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Issues with making internet connections on my laptop

3K views 71 replies 4 participants last post by  Couriant 
#1 ·
Hello, I am not entirely sure about the origin of my issues, so I chose this forum as it seems likely to be relevant subject.

About a week ago I began having strange issues on my laptop. For example, if I were to visit twitch.tv, I would receive this screen Then, after refreshing, it would load partially, including a video player that functions fine, providing the stream with no lag, but most the other elements would not load, and it looked mostly like a blank "HTML page." After some more refreshes, it would be almost completely loaded, except for a few exceptions in the site function which would load with the error message "failed to load module."

After a few days I got around to doing malware scans, clean-up programs, and ultimately reformatting the computer. I followed this website's completely clean windows reset guide, cleaning all partitions of the harddrive. Windows decided to force me to make an account, and when it was time to send my cellphone a code to confirm my account, it gave me a message like "invalid request," and forced me to go back and step and repeat it 4-5 times, until it finally sent me a code. I experience issues just like this in online gaming, too. I will queue into the matchmaking for a game, only to fail to connect 2-10 times in a row (fortunately, Legends of Runeterra has a very quick queue,) before connecting to flawless gaming experience for the duration of the match.

Likewise, my google inbox will not refresh properly, and I had to freshly load up the tab for my inbox a few times before I could confirm my account here.

Thank you very much for reading, and if you have any advice for how to research a solution, or direct forum support, it would be greatly appreciated. I'd like to have an idea of what I'm dealing with before I pay a technician for help.

P.S. here is a "speccy" if this helps. Hopefully it doesn't contain info I should keep private, I don't see anything concerning to me http://speccy.piriform.com/results/3ebggd42aKiZhTJgUfl1YF5

The make and model is an Acer Aspire 3 A315-21-4808, and I have the network card drivers updated

Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.9
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 Home, 64 bit, Build 18363, Installed 20200125114947.000000-240
Processor: AMD A4-9125 RADEON R3, 4 COMPUTE CORES 2C+2G, AMD64 Family 21 Model 112 Stepping 0, CPU Count: 2
Total Physical RAM: 8 GB
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon(TM) R3 Graphics, 512 MB
Hard Drives: C: 930 GB (895 GB Free);
Motherboard: SR Squirtle_SR, ver V1.12, s/n NBGNV1100N85005BEE7600
System: Insyde Corp., ver ACRSYS - 1, s/n NXGNVAA00885005BEE7600
Antivirus: Windows Defender, Enabled and Updated
 
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#2 ·
Hello, since you clean reloaded OS, I see no reason to blame OS.

few questions:
when did you last time restart router/modem?
have you change any settings in router recently?
have you tried to reproduce the problem with another device? (ie. mobile phone, another laptop)

One possibility could also be failing NIC.
 
#3 ·
1) Few times over the last week, before and after the reformat.
2) Nope, and all my other devices work perfectly.
3) No one else nor my PC/Phone have issues.

NIC? That is the network card? Is there anyway to diagnosis it without opening up the laptop first?

Thank you for the response.
 
#8 ·
When computer starts first thing you should see is shortcut keys on your screen,
such as:
F2 enter setup
F12 boot menu
Del whatever etc...

I think for acer it's F12 to open up boot menu. then you can select USB key from the list.
if you don't see these shortcut keys on boot, try repeatedly pressing as soon as PC boots:
F12 or F10 or DELETE or F2 unless you get a boot menu.

if you end up in bios, you can get out by pressing CTRL + ALT + DELETE to reboot.
and then try some other key.

I don't think advanced restart is what you need, not sure what that is.

if none of the keys work, you need to enter bios (probably F2) and reorder boot priorities, so that USB key is first.
it may also be needed to disable secure boot in bios in order for USB key to be shown in boot menu or to boot from USB.
 
#9 ·
When I booted from the USB, first a black console flashed a bunch of lines, some of them saying something about firmware.

Then, the Debian loading screen (with the swirl logo) came up, before going back to the console ending with message "firmware failed to load rtl_nic/rt184.f2 (-2)
 
#10 · (Edited)
interesting, because this means driver failed to load for your NIC, which is realtek not atheros which you are using for wi-fi.

You can try to either disable ethernet adapter (realtek) in device manager,
or try to update realtek device with which ever driver works of bellow 2:
https://www.realtek.com/en/component/zoo/advanced-search/280?Itemid=276

CTRL + F and search for "RTL84"

note: I'm not sure but it looks like the driver needed is rt184, which is not listed on realtek, so
I assume it's rtl84.

edit:
it's definitely rt184:
http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/1907.2/01199.html

but, realtek doesn't list driver for this device.

for more info about driver/device I need:
Windows key + R
msinfo32
File -> Save


zip the file and send here.

but I would just disable this device and see if that works.
 
#15 ·
ok so first thing that is visible is your drivers which are newer than the ones from acer site for windows 10:
https://www.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/support-product/7208?b=1

It could be Windows installed newer drivers, so I would recommend to delete these drivers and install
those from acer which are original even though they are somewhat older.

for this you need to
1. disable windows from auto updating drivers.
2. download acer drivers first
3. then unistall LAN and WI-FI drivers from device manager and checking "delete driver for this device" (reboot if needed)
4. install acer drivers and reboot system

Let me know if that works.

edit:
to disable windows from updating drivers:
press start key and type:
sysdm.cpl hit enter
Hardware tab
"Device installation settings"
 
#21 ·
hm, have you tried to run network troubleshooter and does it report any errors or something
that could help?

