r/HomeNetworking

[$500 BOUNTY] My PC crashes my entire home router/ONT — full reboot, 5 months, 2 different Huawei units, no fix. I need someone who's actually solved this before.

TL;DR: My PC (not my PS5, not my phone, not anyone else's device) is somehow crash-rebooting my ISP's fiber ONT/router — full reboot, all LEDs off except power. It's been happening for 5 months, survived a full router replacement (different Huawei model), and survived removing the one software culprit I found (ExitLag's kernel driver, nfextlag.sys — ruled out with timestamps and a clean multi-day test). I've done extensive diagnostics myself (logs, PowerShell, event tracing) and I'm stuck. Offering $500 USD to whoever gives me the fix that actually makes it stop, permanently confirmed.

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## The setup

- ISP: STC fiber (Saudi Arabia)
- ONT/router: Huawei HG8245W5 → replaced ~2 weeks in with a Huawei HG8145X6-10. **Problem continued on both.**
- PC: Ryzen 9 9950X3D, RTX 5090, 64GB RAM, prebuilt by someone else (I did not build it myself)
- NIC: Realtek PCIe 2.5GbE (RTL8125 family), currently forced to 1.0 Gbps Full Duplex
- Wi-Fi card: Realtek 8922AE (separate known issue, logs an IOMMU DMA fault — probably unrelated but flagging it)
- OS: Windows 11
- Connected via Ethernet directly to the ONT

## The symptom

Not just "my PC loses internet." The entire household goes down. All router LEDs go dark except power. It comes back after ~41 seconds (this timing was remarkably consistent during the worst episodes), then can crash again within minutes — sometimes looping for 1-2+ hours. Wi-Fi disappears from every device in the house during the event, confirming it's a full reboot, not just a WAN blip.

## NEW: LED behavior right before a crash

I watched the router's port lights closely during a live episode. Right before it reboots: the LAN port my PC is plugged into starts blinking extremely fast, and — critically — the WLAN light and even the TEL (phone/VoIP) light start blinking fast at the same time, despite having nothing to do with my PC. Shortly after, everything goes dark (for less than a second) then the power light comes back (the router rebooted basically)

I've since ruled out two obvious explanations:
- Not a mesh/wiring loop: I unplugged my Tenda Wi-Fi mesh extender from the router entirely — problem still happened a few minutes later.
- Not a software/virtual network bridge on the PC: checked for Hyper-V/VMware/VirtualBox/ICS virtual adapters — none present.

This looks like my PC is sending a burst of broadcast/multicast traffic large enough to flood the entire router (all ports/radios see it, which is normal switch behavior for broadcasts) — and the router's firmware apparently can't handle the volume without crashing.

## Why I'm confident it's the PC

- Physically unplugging my PC's Ethernet cable during an active episode → failures stopped within ~10 minutes.
- Reconnecting the cable → router crashed again within ~5 minutes.
- PS4 and PS5 have used this same connection and cable for 10+ years, zero issues.
- Nobody else on the network has ever triggered this.
- Problem started the moment I got this PC (March), not before.

## What I've already ruled out (please don't suggest these without a new angle)

- ExitLag's driver (nfextlag.sys): installed the same week problems started — huge red flag. Disabled it, uninstalled the app completely, verified zero trace left (`sc.exe`, registry, disk). Ran multiple clean test mornings under identical conditions (PC on all night, gaming, same router window) with zero outages logged . Felt solved for about a month. It came back anyway, unrelated to that app being present or absent.
- Router replacement (different Huawei model, same result)
- Moving Ethernet port on the router
- Forcing 100 Mbps Full Duplex instead of Auto-negotiation (still crashed)
- Disabling Wake-on-LAN / Wake on Pattern Match
- EEE / Green Ethernet / Advanced EEE / Power Saving Mode — all already disabled
- No third-party network filter drivers present (checked bindings + driver list)
- Adapter error/discard counters are all zero — no obvious physical-layer errors
- No consistent time-of-day pattern anymore — it used to cluster ~6-8am, now happens at random times of day too (had a 4-hour episode 1:24pm-5:17pm on a random Thursday)

