Dell OptiPlex 7010 looses internet connection

The hard drive never being turned off would really not do much. It sounds like the wifi card is set to power off in power management and/or the USB controllers are also set to turn off the same way.

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/wifi-gets-disconnected-after-sleep

I have this issue, I can be on the PC and it will just drop the wifi connection and I have to manually reconnect it. The Ethernet port does not work, it was working and then the other day it just dropped and not troubleshooter says it needs the cable connected, but it already is. The wifi adapter by Intel is slow at everything, and only half the computer connects to it, try to download from Microsoft store and it says no connection. So I plug in a second wifi adapter and it gives it a wifi 2 connection and the other half of the PC connects now but so slow. I don't know what to think about it, trouble shooter always says default gateway changed and reconnects to the adapter. Just at a loss with it. 

I have exactly the same problem on my Dell OptiPlex 7010.  Very frustrating because sometimes it works but usually, it doesn't.  It seem the only time it works is when I power off, wait awhile and restart the computer.  But that only works maybe 1/3rd of the time.  I have experience with computer software and hardware and am frustrated that Dell has not published a solution.  I bought it through a 3rd party reseller and they were not much help.  I will try to contact Dell directly unless I find a solution on these forums (so far have not).

No, I checked power management - that was the first tip I saw online.  Device is not set to power off for energy savings.

This is just a wild guess, but is the serial port enabled in the BIOS settings? Maybe it clashes with the network card?

Do You have the possibility to test this PC with Windows 10 on a different drive and check if You get the same issue?

What router do You have? Maybe the restrictions come from the router?

I just recently sold all my 7010-s but they never had a problem like this, they were all running Windows 10 pro.

7010 SFF PC is running Windows 10.  It was sold to me through Walmart.com via Discount Computer Depot in Texas.  I already shipped it back to them once.  They basically did a lazy job - simply ran the network reset in Windows, which enabled ethernet the next time windows started.  The problem with the ethernet port losing connection in sleep mode never went away.

Router is not the issue.  This PC replaced an older windows tower.  The ethernet connection goes to my router downstairs.  Ethernet never had any issues until I swapped out PCs.  Ethernet jack lights green on back of Dell 7010 when I power down and the unit is connected to power.  Green light (and orange) goes off as soon as I turn on the PC and windows starts up.  So it's appearing that windows is powering down the ethernet port / connection, even though in windows I made sure to unclick power saving / power off features in Power Management.

Serial port suggestion: my monitor is connected to serial port, but there does appear to be a second serial port.  I've never heard of shutting off serial ports to enable ethernet ports.

One thing I notice is that the Ethernet connection is integrated onto the 7010 motherboard.  There is no possibility to swap out the existing Ethernet card with another.  However, I could disable the existing Intel 82579LM gigabit network connection in device manager (the integrated ethernet port), and buy a new ethernet card and install it in one of the 2 slots.  I would prefer not to have to do that, since who knows if that will work.

@tibi500cid 

Disabling the serial port would be a good thing, since You don't use it.

Serial port has nothing whatsoever to do with Ethernet and Internet connectivity.

You are right, but it takes away resources, like IRQ and why do that, when You don't use it.

Link STATUS lights going out has to do with cat6 wiring or lack thereof.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with dell.

There is ISP onsite support for problems like this.

That is not free.

First thing I would suggest is buying a VERY LONG cable and running it from the pc to your router.

If the router is on and the nic is enabled in bios and this works you need to find out what the wiring issue is.

https://www.amazon.com/Maximm-Cat6-Outdoor-Cable-200ft/dp/B0745YVX25

@tibi500cid 

IRQ for various ports are Known and accounted for over 30 years now.

So again this has ZERO to do with ethernet and Internet connection. You seem to imply that there is a need for this. AFAIKT there is none.

Yes.

So where is the network card in this list?

Who uses serial ports in 2021? I also use it only on one of my Optiplexes for Point of Sale bank card terminal, but the rest of my PCs don't need serial port connection.

Why don't we let him deactivate it in his 7010 when not needed?

I have a 7010 myself.  I know it doesn't help with the ethernet side, but the only thing I can think of is make sure USB Select Suspend is off.  https://www.google.com/search?q=usb+select+suspend&oq=usb+select+suspend&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i10i433j0i10l3.10440j0j4&client=ms-android-americamovil-us-revc&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8 

Thank you speedstep.  I had to physically take the computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse downstairs to the area where my router is where I connected it directly to router via a 2nd, shorter, cat6 wire.  That worked and the problem was resolved.  So the cable was indeed the issue.  I spent time researching how to patch rj45 / cat6 cable, and did so.  After the 3rd or 4th attempt, I was able to get a solid connection on my Dell 7010 ...

However I am still getting variable network speed due to something in the wire or the NIC.  Very frustrating issue, because the cat6 cable worked until I swapped PCs, and I never had these issues before.  My conclusion is that the DELL integrated NIC is more demanding of a strong connection than other NICs.

Hi @kentlewan,

By any chance are your router and modem next to each other?  Try plugging directly into the modem.

If I complained about my internet speeds or WiFi not working, Spectrum had me troubleshoot by plugging PC directly into modem.

My first router from Spectrum slowly died.  It showed me slower speeds on phone and PC before it died.  Current one has showed me speeds in the 30'sMB/s via FCC app on phone.  At least that hasn't been for a short while now.