It can be frustrating when there’s an issue with the Ethernet connections. A stable Ethernet connection is often critical for accessing the internet and performing various online tasks such as browsing, streaming, and downloading.

If you’re experiencing Ethernet connection issues, please follow this guide and the below troubleshooting steps to resolve them.

  1. Check your Ethernet connection
  2. Restart your modem and WiFi router
  3. Update your network driver
  4. Renew your IP configurations
  5. Reset your network

Before we proceed any further, please restart your computer to flush the buffer and check if your Ethernet works. Other than this, if you have another computer in your home, you can try the Ethernet on that PC and check if it works. If it does, the problem is highly likely due to your first computer. If the issue persists, there are several fixes for you to narrow down the Ethernet problems. Please note that the following screenshots are taken on Windows 11, but the instructions work on Windows 10 as well.

1. Check your Ethernet connection

If you’re using an Ethernet connection but can’t connect to the Internet, you should first check that your Ethernet cable is securely plugged into the Ethernet port on both your computer and your WiFi router. And if you have another Ethernet cable nearby, you can try using it to check if the first one is faulty.

2. Restart your modem and WiFi router

If you’re still having the Ethernet connection issue, please restart your modem and WiFi router to flush the network connection. This will re-establish a connection to your ISP. The steps to restart your modem and WiFi router can slightly differ from the device model you use, but the general steps here should work in most cases.

  1. Unplug the power cables for both your modem and WiFi router.
  2. Wait for 30 seconds.
  3. Replug the power cable for your modem, and wait for the lights on the modem to stop blinking.
  4. Replug the power cable for your WiFi router, and wait a few minutes for the devices to fully power on.
  5. Try the Ethernet connection on your computer to check if it works.

If the problem persists, move on to the next solution.

3. Update your network driver

In some cases, an outdated network card driver can attribute to Ethernet connection issues. So, when your Ethernet is not working, one of the first things you should do is update your network driver.

To update your network card driver, here’s what you can do:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows key and X at the same time, select Device Manager.
  2. Double-click to expand the category Network adapters. Then right-click your network driver and click Update driver (the name of the device can be different on your computer).
  3. Then click Search automatically for updated driver software.
  4. Wait for Windows to find the latest driver available for you.
  5. When the driver update is done, restart your computer for the change to take effect.
  6. Then check and see if the problem is fixed.

Sometimes Windows may tell you that “the best drivers for your device are already installed”. However, it’s not always accurate since Microsoft doesn’t have access to all the newly released drivers for your devices.

Therefore, if Device Manager doesn’t find you the latest Network driver, we recommend using Driver Techie to scan and repair outdated, corrupt, or missing drivers. It works in most cases where you have a driver-related issue. You can download Driver Techie by Clicking Here or following the guide below.

To use Driver Techie to find you the latest Network driver:

  1. Download and install Driver Techie, then launch it.
  2. Click Scan Now.
  3. After the scan, select all the drivers you need to update and click Update All (for Pro subscribers), and all your drivers will be updated automatically. (Please note that you can only update the driver one at a time if you use a free version. To see how to manually update the drivers one by one, please check this post.)

Driver Techie involves the direct human review of the driver database by our engineers, which ensures you always have the safest and latest device drivers. You can rest assured that all your device drivers are in good hands.

Furthermore, if you’ve subscribed to Driver Techie Pro, and need our technical support to resolve the Ethernet connection issue, please feel free to contact <support@drivertechie.com>.

4. Renew your IP configurations

If your IP settings are misconfigured, you’ll be unable to use Ethernet properly. To check, you can try running the following network commands to renew your IP configurations and flush your DNS cache as well.

To do so:

  1. On your keyboard, press the Windows logo key and R at the same time to invoke the Run prompt. Then, type cmd and press Shift, Ctrl and Enter together to open Command Prompt as an administrator.
  2. Type or paste the following commands in the prompt and hit Enter.
    netsh winsock reset 
    netsh int ip reset
    ipconfig /release 
    ipconfig /renew 
    ipconfig /flushdns
  3. Once done, restart your computer and check if your Ethernet connection is working.

If you still have connection problems, please proceed with the next tip.

5. Reset your network

Users who have recently upgraded from Windows 10 to 11 are likely to encounter this Ethernet connection issue. If this is your case, you can use the network reset to remove all the network adapters along with the network settings on your PC. Once your computer restarts, the network adapters will be reinstalled and all the network configurations will be set to the defaults.

To do this:

  1. On the taskbar, click the Start button and select Settings.
  2. Then, click Network & Internet > Advanced network settings > Network reset.
  3. On the Network reset screen, select Reset now and click Yes to confirm.
  4. Wait for your computer to restart. Then, try using your Ethernet again.

Conclusion

If your Ethernet connection is not working, you should check if your Ethernet cable is connected properly. Then, restart your modem and WiFi router. More importantly, check if your network driver needs an update. If nothing works, run the network commands and reset your network to the defaults.

Hopefully, one of the solutions above should fix the Ethernet connection problem for you. If you have any follow-up questions, please leave a comment below.