## What I haven't been able to test yet

- Multimeter/ground-loop check between PC chassis and router (don't own one)
- Known-good *unshielded* cable swap
- USB-to-Ethernet adapter (bypassing the onboard Realtek NIC entirely)
- Full Linux live-USB boot test (isolating Windows from hardware)
- ONT in bridge mode behind a proper third-party router (haven't gotten STC to enable it yet)
- Professional/in-person diagnosis of the PC itself — I didn't build it, so I can't 100% vouch for the build quality, grounding, PSU, or motherboard

## The bounty

$500 USD to whoever's diagnosis and fix actually makes this stop — confirmed by at least 7 consecutive days of normal use (including my heaviest usage patterns: overnight gaming, mornings) with zero unexplained router reboots. I'm not paying for guesses; I'm paying for a fix that survives real-world verification. I'll post an update confirming when/if it's resolved and who solved it, publicly, so nobody has to just take my word for it.

I know I can't "reproduce it on command" for you, but I have detailed PowerShell logs (event timestamps, outage durations, driver install dates) I'm happy to share with anyone seriously trying to help.

I'm not a networking pro — I've done my best with the diagnostics I know how to run, but I think this needs someone who's actually seen a case like this before. If that's you, I'm all ears.

I'm researching different approaches for remotely accessing a Windows PC that is normally powered off or sleeping.

I've seen setups using Wake-on-LAN through a VPN, Tailscale/WireGuard with an always-on Raspberry Pi, smart plugs, AMT/vPro, and tools such as RDP or Sunshine.

For those who do this regularly, what setup are you using?

I'm particularly interested in the complete workflow: phone → reach home network → wake PC → wait for it to become available → establish remote session.

What part of your current setup is unreliable, inconvenient, or requires more configuration than you'd like?

As the title states, I am building a new home and want to know if it’s worth it to run cat 6 throughout the home? My wife works from home, I will need an office space as well in the future. We have always used WiFi extenders. I’ve read some and noticed people suggesting to run cat 6 instead of cat 5? Also, what is a good brand? How should I run it…through conduit? Any good videos? What are your suggestions? Was going to run it into the office, all the rooms, and behind all the tvs.

Want to change password on arris sbg8300 modem from all numbers to a mix of numbers, letter, uper case letter to pass thru settings on google home speaker with gemni as it gets blocked at password. Arris Surfboard Central software lets me change the modem password but then it doesnt go through.

I’m trying to swap my main router from and Asus ax55 to an Asus gs-ax5400.

For context, my ax55 is my main router and my other gs-ax5400 was an access point, well I basically wanna swap the roles of these 2 routers but when put the ax5400 into router mode, it constantly says “disconnected” on the main network map tab and I have tried everything to rebooting my modem and then rebooting the ax5400 to power cycling and fully resetting it but nothing seems to work. It does however still provide an internet connection.

If I was to swap the ax5400 back with the ax55 I guarantee it will connect no problem. I assume the issue is with dhcp and automatic ip assignment?

I want to swap the routers due to the ax5400 having more ram cause my ax55 usually gets up to about 90-95% usage in ram. Which I know unused ram is wasted ram for routers but I’d like to avoid connection issues.

I was using a router from my local internet provider, and I constantly experienced some problems, but specifically when I found a Hunt: Showdown match, the router would reset completly, So I switched providers hoping it was some kind of bottleneck problem with their servers or something like that, since it's a growing company and gaining more clients. But even after changing both routers and internet providers, the problem persists in the same game (and specifically), but now It fabric resets the router and i gotta configure everything again everytime... I've already tried changing the gateway to other public ones, and I've limited the internet speed in the driver properties, I've already disabled all power saving modes, changed the cable, verified the game files, and even tried reinstalling the anti-cheat, and much much more...I really don't know what to do anymore and I'm asking for help from any good Samaritan who reads this cry for help, because even the operator doesn't know what's going on here.

Im working from home in a room in the house that has a really bad connection Once a hour or so Ill have like 30 seconds where everything just stops loading. Besides that i mostly get 2 bars instead of a constant 3 bars like in other rooms

What are some things I can do that will improve my connection in this room? Thank you!

