I have an ethernet port on my laptop that is acting up. It never gave me issues until about a week ago when I reconfigured my desk with what I thought was better cable management. At first, my download speeds would significantly drop from over 500mbps to a steady 10mbps. Then, I would unplug the ethernet cable from the laptop port, plug it back in and a would get great speads again...until a few hours passed by when it would drop back to a steady 10mbps. Eventually, the unplug replug method stopped working and I am able to only get 10mbps from that port. I tested different cables, same thing. I plugged another machine into the cable and got 500mbps. Then, I plugged in an extra usb-c dongle with an ethernet port on it into the machine giving me issues, moved the cable to that port, and my laptop has great 500mbps speeds again. But, I still cannot get the laptop's normal ethernet port over 10mbps. So, I know the laptop can get the speed, I know the modem puts out the speed, I know the cable is working, but the port is stuck at a steady speed like it's throttling or something. Any ideas?
1 Answer
Eventually, the unplug replug method stopped working and I am able to only get 10mbps from that port.
Then, I plugged in an extra usb-c dongle with an ethernet port on it into the machine giving me issues, moved the cable to that port, and my laptop has great 500mbps speeds again.
You have proven that the Ethernet port has somehow failed. These are normally soldered at right angle directly on to the motherboard and are tricky to remove neatly to replace (I have tried this).
So I recommend you make the add-on Ethernet port permanent until either (a) you can replace the motherboard or, more likely (b) in due course replace the computer.