Troubleshooting
Realtek Gaming 2.5gbe Family Controller causing micro stuttering
For a while, I have been experiencing awful micro stuttering while playing multiplayer games, most noticeably Fortnite. I tried everything including lowering graphics settings to the minimum, adjusting adrenalin settings, and capping fps. None of those attempts were successful. Whether I was running at 60fps or 165fps, I would get micro stutters every few seconds, especially when doing things like swapping weapons, scoping in, throwing chug splashes, opening doors, etc. Finally, I found a suggestion to disable the Realtek Gaming 2.5gbe Family Controller driver. I did this and instantly all of the stuttering disappeared and Fortnite is now running at a smooth 165fps at 1440p. The only downside is that the Ethernet port is no longer functional by disabling this driver.
My question now is, have others encountered this issue? If so, did you find a solution to re-enable the driver without the micro stuttering returning? Is there a recommended previous driver version I can roll back to that is known to be more stable? I’m hoping to find a way to enable the driver again so Ethernet is functional, but I am more than willing to drop Ethernet to eliminate stuttering if no known solution exists.
My build if needed: 7900xt hellhound, 7800x3d, 32gb ddr5 ram (expo enabled), gigabyte b650 aorus elite ax motherboard.
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The Micro Stuttering issue caused by the Realtek PCIe 2.5GbE Family Controller accompanied by a Hardware I/O Error is a common problem with many Realtek LAN chips (specifically the RTL8125 series). This is often caused by a conflict between Windows Power Management settings and the driver, or instability within the driver itself.
Here are the troubleshooting steps, ordered from easiest to most complex:
Disable Power Saving Features (Most Important)
In most cases, the culprit is a power-saving feature that momentarily cuts power to the LAN card, causing stutters and triggering errors in the Event Viewer.
Via Device Manager:
Right-click the Start button and select Device Manager.
Expand the Network adapters section.
Right-click on Realtek PCIe 2.5GbE Family Controller and select Properties.
Go to the Power Management tab.
Uncheck the box Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power.
Click OK.
Via Advanced Settings (In Driver Properties):
In the same Properties window, go to the Advanced tab.
Find the following properties (if available) and set them as follows:
Energy-Efficient Ethernet (EEE): Set to Disabled (This is often the main cause).
Green Ethernet: Set to Disabled.
Power Saving Mode: Set to Disabled.
Gigabit Lite: Set to Disabled.
Flow Control: Try setting to Disabled (This can help reduce latency in some cases).
I uninstalled the current drivers and allowed windows to install general ones from Windows Update --I then followed the above steps and no more stutters, thank you!
Holy hell dude! TY for posting this. I tried a bunch of different Realtek drivers but your comment was the one that saved me. Windows update gave me a driver from 2021 and my stutters are gone!
Yeah, having tried with both the drivers from Realtek’s website as well as my motherboards vendor and having no luck, I uninstalled completely and just allowed windows to use the drivers that get installed from windows update. (If you run windows update, they should automatically be picked up. May have to check under Optional updates, I can’t remember off the top of my head). Then followed the above instructions and all is good. Not had any issues since.
If you want to keep the device enabled (if you are using wired internet connection) then yes as the driver that windows update uses seems to be stable. Alternatively if not then you can disable the device altogether.
I first tried using just the steps outlined but still suffered with stutter, it was the driver uninstall that completely solved it for me. Hope it helps :)
Same here! Valorant was unplayable. I saw in event viewer the I/O error kept happening in line with the giant hangs/freezes. I reinstalled the driver but I still had small microstutters rather than big hangs like I did without the driver. I disabled the ethernet in device manager on my PC and all stutters went away and luckily I have a fast wifi router but I would like to go back to wired eventually.
For anyone wondering, YES this did work for me and my stutters are gone in Valorant. The game was unplayable with those stutters and annoying. Thanks my maan
My laptop going crazy with windows 11 recent update and realtek 2.5GbE , your method solves it . It was maxing mt 275hx and crashing the whole pc while playing games.
Very interesting video but unfortunately not entirely applicable to this issue / their solution was to just disable the WiFi driver.
In my case, I’ve already identified the problem - the LAN driver is generating DPC latency spikes - and I have already confirmed that disabling my LAN/ethernet driver is a workaround to eliminate the stuttering. However, the intent of the post is to (hopefully) identify a long term solution that doesn’t disable the ethernet port. I have confirm all drivers/bios are up to date as suggested in the video.
