Sudden Network issues !

Max.P 0 Reputation points
2026-11-12T15:47:20.3466667+00:00

Hi

Since last week or so I started having Network issues on my Desktop PC. No problem on any other device connected, but the PC started crashing the network of my router. I did everything I could to identify the issue on the network/ dns/dhcp/firewall side of things.

The network crashes when I start the PC, but eventually, all comes back together after 5-10 minutes. Like if the PC was created a huge trafic that my router cannot handle. But my router is a powerful TP Link Archer Wifi7 Tri-band and has always been very reliable.

It got interesting last night when I started my gaming Laptop which I use occasionely, and which also made the network to crash , before everything coming back to place. But at some point I downloaded at full speed something on Steam, and while it worked on the laptop, the network crashed on other devices , like there is a bottleneck somewhere.

So, I think the issue is totally Windows related. Any recent KB... update pack that I would need to remove?

The desktop runs Win11 Pro and the laptop Win11.

Windows for business | Windows Client for IT Pros | Networking | Network connectivity and file sharing
0 comments

1 answer

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Chen Tran 13,550 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2026-11-12T17:27:54.1333333+00:00

    Hello Max,

    Thank you for posting question on Microsoft Windows Forum!

    I would like to share my insight with you about the possible causes for this symptom. The primary suspect might be the network stack flooding on boot. When Windows boots, multiple services (OneDrive synchronization, Windows Update peer-to-peer delivery optimization, telemetry reporting, and cloud apps) initialize simultaneously. If a recent patch or a corrupted Winsock/TCP stack mismanages socket pooling, it can fire thousands of concurrent connection requests or local multicast/broadcast packets instantly, choking the router's state table. On the other hand, Steam utilizes aggressive multi-connection peer downloads and UDP content distribution. If your network adapter's Large Send Offload (LSO) or Receive Side Scaling (RSS) is misbehaving due to an updated driver, your PC will dump raw packet chunks faster than the router can queue them, filling the router's hardware buffers and starving every other device on the LAN.

    The suggestion here is to try disabling Delivery Optimization by navigating to Settings > Windows Update > Advanced options > Delivery Optimization and toggle "Allow downloads from other PCs" to Off. Then, restart your PC and see if the network still crashes.

    • User's image

    Since Network adapter drivers updated automatically via Windows Update frequently enable aggressive hardware offloading that crashes consumer router buffers during heavy throughput. It is suggested to adjust network adapter offload settings by opening Device Manager. Expand Network adapters, right-click your primary Ethernet or Wi-Fi adapter, and select Properties. Go to the Advanced tab and modify these settings. Large Send Offload v2 (IPv4 & IPv6) Set to Disabled (This frequently fixes router crashes during high-speed downloads like Steam). Receive Side Scaling (RSS) making sure it is enabled and Energy Efficient Ethernet / Green Ethernet Set to Disabled. Then Go to the Power Management tab and uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power".

    Another suggestion is to reset the local Windows network stack. Since corrupted TCP/IP parameters or Winsock catalogs often cause packets to loop or stall after major cumulative updates. Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run the following commands one by one

    netsh winsock reset
netsh int ip reset
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /flushdns

    Then restart your computer immediately after running the above commands.

    Until this moment, there is no single confirmed KB update to blame for this specific symptom. If the issue started roughly a week ago, look into your update history for any recent cumulative updates or out-of-band patches installed around the time the issue began. If a problematic update lines up precisely with when your desktop began crashing the network, use the Uninstall updates option to roll it back temporarily.

    If the provided information is helpful! It is appreciated to consider clicking "Accept Answer". Should you have more questions, feel free to leave a message. Have a nice day!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments

Your answer

Answers can be marked as 'Accepted' by the question author and 'Recommended' by moderators, which helps users know the answer solved the author's problem.