Strange Latency Spike since Windows 10 Reset

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Decided that it was time to reinstall Windows 10. Everything went well but then I am playing PUBG for the first time and find my ping is spiking to 400ms in game briefly. Whilst game running I switch to desktop and run a ping and see the same thing - every 30secs or so my ping goes through the roof for 1 ping only like this:

Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=505ms TTL=64 <<<---
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=8ms TTL=64
Reply from 192.168.1.254: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64

It ranges from 500ms up to 1.5s. I am running a wired ethernet connect so no Wifi. Same thing just pinging my local router GW IP so its not ISP related and never happened before the reinstall. So far I have done the following:

1) Installed latest Intel NIC drivers
2) Rebooted router (even though another laptop connected via same switch has no such issues when running a ping at the same time)
3) Used different port on Router
4) Reseated & replaced ethernet cables as a precaution
5) Updated Win 10 - was 1903 now 1909
6) Watched via resource mgr and seeing no CPU, GPU, Memory surge at or around time of ping
7) Changed NIC from autoneg to 1gig Full Duplex hard coded
8) Disabled windows update via other PC's (as googling this seemed to be a first suggestion for similar such issues).

If I run a parallel ping to my own IP the spikes dont happen (all <1ms) so it definitely seems to be NIC related rather than resource related (CPU, mem etc).

My mobo doesnt have WIFI to test if I have the same issue over wireless but I would expect not.

Any ideas on what else it might be?

Thanks
Simon
 
Soldato
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If it was me I'd live boot into another OS and see if you can replicate it.

If you can't replicate it on the same hardware, albeit in a different OS, then you know it's something to do with Windows 10 and/or a process running within it.

It seems like you've already done a lot to try and isolate the cause. Sometimes it's easier to cut your losses, reinstall Windows and then test again before re-installing applications one at a time to see which is causing the issue.
 
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If it was me I'd live boot into another OS and see if you can replicate it.

If you can't replicate it on the same hardware, albeit in a different OS, then you know it's something to do with Windows 10 and/or a process running within it.

It seems like you've already done a lot to try and isolate the cause. Sometimes it's easier to cut your losses, reinstall Windows and then test again before re-installing applications one at a time to see which is causing the issue.

I've not got another OS to hand but your suggestion did prompt me to try booting into Safe Mode with Networking enabled and surprise surprise no spikes at all. Doesn't help too much but at least confirms the obvious that its not hardware related.
 
Soldato
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I've not got another OS to hand but your suggestion did prompt me to try booting into Safe Mode with Networking enabled and surprise surprise no spikes at all. Doesn't help too much but at least confirms the obvious that its not hardware related.

That would indeed suggest it's not hardware related and it must be a process running in Windows.

As I said before you could spend hours trying to find the culprit but when I had a similar issue I just reformatted and reinstalled Windows adding one program/application at time trying to isolate the culprit.
 
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It's turning into a bit of a head scratcher. I removed the few programs I had installed (steam, chrome, nvidia graphics drivers) and same issue. So reinstalled windows 10 after formatting my SSD. Same issue literally as soon as I get into Windows 10 for the first time. Seem less frequent but its there. I started to think maybe I was just ping watching but I can go into a game of PUBG with network stats visible and as soon as my ping goes yellow / red I alt tab out to CMD and can see that single high ping to my local router every time so its clearly the same thing causing both and not just something cosmetic.

Tried a few things I've seen for similar issues on Reddit but none have fixed it

1) Disabled location services
2) Installed Realtek HD Audio drivers and removed Nvidia Audio drivers (can cause issues on Asus mobos apparently). So bizarre not having this issue before reinstalling Windows 10. Everything else is running nice and smooth just these annoying lag spikes.
 
Soldato
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Familiar with Wireshark?

I know it's not the quickest and easiest option but if you're all out of ideas you may be able to correlate the latency spikes with something tangible in Wireshark.
 
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Familiar with Wireshark?

I know it's not the quickest and easiest option but if you're all out of ideas you may be able to correlate the latency spikes with something tangible in Wireshark.

Funnily enough I do. Did the WCNA cert a few years back (has since lapsed). I may have a tinker at some point but I'm pretty sure from previous experience its not gonna show much that I don't already know i.e. in Safe Mode the network is working as expected (although I need to go and retest that now to be 100% sure I wasn't just lucky). Other than that I'm half tempted to buy a cheap ethernet card just to try something different.
 
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Well it's fixed. I went back into Safe Mode and although it was less obvious if I tested for longer (say 500 pings) I saw similar albeit at a lower latency. I then connected a laptop back to back with an RJ45 patch and no issues at all. Then via my office switch and again clean. So this proved it was only to/via my router. I checked through my router settings (basic Plusnet Hub One) and under DMZ found my old Desktop name listed still. Deleted and added new one (changed after reinstall) and voila no more lag. Such a bizarre issue. I don't know why that setting would even cause latency if disabled. Part of me wants to toggle it back to see if the latency returns or not but I'm gonna leave it as that latency in game was a nightmare. I would be cooking a grenade to throw out of a window - next minute I have shifted sideways behind a wall and grenaded myself in the face.
 
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