The problem is that we don't know if this is NIC issue or software problem, because linux test didn't tell much,
the only error was failure to load ethernet firmware but you are having problem on wi-fi.

Btw. are you experiencing this problem only in browser?
 
#22 ·
Negative, as I described in my OP, it happens in all internet using aspects on my laptop. Even when Windows Accounts was sending a code to my cell phone on reinstall I had to refresh the request several times before it would sent the code. Strangely enough, once I'm connected to a stream or a game server, it runs flawlessly. The issue is wouldn't be more than an annoyance if this wasn't my gaming laptop, but as it stands, I'm willing to replace hardware if I need to, as this devices function for me is compromised.
 
#23 ·
Let's do a little test:

Open powershell as administrator and copy paste then enter for each command:

cmd
ipconfig > c:\ipconfig.txt
nslookup microsoft.com > c:\nslookup.txt


this will make 2 files in C:\

copy/paste contents here or zip them up and send.
then we can try something else too.
 
#25 ·
Let's try to configure adapter to static IP and google DNS
Control panel -> network and sharing center -> Change adapter settings (link on left side of a window)
right click your wireless adapter (atheros) -> properties,

then double click on IPv4 and set all fields as shown bellow:
https://i.imgur.com/88rLv52.png

check if that makes any difference, if not:
open cmd as administrator, and copy paste and enter for each and wait for each to complete

ping -4 localhost > c:\localhost.txt
ping -4 192.168.0.1 > c:\router.txt
ping -4 google.com > c:\google.txt


then send those 3 files.
 
#29 ·
So the issue persists even after changing DNS and IP?

Can you connect your laptop via LAN cable? and see if problem is same?
at least that may be indicator of bad wireless card.

There is one thing I remember having problem with wi-fi:
Virtual wi-fi adapters, and you have 2.

You can uninstall virtual wi-fi adapters in device manager,
select "View" in device manager and select "show hidden devices"
then uninstall all virtual adapters, and immediately try to see if problem persists.
these virtual adapters will reinstall on reboot btw.

edit: you may need to disconnect from network and connect again to test changes of
uninstalling virtual wi-fi adapters.
 
#30 ·
Hello again,

I have some business to get to (including bedtime!) and will certainly try uninstalling the wifi adapters. I also thought to try using an ethernet cable, but I don't have one to fit this laptop, and will get one tomorrow.

Rather than just saying thank you again, I'll take a moment to thank you by saying its very kind of you to help strangers debug their devices. I wish you the best and I will certainly report in when I get back to work on this laptop.

Have a great evening or day.
 
#31 ·
ok, thank you for feedback.
sometimes it's just plain hard to find out the cause.
but we did a lot of troubleshooting.

some of the settings we did may require system reboot too.
see you next time!
 
#33 ·
You said debian failed to load desktop because of failed load of realtek driver?

I just don't understand why you got no desktop just because some NIC driver failed to load :/
If you can't get desktop with live linux to test surfing (to rule out driver and NIC) because of this, then it must be something about bad NIC.

However the error is about LAN card not WIFI card which makes it even less obvious which one is faulty and what impact it has on other card.
I don't want to bother you with linux and how to get GUI load manually or do network troubleshooting on command line that would be too much.

but all indicators go against one of the cards being bad and causing this problem.

I see no reason to go check router settings since other devices work on same wi-fi btw.
you can try different linux distro, if none boots and let's you test network it's bad NIC.
 
#34 ·
The one thing that I haven't seen considered here is the internet provider. If you are experiencing that much issues on multiple sites, I wonder if there is some bottleneck somewhere. Have you spoken to your provider to ensure you are not getting any signal issues?
 
#36 ·
I have other devices on this network which do not replicate this issue, and once I've made a connection to a website or a game server, it runs fine.

I think you didn't log in to desktop?
the command line should read:
username:
or
password:
for user.

I think,
user = user
password = live

OR
user = root
password = root
I will try to load Debian again, but I have no experience with Linux, and I don't believe I was promoted for login info. At the very least I should be able to take a picture of the other messages that flashed by.
 
#35 · (Edited)
Then, the Debian loading screen (with the swirl logo) came up, before going back to the console ending with message "firmware failed to load rtl_nic/rt184.f2 (-2)
I think you didn't log in to desktop?
the command line should read:
username:
or
password:
for user.

I think,
user = user
password = live

OR
user = root
password = root
 
#47 · (Edited)
Hello, I haven’t tried booting in Ubuntu yet, But now I cannot access this site or use other features of my laptop As I described before. Now when I try to refresh in order to connect, I never reach the destination.

I will try to boot in Ubuntu Budgie. I only saw one iso available, and am using it to make USB.

edit: I looked away for a few minutes and I came back to this website loaded on the laptop. Funny that the problem suddenly got worse, though.
 
#48 · (Edited)
You are downloading the "ubuntu-budgie-19.10-desktop-amd64.iso" ?

Now when I try to refresh in order to connect, I never reach the destination.
You can use "network reset" in system settings, as shown in shortcut in one of previous posts to undo anything we did in this thread.

edit:
btw. tutorial on ubuntu.com to make bootable USB uses rufus, you can as well make it with unetbootin as you did yesterday with debian.
 
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