Please Help. Ethernet always takes 30 seconds to connect to internet.

I'm at my wits end. My PC is pretty fast(Use it for gaming), and has always connected to internet as soon as windows starts up. Sometime in the last 3 weeks, this issue started happening. For about 1 week, I have spent 2 hours a day trying to fix this issue . I don't understand what could have caused this and now I am coming here and praying someone has the answer.


The issue is that whenever my PC starts up, or whenever I disable and enable my network adapter, it takes 30 seconds until I have an internet connection. My computer is directly connected to the gateway router through a ethernet cord.


My windows version is 20H2. (I updated today from 1909 hoping it would fix the issue)
I have an asus x99 pro motherboard. I use the drivers provided by asus, but that doesn't help so i updated them to the latest provided by windows update. My network adapter under Device Manager read "Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (2) I218-V and the driver is 12.19.16 with a driver date of 9/29/2020

I have a 600mbit plan from Comcast. The router I have is provided by them and is a 695CGM414X. CGM414X DOCSIS Cable Gateway User Manual Technicolor Connected Home USA

I have two screenshots. The first shows the connection status at 12 seconds, the second shows it at 36 seconds (fastest I could take a screenshot of the window after moving it into place)




I can reproduce the 30 second delay by going into my network connections window in control panel, and disabling the ethernet connection, and then enabling it. To save time, this is how I would test to see if any potential fixes fixed the issue (unless it was a potential fix that required a system restart)

The steps I have taken to solve this issue are as follows;
1. Booted in safe mode with networking. The same 30 second delay occured.

2. Did a full network reset through windows settings

Disclaimer; After doing the two above steps. Its safe to say that this might be a router issue and I have no idea how to fix it. I monitored my ethernet connection and it shows "identifying" for almost exactly 30 seconds, and then after a second, the ipv4 and ipv6 status indicators simultaneously show "Internet"

3. Turned off "Turn off power on sleep." and "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"

4. Turned off file and printer sharing in device properties.

5. Set network device setting to "100 mbps duplex" instead of "Auto negotiation" and disabled any power saving features.

6. Updated adapter driver. Also rolled back.

7. . Turned off "Network discovery" in advanced sharing settings.

8. Uninstalled and reinstalled network drivers.

9. Changed my IP to static. Using google DNS.

10. checked my list of installed programs. None of them are conflicting with my internet.

11. Temporarily disabled Windows defender + Firewall.

12 In an elevated command prompt, ran "sfc /scannow". No errors were found.

13. Completely Reset my router (Using router provided by comcast).

14. Made sure ipv6 is enabled. (Tried with disabled)

15. Flashed latest Bios

16. Checked for and illuminated non essential system startup processes.

17. Virus and Malware scanned with 2 different programs( Only installed to try and fix this issue, and then unninstalled)

18. Checked Windows event viewer for errors

19. ran "netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt" in elevated cmd prompt.

20. Made sure no programs that hook on the ethernet are installed, Like Wireshark (Npcap, WinPCap), Virtualbox, or any VPN service

21. Made sure the running status of Network Location Awareness and Network List Service are set to Automatic.


My money is on some sort of gateway issue. I don't know what I could do to fix it if it is a gateway issue though. I tried a gateway reset but that did not fix the issue.

Hope someone here can help me out. Any help is greatly appreciated!


Edit:


I went ahead and as a last resort, talked to Xfinity/Comcast about the issue. They did some tests and concluded that my modem is "showing some gray lights"

They gave me a new 1gbit modem and upgraded my internet to 1gbit as well. After installing the modem, my problem is solved.

When I see issues with the Internet I open File Explorer then open one of the 2 x 2TB NAS drives I have connected to the Router by Ethernet cable, if there's issues with the Network I'll see problems there. My Wireless DSL Modem is plugged into the Uplink port on the Router [separate, not physically part of the Router].

forkinator said:

Thank you for the reply, I'm not sure what I am supposed to take away from what you wrote though.

I am pretty certain I narrowed the problem down to a gateway issue. Not sure how that is fixable though. I tried resetting the router.

Just saying the problem may not be with your equipment. The question about Xfinity suggests others may see the same issue.