Booting into Windows causes other machines to lose internet access

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blackmomba

Gawd
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Dec 5, 2018
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I run Ubuntu and Windows and once a week I'll boot into windows to play some games.

The past few times, I've noticed every other device on my lan will lose internet access. Other desktops, phones, tvs whatever.

Router is a asus RT-AX58U and I see the WAN link is down... Try to access console and it's not responding. I reboot it and connectivity comes back.. for a few minutes and then same.

I came back to my desktop and rebooted it. I noticed that as long as I'm outside windows (bios, boot menu, Ubuntu) everything's ok it seems. A couple reboots of this machine and things seem stable again... Edit: nah seems to still happen even after 5-6 restarts

Im feeling crazy a little and wonder if this is even possible or if I've got malware on this install that I seldom use.

Any insight appreciated
 
Any chance you have windows configured with a static IP that conflicts with the router? Or as a dhcp server?

If not, wireshark should tell the tale, but you'll download the installer to a usb stick or something, so you can install it offline.
 
toast0 said:
Any chance you have windows configured with a static IP that conflicts with the router? Or as a dhcp server?

If not, wireshark should tell the tale, but you'll download the installer to a usb stick or something, so you can install it offline.
Click to expand...
I had it configured with the same IP as the one I use in Linux. This was never a problem in the past but I just used the Reset network settings button to go back to DHCP and still the same

I think it might be related to a firmware upgrade but unsure
 
I've had some modems where regularish (but somewhat rare) traffic could induce reboots, it's possible there's a firmware issue on the router, although just booting windows should be part of their test suite.
 
toast0 said:
I've had some modems where regularish (but somewhat rare) traffic could induce reboots, it's possible there's a firmware issue on the router, although just booting windows should be part of their test suite.
Click to expand...
Thanks

The modem itself seems fine. It's the router that needs to be rebooted whenever this windows install comes online. It's almost as if it hangs. I haven't gone through the router logs extensively but I'm thinking I'll just wipe and reinstall the windows machine. If I could be rid of windows all together it'd be great but I still get the urge to play some games at times.

Really perplexing problem that I am unsure how to troubleshoot
 
Can you install windows on another drive in that PC and see what happens with a totally clean install.
 
blackmomba said:
I had it configured with the same IP as the one I use in Linux.
Click to expand...

If you're assigning static IP's and having this issue, clearly the simplest form of troubleshooting would be to stop and enable DHCP then retest. Just thinking "that can't be the issue" is going to be detrimental to the troubleshooting process.
 
blackmomba said:
Really perplexing problem that I am unsure how to troubleshoot
Click to expand...

If you have time, the way I would do it would be confirm it happens if you bring up the machine disconnected, and then connect it. If so, it'll be a lot easier to figure out.

If so, run wireshark capturing on the right interface before you connect, then connect... Stop the capture when you realize the router has fallen over. Maybe do this a couple of times (saving the capture each time). If you find the last packet the router sent, the packet that killed it is probably one the windows computer sent within 10 packets either direction.

If you see the same pattern on multiple captures, you can have a better idea of if it's A or B, as usually there's enough randomness in network setup that some captures will have things happening farther apart and you can probably tell.

Could likely be something like an unusual tcp option or dns request or something ipv6.
 
toast0 said:
If you have time, the way I would do it would be confirm it happens if you bring up the machine disconnected, and then connect it. If so, it'll be a lot easier to figure out.

If so, run wireshark capturing on the right interface before you connect, then connect... Stop the capture when you realize the router has fallen over. Maybe do this a couple of times (saving the capture each time). If you find the last packet the router sent, the packet that killed it is probably one the windows computer sent within 10 packets either direction.

If you see the same pattern on multiple captures, you can have a better idea of if it's A or B, as usually there's enough randomness in network setup that some captures will have things happening farther apart and you can probably tell.

Could likely be something like an unusual tcp option or dns request or something ipv6.
Click to expand...
Appreciate the suggestions toast
 
Reinstall is probably faster though, and if it solves the problem, then you don't have a problem, obviously. But that's how I'd debug it, if it still happens anyway. (That would only get you to a smoking gun packet though... More work remains after that's found)
 
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