Launching HOTS breaks the internet on my PC

Technical Support
1

Playing from Australia.

STR:

  • Launch HOTS
  • Select “Play” tab
  • Game hangs, ready button is greyed out. Observe messages about failing to join voice chat
  • Check browser, observe internet drop

I can launch Hearthstone and play a game there with no issues.

Launching HOTS makes my internet drop out. HOTS isn’t just having connection issues - my entire internet drops. Battlenet disconnects, my internet browser can’t access email, etc. Here is the tracert from when HOTS was launched.

>   3    22 ms    10 ms    10 ms  ae2-14.per01.mlganxd.wa.m2core.net.au [203.134.115.50]
>   4    63 ms    63 ms    60 ms  ae1.per01.masceqx.nsw.m2core.net.au [203.134.2.106]
>   5    62 ms    59 ms    60 ms  BE-103.bdr01.syd03.nsw.VOCUS.net.au [175.45.103.109]
>   6   205 ms   394 ms     *     BE-108.cor02.syd04.nsw.VOCUS.net.au [114.31.192.86]
>   7     *        *        *     Request timed out.
>   8     *        *        *     Request timed out.
>   9  1339 ms   194 ms   195 ms  eqix-ix-sv1.blizzard.com [206.223.116.55]
>  10   210 ms   208 ms   208 ms  ae1-br01-eqsv5.as57976.net [137.221.70.33]

After I closed HOTS, the ping continued fine (hop 9).

I have been troubleshooting all morning. Reset and rebooted everything. Isolated when the drop is happening and it’s happening when HOTS is launched. HOTS will go to a window saying it’s lost connection to bnet and my internet drops out - as long as this window remains open, I have no internet. Closing HOTS restores internet. I then have to manually reconnect to bnet.

Edit: Found this old post from this forum, with the same issue. No resolution. Post is from 4 years ago. :frowning: Heroes of the Storm Forums

Edit: Did scan and repair. No change.

Edit: Updated graphic drivers. Now I can queue for a game (play button isn’t greyed out) but shortly after I queue it hangs and internet briefly cuts out. The queue will continue until I get a match, then an error message pops up.

Edit: I can launch a vs AI game with AI teammates. Once launched, my ping shoots up to 1000-3000, the graphics flicker in and out and I get constant reconnect loops. My internet drops out again and this issue appears in Network Troubleshooter results: “The remote device or resource won’t accept the connection” - this message only appears after I’ve launched HOTS. Force quitting the game makes everything fine and dandy again. Running windows diagnostics again says nothing is wrong. I only get that message if I run it while HOTS is open.

I’ve done a virus scan and everything is clear there.

Edit: Slight progress. Ip release and renew brought ping down between 300-800 and internet worked on browser while in game. As the game continued (same vs AI game for all of this as I can’t play a new one) the ping crept up and once it hit over 1k, I got back to reconnect loop and internet dying. Took about 1-2 minutes for reconnect loops to happen after loading into game after release/renew.

Edit: Tested on boyfriend’s account - still getting massive ping and reconnect loops.

Region options are showing high ping for servers, as well - 60+ for SG (usually around 40-50s) and 70+ for ANZ (usually around 40-60s). Tried manually connecting to both SG and ANZ, same high ping issues.

Edit: Went to test lag on laptop. Found HOTS open from last night when boyfriend and I were playing (account disconnected, just sitting on error screen about being logged out). Logged in, continued existing AI game, ping started high after reconnecting and then continually dropped until it was slightly above normal (was around 100ish) levels.

Rebooted PC and shut off laptop. Back on PC, new game, ping back up above 1k.

Edit: Made an account on EU, issue still persists.

Edit: Switched to our 2.4ghz wifi instead of 5ghz. Game works now - less ping on PC on 2.4ghz (40 ping in AI) than laptop on 5ghz (60-70 ping in AI). Solved, I guess?

Edit: Nevermind, launched again hours later and I’m at 250+ ping for QM. :frowning:

2

did you try the help that was listed for it? the link leads to a 403 error now, but if you search for on support the name is the same.

here you go:

you should be able to go through the steps the support agent mentioned. i actually thought about one of these steps in particular as being important. the ‘closing background application’ seems like it could help isolate an issue affecting you. make sure to try all the steps though.

something common that happens is anti-virus, firewalls, or anti-spyware programs can sometimes block legitimate programs. sometimes you see the pop up and sometimes not.

for example windows firewall, you would have seen it ask you about a program requesting access to the internet. if you accidently clicked no without reading what it was then you may have caused problems for yourself.

3

I did reboot my PC several times which would have closed background programs. I also had task manager running and I wasn’t seeing any background programs that I wouldn’t expect from a fresh boot.

4

no this is not the same thing. background applications are ones that run on startup or ones that continue to run after you close them.

examples would be like
Battle.net and Steam: these gaming launcher apps typically start when windows starts and are set to run in the background even when you press the close button.

Antivirus and Antispyware: these are almost always set to start when windows starts and when you close them they only minimize to tray as well. this way they can continue to protect you while running in the background.

make sure you follow all the steps in the link that was suggested.

5

I have task manager open and have nuked processes. I’ve even deleted some new apps I’ve installed just to check.

I’ve done all of those steps and I do them each time some networking issue comes up and it’s always something broken on HOTS’s side, like how the authentication hung forever for ANZ players. I’m so frustrated by having to spend hours trying to troubleshoot for this game only for the issues to be some bug on their side - but they give no feedback or advice in the interim, we just finally eventually see it fixed in patch notes.

If you check my post history, I’ve posted about other connection issues - the game has gotten very confused over networking before and so I’m inclined to think the issues are related.

6

This sounds like a potential problem with your internet connection. Try running a stress download and upload test to check if that causes a drop out.

