bootable USB)
- Ethernet: Onboard 2.5Gb LAN (likely the Intel I226-V)
**What I've Tried:**
1. Downloaded & reinstalled the latest chipset and LAN drivers from ASUS.
2. Conducted a full network reset in Windows.
3. Updated the BIOS to the latest version.
4. Checked Device Manager; the NIC is visible without any error icons, but it still shows 'Unknown Network'.
5. Tried to set a static IP, but it defaults to 169.x.x.x or 196.x.x.x.
6. Wi-Fi is working, so it's not a system-wide issue.
7. Before the reinstall, both Wi-Fi and Ethernet were not working in recovery mode, which prompted me to do the clean install.
**Background:** I initially ran into this mess after trying to downgrade some buggy NVIDIA drivers. I probably should have used DDU to remove them, but instead, I went straight for the reinstall. That got me back into Windows, but the Ethernet issue persists despite my efforts.
**Looking for Advice:** What else should I check? Is this likely a hardware issue or could it be related to the I226-V chipset? Are there any tricky registry edits or settings I should mess with? I'd appreciate any advice! I'm happy to share logs or screenshots if needed.
1 Answer
Have you tried restarting your router? It might seem simple, but sometimes that can resolve connectivity issues.
I didn't think to try that as I use Google mesh routers. I'll definitely do a power cycle on the access point I'm connected to and the main router. I'll let you know how that goes!