I don’t know if anyone else has ever experienced anything like this or not before but over the last few months I have noticed that if I do a Speedtest on my wired desktop PC, I will get the results showing that I am receiving what I’m paying for. However, on my other wired devices I am nowhere near getting what I pay for. I pay for 1 gbps symmetrical fiber. I had a technician out here and they replaced my ONT and they even ran a brand new fiber line to it. They also saw what I’m seeing with the Speedtest results and had no answer for me. In fact, the man that was here actually called one of the higher up people with the ISP and he was confused as well. Has anyone else experienced a time where all of a sudden your uploads and downloads don’t match with your fiber? I use the Speedtest.net website on my desktop but use the app on the other devices simply because I have no choice. Also, oddly my router has a Speedtest built into it and it gets the low speeds now as well. All of the test servers are exactly the same. They all auto pick the server which wants the server is picked It says my ISP‘s name on it.
Aside from my desktop PC the only devices I Speedtest on are my iPhone and my wired Apple TV 4K, which it’s the model that has a 1 gbps Ethernet port. I get perfect download speed, but my upload is trash! Same goes with my Speedtest on the router app. I know Wi-Fi is Wi-Fi so it’s whatever right? However, it used to be better as well.

I’m sure I’ve posted about this here before, but it is absolutely driving me crazy! I even factory reset my router once. Also to eliminate things, I think I’ve even plugged my Apple TV directly into the ONT and got the same results.

My apartment building has property-wide managed Wi-Fi from Spectrum Community Solutions, with an access point in each unit and a dedicated VLAN per tenant.

We ran our own router off the AP port for several years, serving our own SSID but it recently stopped connecting. Spectrum's policy is that we can't connect a managed switch, modem, splitter, or other network device to the in-unit AP but ordinary devices like TVs, computers, and game consoles are allowed.

I'm trying to figure out if the router is now blocked and what my options are for getting our own SSID network? Ideally, I would be able to use a consumer router like Eero to do this.

Hey guys, hope everyone’s doing well. This is my first time posting in here, but I was scrolling and everyone seems pretty chill and people have gotten their issues resolved, so hopefully I can have the same outcome.

So basically, we have AT&T Wi-Fi at home — I believe it’s fiber since download and upload speeds match. We’re on the 1000/1000 plan. I have my own PC work/gaming setup (one PC, two monitors), and since my room is pretty far from the router, I had someone come install an Ethernet run from the router that goes outside the house, along the outer line under the roof (so it stays dry), secured with zip ties, then comes into my room and connects to a small box with Ethernet plugins that I connect my devices to.

When everything first got set up, I was getting around 940-950 down/up on Ethernet in my room, and everything was running smooth. Yesterday my internet felt off — I was downloading a game on Steam and it was going way slower than usual. I ran a speed test and got around 80 upload, 90 download.

I’m not totally sure how long this has been happening, since I only ran the speed test yesterday. I’ve been busy and hadn’t played any games in a while, so I was just doing normal tasks and never noticed. The only reason I caught it was because the game download was taking way longer than usual.

Since we’re still paying for the 1000 plan, I checked my mom’s phone and it still tested at 1000. I checked my Ethernet cable and everything looked fine — even the adapter settings on my computer showed the link speed as 1000/1000 receive/transmit. So the connection itself seems fine, I’m just not getting the speeds I’m paying for.

I contacted AT&T and they said we have too many devices on the Wi-Fi. I get that, but we’ve had roughly the same number of devices (around 40) since I first got the plan — and it’s not all computers, mostly phones, a few TVs, iPads, and laptops that get used here and there, not constantly streaming or downloading. I’m the one who uses the internet the most, which is why I had the Ethernet setup done in the first place since I work from home.

Shouldn’t being on Ethernet bypass the device cap and still give me close to my 900s, even if the 1000 plan is designed for around 20 devices max? For reference, my mom’s phone gets around 900 on a speed test, but my phone gets the same low 80-90 as my computer.

Is there anything I can do to prioritize my computer, or figure out what’s actually causing this?

Thank you