When I turn the PC on, my network goes down

[Tom90g]

For the past three days, everytime I turn my pc on it knocks out the home network, every device connected loses internet although is still connected.

The PC is connected by Ethernet to a network extender, with this completely disconnected I still lose the network, reset network adaptors on pc, re installed drivers etc etc, the only time in point my network becomes usable is when I power off the pc. 

My current setup is Fibre into house, cable from fibre box to router. I have a sky wifi booster upstairs. I have two power line adaptors connected, one for the lounge and one in the main bedroom used only for Ethernet for pc and PS5.

Thought I'd ask here before I contact Sky, cheers

[Chrisee]

@Tom90g I would reboot the hub and the extenders and powerline adapters as it sounds like some IP addressing issue. Ensure that only the Hub is acting as a DHCP server as one cause could be another device most probably the PC issueing IP addresses which conflict with the hub's addresses. Every device needs an address in the range 192.169.0.2 to 192.168.0.253 or it wont be "seen" by the hub and therefore lose its internet connection.

IP address issues can be a pain to troubleshoot but at least in the short term set all devices to get their network settings from the Sky hub at 192.168.0.1. 

[Tom90g]

Appreciate the quick response, first thing I did was reboot the hub, the network extender for the pc I have totally disconnected and reset to factory so it shouldn't pick up anything. Once this mornings parenting duties have been done, I'll turn off the second network extender, reboot hub and see what happens. 

in your reply you said that devices need to be withing a certain range to connect to the hub, I have logged into my router and I have 14 devices on the IPv4 address ranging from 0.1 to 0.82. Does this look like an issue?

[Chrisee]

@Tom90g If you have a device on 192.168.0.1 that is your problem as that is the address of the hub so immediately you will get a conflict. if you have set devices to use fixed addresses you must make sure you have reserved those addresses onthe Sky hub or it can issue the same address using the DHCP server which would cause lock ups. Alternatively alter the DHCP range tomavoid those addresses by setting the start to 192.168.0.100 for example.

Settings are in Advanced/LAN IP set up on the black Sky hubs.

[Tom90g]

@Chrisee thank you, within the list there is 192.168.0.10 which has Sky+HD associated to it. I haven't assigned set addresses for any device, have just let them 'do their thing' when connected.

[Chrisee]

@Tom90g if you have left the hub to assign addresses it isnt an IP address issue but as advised before check the PC carefully as it is the likely cause onnthe basic premise things work when its off but dontvwhen its on. Windows has a multitude of settings and its worth updating the network driver. 

[Tom90g]

I've reset everything, disconnected everything, re connected everything, and yet still, as soon as I turn the pc on it shuts my network down. This is infuriating because I cannot do anything with the pc on in an attempt to look at likely causes or conflicts

[TimmyBGood]

@Tom90g 

What make and model is the 'network extender'?

[Tom90g]

@TimmyBGood TP Link - RE450.

This cannot be the issue in my mind because, even with this reset to factory settings the issue still occurs.

It was also working fine up until three days ago when it all stopped working when pc was booted

[TimmyBGood]

@Tom90g 

That device does have a DHCP server though, although its own default IP (192.168.0.254) won't conflict with a Sky Hub.

Nothing with a DHCP service should be entirely trusted.

[Tom90g]

@TimmyBGood I respect your advice, this device hasn't been connected back up because the issue still exists if it's plugged in or not, even my other network extender is disconnected.

There is a root cause somewhere, and I don't know where to look or what to do. Network settings have been reset, network adaptor drivers for the pc are the latest.

[TimmyBGood]

@Tom90g 

If you use the ipconfig /all command in a command prompt window on the PC (without a network connection) what does this show as an IP address for the ethernet port?

[Tom90g]

@TimmyBGood  with Ethernet disconnected, it shows

media state

connection specific dns suffix

description

physical address

dhcp enabled

auto configuration enabled 

[Tom90g]

With it plugged in I get

IPv4 192.168.0.202 (preferred)

[jamesn123]

@Tom90g 

What PC & Ethernet adapter/controller do you have?

Are you saying the issue still occurs when the PC is wired directly to the hub and not through the extender?