GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 - Realtek 8111x/8168x LAN connection problems

[chemicallymark]

Hello,

I bought the GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 motherboard 4 days ago and am having serious issues with the Realtek ethernet ports.

I will turn the PC on and the internet works OK. I turn the PC off (same day or different day) or reset and internet stops working.

Windows is fully up to date as are all the drivers. This is a fresh Windows 7 x64 Pro install.

My system is as follows:
Intel 2600K currently at 4Ghz
Corsair Vegeance 2x4GB 1600 Cl8 RAM
Crucial 256GB SSD
Gigbyte 580GTX SOC
Corsair Pro AX1200W PSU

The only way I can get the internet working again is to open device manager, uninstall the drivers or use the realtek driver software to remove the drivers and then reinstall them. Reboot the PC and then the internet works until I shut it down and restart.

This has been doing this from the beginning.

I have tried driver versions 7.46 and 7.48 for the Realtek 8111x/8168x family of LAN Ethernet ports.

I got the drivers here:
http://uk.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3847&dl=1#driver

AND here:

http://www.realtek.com/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=13&PFid=5&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

Neither driver makes a difference. Same issues each time. I have had this issue with bios version F6 and F8 so this does not fix it.

There seems to be a serious issue with the Realtek Ethernet ports and it is very, very frustrating.  I did spend £200+ to reinstall my LAN drivers every day!  

Makes no difference whether PC is overclocked or not.

Is there a fix for this please or any suggestions on how to cure this? Or do I need to return my motherboard?  

Thank you very much!
Mark

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

The drivers for the LAN ports are very fussy and won't play properly unless ever las tvestige of them is removed before a new set is installed. So download and save the latest ones and then use something like DriverSweeper to remove all traces of the originals before installation of the downloaded ones.

[chemicallymark]

The drivers for the LAN ports are very fussy and won't play properly unless ever las tvestige of them is removed before a new set is installed. So download and save the latest ones and then use something like DriverSweeper to remove all traces of the originals before installation of the downloaded ones.

Thanks for the reply 

I tried to use Driversweeper a couple of times (before you mentioned it) and it removes 3 files.
But straight afterwards I tried to run the Realtek installer (either version) it seems to pick up that the drivers are still present and gives the options of "Remove", "Repair" or "something I can't remember now"...lol

I then choose the "Remove" option and then re-run and install.

And still have the issue ;-(

So it seems the only program that seems to remove them properly is the actual LAN driver itself but even then it still does not work properly. I looked at using driver cleaner.net and does not have any realtek LAN removal capabalilities.

If I run the LAN driver installer and remove the drivers and then run Driversweeper it does not find anything. i.e. the realtek LAN installer appears to remove all the drivers.

Are there any other ways of removing them all? Safe mode? etc.
I tried turning off the PC, unplugging and then powering off to discharge capacitors but not noticed any change.

I am likely to have the same issues on a(nother) fresh reinstall since this one is fresh.

Not sure what else to try???

[FoLmEr]

Something you might try if you've got DHCP enabled is to manually configure the DNS servers for your connection.

I got this problem when running DHCP that sometimes seemingly randomly I'd lose my internet connection. Upon further investigation I see that the NIC has SWITCHED DNS servers from the DHCP supplied ones to IT'S OWN IP. Funny bug. Workaround is simply configuring the DNS servers manually.

Worth a shot 

[Dark Mantis]

One other thing worth mentioning is that after removal of the files by DriverCleaner reboot before doing anything else.

[chemicallymark]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the help.

It seems my LAN is OK now 

A couple of days ago I went about using DriverCleaner again and then rebooted and then ran version 7.48 driver. It still tried to remove what was there but I let it do the removal and then reinstalled.

I then S/D, unpluggud the PC and pushed the power switch to discharge capacitors (probably did not need to do this).

Since then I have turned the PC off multiple times and each time my net connect has been OK. So I'm going to say problem solved.

Awesome. Thanks again.

[Dark Mantis]

Well I am very happy to hear that you have now fixed the problem and everything is running normally again now. 

[Dolphin_X]

I'm having an problem similar to the one described by the original poster: system won't connect to the internet when started up. In my case, either rebooting the system or disabling/enabling the NIC in device manager will "revive" my internet connection.

No amount of uninstalling/reinstalling the drivers (even with Driver Cleaner) has resolved the problem, nor has using the latest version of the driver seemed to make any difference. The very intermittent nature of the problem has made it difficult to troubleshoot. I'd appreciate any input from anyone else who has had this particular problem with their Z68X-UD7-B3.

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

What BIOS version are you currently using ?

The other thing that can impact on the NIC sometimes I have noticed is the USB3.0 and ESATA. If you are not using them try disabling them in the bIOS and see if that makes any difference.

[Dolphin_X]

I finally discovered the source of my intermittent connection problems on boot-up: a program called Bonjour Services. Disabling that completely eliminated the problem in my case. It must somehow conflict with the Realtek drivers.

[Gloup_Gloup]

I finally discovered the source of my intermittent connection problems on boot-up: a program called Bonjour Services. Disabling that completely eliminated the problem in my case. It must somehow conflict with the Realtek drivers.

Hi Dolphin_X,  and chemicallymark  

One another raison for remove Bonjour Services...
I said this for other members of forum...
I do not like this ''service'' by Apple from ''apple softwares''...

He exist a alternatives softwares with a same performance and help like a ''apple software''... Why not use it....

So for all : remove Bonjour Services on Windows... by and in services list ... not just by MsConfig

Gloup_Gloup