"Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller" has a Hardware IO error and PC crashes?

[Raity]

I’ve been having problems that my “Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller has a Hardware IO error.” & “Realtek PCIe 2.5GbE Family Controller has a Hardware IO error.” - Taken from event viewer.

When this happens it disconnects my ethernet and all my other devices on the pc exept my keyboard and monitor.
When I turn off the pc to see what going on and boot it up again my monitor has no signal or im stuck in boot screen.
If this happens i usually have to wait before i can succesfully boot up again.

Most of the Time this happens if im gaming but it sometimes happens when im just watching videos.
It is pretty inconsistent too, because sometimes it doesnt happen for a few days and sometimes it happens multiple times a day.

System Information:

Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X 8-Core Processor
Memory: 2x G.Skill 16 GB DDR4-2667, F4-3600C18-16GVK
1.Drive: SSD, KINGSTON SA2000M81000G, 931,51 GB
2.Drive: HDD, TOSHIBA HDWD110, 931,51 GB
Network: Realtek PCIe GbE Family Controller
Bios Version: A.80

OS: Windows 11 Pro

Same Problem on Windows 10.

It doesnt have anything to do with gpu or cpu temps because i have already tested these and they appear to be normal.

Pc is used less than a year .

[Bruce]

for starters, it’ll be under warranty still, so there is that.

have you gone into Device Manager and uninstalled the Realtek controllers, and rebooted.
Windows will auto install them again when they get detected.

[Raity]

Thank you for the answer.

I uninstalled the Realtek controllers before.
And yes, I do still have warranty but I just wanted to know what could cause something like this as it happens really inconsistent.

[Bruce]

when you say it disconnects all the other devices except for keyboard and monitor, what other devices?
like your DVD, drives, sound, USB’s ?

next suggestions would be to see if there are newer drivers for the network controller on the Realtek site.
or even getting your hands and a PCI network card, or USB wireless dongle, and disabling your current controller, and trying another network adapter.

[Raity]

when I say it disconnects all other devices I mean the Ethernet and everthing that is plucked in trough USB exept the keyboard.

I already am on the newest drivers as it seems. I will probably look for a PCI network card.

[Raity]

Is there anything I have to look out for while buying one? Specs , Price, etc.?

[Bruce]

if you can’t ‘borrow’ an ethernet or wireless network adapter, buying either would only set you back about $AUD20.00 for an ethernet card, and around $AUD40.00 for a wifi USB stick.

but it would be nice to borrow one first to check we are on the right track before committing to buying one.

if you go ethernet network card, make sure it is compatible with your motherboard.
your mobo has 2 PCIe 3.0 x1 slots, so any new card would use one of those.

if you go wifi USB adapter, make sure the adapter covers the wifi technology used by your wireless modem/router.
so if the modem handles a/b/g/n/ac speeds and WAP2/WAP3/WAP-PSK, AES, TKIP encryption - get a adapter that will talk at the same speeds and securities.
I’d go USB adapter over a PCIe card as USB allows you to plug it into other devices if required.

[Raity]

Thank you for the answer, I will ask around iif someone I know has one I could borrow.

[Raity]

OK, I tested it with a borrowed network card and it still happend. Could it have so something to do with the motherboard?

[Raity]

Since yesterday it seems to be happening more frequently even when not playing games

[Bruce]

even though you connected using a different card, if the old hardware was still active (albeit not in use) the system would still see it and get the hardware error it was getting beforehand.

you will need to go into Device Manager and disable it.

[Raity]

Ahh right, thank you.

I disabled them and wil test it now.

[Raity]

OK it still happens. The only difference being, that now only the ethernet disconnects.

I still have to force shutdown PC because He gets stuck on the shutdown screen.

[Bruce]

that’s a bugger than!

I could say if those Realtek Family Controllers were throwing up the error when they were disabled, your next step would be to click uninstall instead in Device manger and try that.

but for a borrowed ethernet card to get disconnected when the original one was disabled would indicate something else is at play.

we could try other things, or wait for other suggestions, but there is no guarantee of success, so I’d would be suggestion biting the bullet and nuking this thing from space!
that is - backup your personal files and reload Win11 from scratch.

get the Windows Media Creation Tool from Microsoft, use it to burn a new image of Win11 unto a USB stick and use that stick to reinstall Windows afresh.
go to the MSI website and get the motherboard drivers downloaded onto another USB stick.

after the reinstall, install the mobo drivers.

if nothing else, you are starting from a clean slate, and if the problem re-occurs, you will have some idea what you were just doing or just installed that may pinpoint a reason.

[Raity]

I will do that then. Thank you for your help.