I'm having a frustrating issue where my desktop PC just won't recognize the wired ethernet connection, but my laptop works perfectly fine with it. I have a 1 Gbps ethernet link set up in my office, and here's what I've tried so far: First, I swapped out the ethernet cable, but that didn't help at all. Then, I added a new PCIe Network Interface Card (NIC), which Windows does detect, but still no connection signal. I also booted into a Linux live environment, and the NIC was detected there too, yet it showed 'no carrier'. Just to clarify, both the onboard ethernet and the PCIe NIC show up in Windows, but the port lights don't react at all. A little backstory: three months ago, everything was fine, but recently the connection became unreliable and would drop frequently. I also experimented with a USB-C ethernet dongle, which seemed faulty as it caused my power supply unit (PSU) to shut off immediately when I plugged it in. If I tried booting with the dongle connected, it would stop at BIOS with an over-current error. Next, I plan to get a new USB-C ethernet dongle and an ethernet tester to troubleshoot further. What might be wrong here? Could this actually be a PSU or motherboard issue? My motherboard is an Asus X570 Prime Pro, and the new NIC I bought is a TP-Link TG-3468, with a Corsair RMi 650 PSU.
1 Answer
That sounds like a tricky situation! One thing to check is whether your desktop is plugged into a grounded outlet. Laptops are designed to be double insulated, but desktop PCs can sometimes have grounding issues. It's possible that there's a grounding problem related to the ethernet connection that's affecting your desktop. Maybe this could also explain the weird behavior with the USB ethernet dongle. Just a thought!
I live in a UK plug setup as well, so I do have grounding. Still, it’s worth checking if the outlet is faulty or if there’s a ground loop problem too. It could cause weird issues.