HP Elitebook 850 G8 Drops Network Connection - USB-C Ethernet Adapter

[muzmund]

I have a HP Elitebook 850 G8 using a ABLEWE USB-C to Ethernet adapter.  Randomly the laptop will lose network connectivity and then reconnect, usually around 5-10 seconds.  Seems to happen more when streaming or on video calls but will do it when just surfing or laptop is idle.

What do i need to update to resolve this issue?

Thanks

[FrankOH]

We have the same problem with several dozen HP 840 EliteBook G8 models and also HP ProBook 840 G8 models. I can elaborate a little more from our testing:

- Happens to all the computers when using ethernet through either a Dell USB-C Dock, an HP USB-C Dock, an Anchor USB-C multi-port adapter

- Wired connection keeps dropping out for about 5-10 seconds, mostly during streaming or video calls

- If you are connected to wireless at the same time, wireless kicks in until wired connection comes back, but it's enough of a break to drop streaming and video calls

- If the laptops are connected via only wireless, this does not happen, so it seems to be ONLY the hardwired connection

- The ProBooks have a physical ethernet connector on them, when the network cord is plugged into the ethernet port on the ProBooks, this issues DOES NOT happen, so it is ONLY through the USB-C route

- This is really bad for several dozen of our laptops ... need to find a fix quickly.

- This is happening on both Win 10 and Win 11, with all updates current

Any help would be appreciated.

[TryToDoMybest]

Hello

does all this kind of ethernet connection via USB-C have integrated a Realtek Ethercard NIC ?

which is th driver version of the Realtek Driver ?

did you triy to disable Power management in properties of Realtek NIC Driver, so the NIC is never suspeded by the OS ?

bye

[FrankOH]

The post belonging to TryToDoMyBest (above this one) is correct.

So, after finding another post on this site, the fix IS to disable the power suspend setting in the ADVANCED settings of Device Manager for the hard-wired device.

The other post suggested changing 2 or 3 settings, but we found that just disabling IDLE POWER SAVING fixed the random drop problem.  We also tried disabling Selective Suspend and Energy Efficient something, but the first seemed to be the actual fix.

Please note that if you connect through multiple devices, i.e., an HP dock and/or a usb-c dongle that has ethernet, you need to change the setting for each physical device. Windows seems to remember the setting change even if you unplug and replug the device back in.

Usually, the name of the device is under the networking section, and for us it mostly mentioned Realtek and USB Ethernet.

Fairly easy fix for a major issue.

[Anton38]

Agreed! I just registered to vouch for TryToDoMyBest's fix in order to help others stumbling on this thread. 

We have a number of HP EliteBook 840 G8 in our office. Their users also struggled with random network issues when they were connected to ethernet through various adapters: 1) HP USB-C gen 5 dock; 2) ethernet to USB-C adapters; and 3) Satechi Aluminum Multi-Port Adapter V2. When the computers were connected with the Dell D3100 docking station through USB-A we experienced no issues. We also haven't seen this issue, nor the specific power suspend setting, in our newer HP ZBook models. For us, the issue is specific to the EliteBook 840 G8.

Disabling the power suspend setting really fixes the issue. We specifically had two users who had numerous network drops on one day, and after we disabled the setting the users experienced no more network drops.

Until further notice we have instructed our users to manually disable the setting for every new USB-C-adapter with an ethernet connection they connect to their computers.

[TryToDoMybest]

Hello

this is a n issue started when HP removed the LAN card and started to use Realtek LAN via USB-C.

what is bad is that an issue which is not yet clearly solved since years.

bye

[IT_WinSec]

Hello,

You can review this article here >> https://support.hp.com/si-en/document/c07022776

• Make sure your BIOS is up-to-date
• If you are using Rev.A or Rev.B USB-C device, make sure you update it using the tool mentioned in the article
• Ensure your Realtek network driver is up to date, taken from >> https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers
• Go to Device Manager, right click on network adapters -> Realtek -> Properties -> review the power options in "Advanced" tab and Power management, etc...

Should the above does not help,  contact HP Support and request your case to be elevated to get the newest latest and greatest version of Realtek driver to check with it.

[TryToDoMybest]

Hello

in any case if you still have the issue, the only work around is to disable Power management in properties of Realtek NIC Driver.

bye

[FrankOH]

Agreed, TryToDoMybest ... when we dealt with this, first step was always to run ALL updates ... Windows, BIOS, HP, drivers, etc.  That did not help. Only thing that did was adjusting those settings.  Thanks again for steering us in the right direction originally!

[RicardoSM]

Hi FrankOH and TryToDoMybest. Thank you for your solutions on this topic.

But I have some doubts, on my "Realtek USB Gbe Family controller" properties I don't have a tab "Power Management" as for some other drivers.  So, when TryToDoMybest says, and you seem to agree, that "the only work around is to disable Power management in properties of Realtek NIC Driver", are you talking about disabling "Idle Power Saving" as you mentioned before here Re: HP Elitebook 850 G8 Drops Network Connection - USB-C Eth... - HP Support Community - 8230768 or are you talking about other setting?

Best regards,

   Ricardo