Win 10 Is Deleting My Network Adapter

I have a homebuilt with a GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD3R Rev 1.0 motherboard running an Intel 17-920
The network adapter on the motherboard is Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller. It's running driver version 9.1.401.2015 (dated 4/1/2015).
It was a stable setup under Win 7.


When it came up after my initial update to Win 10, the network adapter was missing. Looking on the Device Manager, there was no entry for "Network Adapters".
I rolled back to Win 7, and the problem persisted. After several trips to Google, the solution to the problem was to power down, UNPLUG THE COMPUTER for "a while" (15 seconds seems to do it), and then restart. It worked. The network adapter was back.


I also read that it could be an issue with antivirus software, so I disabled Norton and tried the Win 10 update again. Same issue.


I've found I can make it work under Win 10 by powering down/unplugging/rebooting. The network adapter will be listed in the Device Manager.


If I simply do a Win 10 restart (no unplugging), goodbye network adapter.
Following a 'no-unplugging" restart, I noticed that the network controller is not one of the recognized devices listed immediately after post (before it gets to the Win 10 boot).
This tells me that whatever is going on is a result of what Win 10 is doing to the device once running, leaving it in some odd state when Windows shuts down. When it powers on, the damage is already done.


Anyone have any clues?

Install the drivers from the manufacturer for the Network adapters. That solves a lot of issues - Wake On Lan - 5ghz on dual band wireless adapter - I had to install the manufacturer driver for both my adapters and the WiFi adapter driver from the manufacturer was for Vista!

NavyLCDR:

When I do an unplug/reboot (i.e. I am connected to the net), Win 10 reports:
Driver Provider: Realtek
Driver Date: 4/1/2015
Driver Version: 9.1.401.2015
Digital Signer: Microsoft Windows
When I click on "Update Driver...", Win 10 tells me I have the latest.
I went to the RealTek site to see if there were any new drivers for Win 10. Nothing jumped out at me. Actually, I found their site to be less than helpful (they don't show any Win 10 references).
The motherboards's RealTek adater is the only one in the system. There is no wireless adapter.
I also updated my BIOS to make sure I was running the latest (but not beta) version.

I see lots of threads about issues with Realtek network controllers with Win 10, but it's difficult to tell if they are the same issue as this one.
There a difference between the network adapter not working vs. the network adapter not showing up in the device list.

You are not looking to upgrade the driver - you are looking to downgrade the driver

The driver that works perfectly in my desktop is:
Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Provider: Realtek
Date: 1/15/2015
Version: 8.38.115.2015

It even makes Wake On Lan work with Windows shutdown with fast startup enabled.

I think it was the third one down here:
Realtek

It sounds like the problem might be with power management with the controller - this driver handles power management perfectly - that's why I have Wake On Lan capability after a shutdown - my router shows the connection stays active, but moves down to a 100mps connection when shutdown.

NavyLCDR,

Bing bing bing!!! That did it! I would not have thought to have moved backwards on the driver rev. Thanks!

GopherMan said:

NavyLCDR,

Bing bing bing!!! That did it! I would not have thought to have moved backwards on the driver rev. Thanks!

On my desktop that I use for my media client I had to move backwards on the video driver to get the extended desktop to work, I had to move backwards on the ethernet LAN controller to get Wake On Lan to work, and I had to move backwards on the audio driver to get 5.1 surround sound to passthrough HDMI, and I had to move backwards on the WiFi controller to get dual band to work. About the only positive driver change I saw with Windows 10 was that it did handle the USB 3.0 add-on card natively instead of needing an extra driver like Windows 7 did.