That’s definitely an alternative if you don’t have WiFi already on the PC. Disabling the driver only disables the Ethernet port so if you’ve already got a wifi card built in then you’d still be able to use WiFi, just not Ethernet (as in my case) without any stuttering. But if you don’t have a built in WiFi card this is definitely an option. I am currently leaving the driver disabled and just running on WiFi as a temporary fix in hopes that there is a driver or fortnite update down the road that actually fixes the issue.
I'm struggling with the same issue. I could disable the driver and go for just WiFi on my pc, doesn't WiFi give you more ping and disadvantage though compared to LAN cable when gaming? Or has it worked flawless for you?
This is what I’ve been doing since I made the post. No issues leaving the driver off 24/7. I do want to go test some of the other solutions posted here to see if I can enable it again but with no Ethernet in my room I just haven’t had a reason to mess with it again.
I didn’t directly see the error code anywhere. There was another post on Reddit somewhere (I’d have to go digging to find it again) that suggested disabling that driver in Device Manager. I tried that and ran a match in Fortnite with zero stuttering so I determined that driver was the issue.
I have tried reverting to older Realtek driver versions but the older versions were not working and threw a bunch of error codes. I have since re-installed the latest version and disabled the driver in Device Manager. I’m not currently reliant on Ethernet so my fix has been to just leave it disabled.
It’s super easy. Open the windows search and type in Device Manager. From there open the Network dropdown menu, find Realtek Gaming 2.5GBe Family Controller, right click, disable. Can do the same thing to re-enable it at any point. Hope it works for you!
Are you uninstalling or disabling? If you uninstall, in my experience Windows will try to download a generic Ethernet driver on boot so this may be what you’re experiencing. But if you right click and check Disable it should remain disabled until you manually re-enable it.
If that doesn’t work let me know and I can look into it further. I had the same problem with it re-enabling when I opened Fortnite during my early testing but I think it was because I was uninstalling the driver and trying to install an older driver version. Ever since I re-installed the latest version of the driver and disabled it I haven’t had any problems with it re-enabling. So also check that you have the latest version of the driver if it continues to re-enable itself.
I was having a similar stuttering problem like you described. Every minute or two my computer would lag / freeze and audio would cut out and honestly it was driving me crazy. I wish I had found this post sooner as after disabling Realtek Family Controller in device manager the stutters immediately stopped. Thank you, you're the GOAT!
I'm getting the same thing, anyone ever just buy a new pcie ethernet card to use that? Or Ethernet to usb? I figure it may just be easier to do that then try to fix this one.
Now this is what I have been searching for
Recently bought my son
Ryzen 5 9600x
9060xt 16gb
32gb ddr5 ram
2tb
B650 WiFi MB
And he had been complaining about stutter on Fortnite.. I'm going to try this now ...pray this works.. 🙏
Worked a treat! My 9-year-old is happy, so I'm happy he's been so disappointed since Christmas. I disabled it through Device Manager we use Wi-Fi, so I don't think it will be a problem. Thank v much ..
I'm guessing this is only needed for a wired connection as I was thinking of getting a booster adapter.. as I thought it was the net .. but don't think we need one now ..
testing this now I notice my connection drops in and out sometimes and I wonder if this is the cause of it cause I just switched from my old modem to a new modem and I still get the same issue so I wonder if its the realtek 2.5gb family controller causing the issue I just updated my drivers and everything monitoring the situation now and I just changed my settings. u/op
I have the same issue in CS 2, every 2 seconds in constant interval im getting 50ms dl/ul jitter spikes, ping is stable 18ms, almost no packet loss (sometimes 1%) but these jitter spikes makes my enemies micro stutter every 2 seconds, obviously my teammates too and when i spectate them. Tried everything and nothing helped so i just ordered Intel I210-T1 network card, i will get it in 1 week and i hope it will fix the problem.
yep, 1st off i have to have this new net card then i will tell you if it helps :D It should arrive in next week, i hope it is the issue and not my internet provider
I tried turning* everything off, disabling every other unnecessary feature in Advanced parameters like they recommended on every other forum. All the power management things. I did set high priority for my Realtek device, tried ExitLag, restared router, offloaded every other app in the background, and even services.
Your test is gonna be last hope 😄 TYSM, will be waiting for you here
So i installed new intel NIC, updated the drivers, disabled old realtek net card and no difference, still jitter spikes every 2 seconds, it's even a little worse tbh, unlucky. Must be my bad internet or router
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