One could try software limiting the bandwidth of the HotS application in case that helps.

Also try messing with your network adapter settings. Some network interface hardware can be quite buggy. For example an old computer of mine lost LAN connection if one tried to move large files through the LAN at 1gbps speed, it seemed to have some limit to continuous transfer operation length before the connection crashed.

7

HOTS works fine on the laptop, on the same internet. It’s something about the PC app. I’ll play with it more. It’s working ok now after several PC restarts and a switch to lower wifi. It’s just frustrating having to constantly fiddle. Last month it was authentication, now it’s this (and us being placed on US servers whenever we group).

8

dncmgkdnc,

Question, are you using a USB Wifi adapter on the PC? If so, you can try this:

  1. Type “Device Manager” in your windows search bar and open the Device manager Application
  2. Expand the Network Adapters node on the right
  3. Right click your USB stick and choose “Uninstall”
  4. Unplug the USB stick for 30 seconds, then plug it into a different USB port
  5. If this doesn’t work, try to swap from the 5.0 GHz band on your router to the 2.4 GHz band. If you’re already on 2.4 GHz, skip this step.

If it fails you can also try ethernet. USB wifi adapters tend to be prone to failure over time, and they also don’t commonly get driver updates. I would wager the ethernet would fix if nothing else.

9

I literally posted that I switched to 2.4 ghz and that it’s a lame halfway fix for the issue. Your post is hilariously out of touch and seems to suggest that you haven’t read my own post. It’s disheartening that your response is to tell me to do the things I’ve already done.

We don’t have a USB stick. Our PC has a hallway, living room and bedroom between it and the ethernet port. I like HOTS, but I’m not rearranging my entire house to play it.

10

If that fixes it, then the problem is likely with the Wi-Fi signal between your router and the computer. Is the metal case of the computer obscuring direct line of sight between the Wi-Fi antenna and the Wi-Fi hub? Wi-Fi signals have problems penetrating through metal so for the best signal strength it is recommended to not have anything large and metal placed between the hub and the device. If this is the case changing the orientation of the case might solve the connectivity problems.

If you live in a built up area with a lot of Wi-Fi hubs in close proximity it might be a good idea to change the Wi-Fi channel setting in the hub or set it to an automatic option if available to try and minimize interference from other Wi-Fi hubs.

Unfortunately Wi-Fi is just not as reliable as an Ethernet connection when it comes to gaming due to its wireless nature. No matter what one does, Wi-Fi can still lose the odd packet which will manifest in games as lag spikes or worse.

However one might be able to at least greatly improve the issue by upgrading the wireless hub to one with better/stronger Wi-Fi transmission capabilities. Especially if one is using a cheap multi hub provided by an ISP, those are sometimes notorious for providing a very poor signal strength or Wi-Fi reliability.

There are also non-wireless alternatives that would not involve routing a cable through your house. For example one could utilize a power-line communication system to connect between the desktop and the router. Although not as reliable as an Ethernet connection, such connections are considerably less prone to interference, especially from outside the house.

1 Like
11

No, because it’s not Wifi that’s the problem. I constantly get region issues after I play on other regions. I constantly get massive ping when I’ve been playing Hearthstone while HOTS is loading. There are consistent issues where the Blizzard games themselves are the culprits and I’m sick of them making us troubleshoot when the issue is their own optimization. I spent HOURS and figured out something to kinda make stuff work - but that’s a really frustrating solution (in my case, swapping wifi multiple times and rebooting PC and bnet). Clearly something else is problematic here and our “hacks” just happen to halfway fix it.

I literally have been getting ping spiking up to like 2k each game - because I had Hearthstone open. That’s absurb. But close HS and suddenly it fixes. That’s a major bug. Discovering this bug has made me realize there is a LOT broken that’s just unknown hence my frustation.

When I went to the effort of documenting every step of my bug finding and they reply telling me to do the last step I did, it tells me they didn’t read my post and are just pasting generic support, which is frustrating.

12

But it could be a bug with your wireless network adapter? Have you tried another PC, or wireless source?

Blizzard is doing nothing different from how every application communicates with the internet. They use stand APIs which let the OS manage the actual communication. If the API calls do not work then it is a driver, hardware or network problem.

13

dncmgkdnc,

Sorry I missed that your post and the mention of trying 2.4 ghz, that’s my bad. After rereading, it looks like you’ve at least stabilized it well enough to get connected/stay connected. Can you run a winMTR test for me while connected to a game and post the results here if you’re still having problems? I’ll need you to refrain from editing out anything at the top of the test to ensure we’ve got all the info, but if you can post that it should give me a better idea of what’s going on here.

14

Things seem to be working now. It looks like the issue was occuring at the same time Hearthstone was having its massive reconnect issues, and the lag was occuring while Hearthstone was open.

15

Guys, I have the exact problem, on a fresh installed PC, this is happening when I launch the COD WZ, my internet connection is down, not responding to pig anymore, the interesting part is that I’m not able to ping my router, after I close the game launch everything works.

I tested in multiple ways, router, network reset, uninstalled antivirus, firewall… nothing helps, but the interesting part is that this is happening only when I’m on 5Ghz not on 2.4Ghz.

My router is Asus AC86U, I have 1Gbps internet connection.

This is insane, for sure is something wrong with the game, or how the game is lunched.

I also recorded my screen to show how insane is this.

drive dot google dot com/file/d/1xf5ybER6lqwR5cZR0x4WnGHIap_lYT9T/view?usp=sharing

I hope that someone will come with a solution to this.

Moderator edit: Please be mindful of the date of the previous post before replying, to avoid “necroing” old topics. If you need assistance with a similar issue please create a new thread. Thanks.