Steam Kills Wireless Internet Connection and What Worked For Me

[Dhoul]

The Problem: While downloading a game, Civ 5, the download speed tanked after a bit and my laptop could not access the internet or LAN. Disconnecting from the wireless network or toggling the NIC on/off worked, but the problem eventually returned.

A Google search turned up some possible fixes such as changing the download server, reinstalling Steam, malware, using Google's public DNS, and deleting ClientRegistry.blob. However none of these worked for my issue.

My Solution: Changing my Wireless Mode for my NIC from IEEE 802.11b/g/n to IEEE 802.11b/g. To do this on Win7 you go to Control Panel>Device Manager, Right-Click your Network adapter and select Properties, go to the Advanced tab, and for me it was a simple edit of Wireless Mode.

Why does this work? Apparently, it's because my hard drive's write speed was quite a bit slower than my download speed which causes a backup problem and Steam's fix is to stop downloading and wait for the HDD to finish writing. However for whatever reason, when Steam said to stop downloading, it killed my connection in such a way that it couldn't restart the download as well as lock my system from the internet and LAN.

What this fix did for me was Steam does stop downloading, but my connection stays fine and it resumes after the HDD finally catches up.

I hope this does help, this was quite frustrating and credit where credit is due, I found this fix in the comment section of a Youtube video from random poster Tyson Guy.

[Mrs.Mechazol]

I was having so many issues with this today. Steam disconnected from the internet when I tried to play online. Any online game. I updated my drivers. I reinstalled steam twice. Deleted the steam folder from the program files and forced it to update. And almost resorted to restoring my computer.

This post saved me the hassle. Thank you so much.

[JayNyne]

Just got a new pc and every time I opened a game on steam my internet would crash. I don't want to jinx it, but you may have saved me with this solution, and this was after try lots of fixes and ringing tech support. Thanks a bunch.

For anyone who might be having the same issue, and I've seen a lot online, don't worry if you don't have the same options for wireless mode as the the OP just change them to whatever other ones you have. I had 4 different options (written in the same format) and it was only the last one that worked.

[msj1117]

Thanks for this, K. Crimson! It's April 2020 and the solution worked for me in Windows 10. Same idea, slightly different route to accomplish it:

Network and Sharing Center > [click on your connection] > Properties > Configure > Advanced tab > Wireless mode (at the bottom) > Value: IEEE 802.1 b/g

My DL came in just a hair slower but the connection never failed.

[Iceira]

if you get poisen revesed then you will be disconnected ( this is standard network and how it work ) rest is your harware and the ISP you have, and is driver and router update. + netcard

[BUNNY1042]

thank u so much! this guide has been super helpful!! i'm going to share this around so it can hopefully help others as well!!!

[76561198086608980]

How can I get around this?

I'm using Ubuntu, I tried to look for similar solution.

"Network and Sharing Center > [click on your connection] > Properties > Configure > Advanced tab > Wireless mode (at the bottom) > Value: IEEE 802.1 b/g"

but since I'm using Ethernet, I don't see any point in applying this solution.

==========================

Nikel@Nikel-desktop:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

enp6s0 no wireless extensions.

==========================

[Cathulhu]

No wonder as 802.11 is exclusively used for Wifi. Ethernet does not have the a/b/g/n/ac standards as it doesn't need it.

[firefox971]

Originally posted by msj1117:

Thanks for this, K. Crimson! It's April 2020 and the solution worked for me in Windows 10. Same idea, slightly different route to accomplish it:

Network and Sharing Center > [click on your connection] > Properties > Configure > Advanced tab > Wireless mode (at the bottom) > Value: IEEE 802.1 b/g

My DL came in just a hair slower but the connection never failed.

after countless hours of searching Google, contacting my ISP, changing wifi adapters this was the only fix that worked for me.. You have no idea how happy i am right now thanks alot

[IQ-Tip]

Still works for me in december 2023, sad isnt it ? :-(
I was getting mad lol. Unsure if it's related to my new orbi router.
Dying light 2 was the worst game, my wifi was killed just 1 minute after launching the game.
That said i'm going from 500mbs to 10 mbs when i dont allow "ax / n" in my wifi adapter.
I ordered an ethernet cable, which should fix any problem.