Z170 Gaming K6 is Killer LAN broken?
Printed From: ASRock.com
Category: Technical Support
Forum Name: Intel Motherboards
Forum Description: Question about ASRock Intel Motherboards
URL: https://forum.asrock.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=5021
Printed Date: 25 Jul 2025 at 11:11pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.04 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Z170 Gaming K6 is Killer LAN broken?
Posted By: theadenter
Subject: Z170 Gaming K6 is Killer LAN broken?
Date Posted: 02 May 2017 at 1:08am
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" rel="nofollow - I ordered this motherboard online. Worked normally for about an year, except some problems in UEFI (mouse and keyboard in UEFI freezing randomly, only CTRL+ALT+DEL working, LAN driver in the UEFI works only when I reset to defaults. On the next boot it wasn't show up in UEFI but works in Windows) I wrote 2 emails to ASRock Support about it. Still no response after about an year. I thought that UEFI problem will not affect my computer work. Yesterday internet worked normally. But when I powered my computer on today, there was no internet. I checked Device Manager - no ethernet adapters (i had only Killer LAN before) and no unknown devices. Reboot didn't help. UEFI flashing to 7.20 and resetting UEFI to defaults didn't help either. It was just gone. No lights on the RJ-45 port. I bought USB to LAN adapter for a temporary replace, it works ok. Is my motherboard faulty? If this part is broken, will my motherboard die too? Especially USB ports (because of mouse and kb freezing in uefi)? I have AC-power filtering (APC SurgeArrest P5BV-RS, voltage relay configured to 190-260V range) so I don't think it is a voltage problem. No overclocking.
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Replies:
Posted By: Xaltar
Date Posted: 02 May 2017 at 1:22am
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If you have not already, try another LAN cable. If you still get no lights on the port then the NIC is probably dead. I have had this happen on a lot of boards over the years (not ASRock boards interestingly) and usually just slapped in an add in LAN card or hooked up a USB LAN adapter as you have done. None of the boards died on me or had other issues pop up. The issue is usually caused by a short in the LAN cable or lightning etc. I have not seen the issue spread to other components, the LAN portion of the board is isolated and connected to it's own chip so usually effects nothing else when it dies. BIOS freezing is a known issue with many 100 series boards. It isn't that your ports die, the UEFI itself hangs up. It doesn't cause any issues and won't damage your system. All that said, if you do have warranty on your board still I would send it in to be replaced/repaired. If not, it won't likely cause you any further issues. ------------- 
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Posted By: theadenter
Date Posted: 02 May 2017 at 3:28am
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I don't think this is related to the cable, because it shouldn't affect adapter presence in the system. This cable works with USB LAN adapter normally, at the full 100MBit/s rate. I ran cable test on my Mikrotik hAP Lite and it gives me a message that the cable is ok, no pairs were shorted or open. We haven't had lightning this year yet. We even have snow which wasn't melted yet.  UPD: Will I switch off the Killer LAN power if I disable it in UEFI? Or will it still be powered-on in that case?
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Posted By: Xaltar
Date Posted: 02 May 2017 at 3:46am
I did say usually  If the LAN port lights are not coming on at all and the device isn't shown in OS then it is most likely dead. Why it died I can only guess. As I said, the usual cause is cable/surge but there are other possibilities. Regardless of the reason, it shouldn't cause damage to the rest of the system. The only time that can happen is if the damage was caused by a surge (lightning, brownout etc) and other components were damaged at the same time. Sometimes that damage can be minor and worsen with time, damaged caps for example. If that were the case you would already be seeing other symptoms and likely be able to smell burned components inside your case. The UEFI hanging, as I said before, is a common bug with many 100 series boards, particularly higher end boards with extensive IO options. We have not seen this cause any issues other than irritation at having to reset the system and redo BIOS changes when it happens. As I said, if you can return the board I would do so, if you can get a fully working board back, why wouldn't you If you can't then don't worry about it, if the system is stable and not exhibiting other symptoms (other than UEFI hangups) then you should be fine with the USB LAN adapter. The lifespan of the rest of the board shouldn't be effected.-------------
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Posted By: theadenter
Date Posted: 02 May 2017 at 4:02am
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" rel="nofollow - I've updated previous message, could you answer it too? Thanks for the useful posts!
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Posted By: Xaltar
Date Posted: 02 May 2017 at 5:14am
If it is the Killer LAN chip that is dead it probably won't make a difference but I would disable it anyway, it will have resources allocated to it if enabled even if it isn't using any power. If it isn't working, disable it.
Happy to help -------------
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Posted By: theadenter
Date Posted: 02 May 2017 at 5:33am
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" rel="nofollow - Let me explain my question better. Does "Disable Killer LAN" in UEFI means power-off (disable power) to the LAN circuit?
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Posted By: SuperMario
Date Posted: 05 May 2017 at 3:52pm
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Happened to me once. Killer lan seemed dead. I unplugged the power cord for a minute, plugged in and then it worked fine. My system is 14 months old, happened only once. |
Posted By: parsec
Date Posted: 05 May 2017 at 10:00pm
That's a difficult question, I admit I don't know if the UEFI setting can remove power from the LAN chip. My guess would be that it does not remove power from the LAN chip. I do know it uses the +5V rail from the PSU. ------------- http://valid.x86.fr/48rujh" rel="nofollow"> 
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Posted By: theadenter
Date Posted: 06 May 2017 at 5:18am
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Today I powered my computer on after an hour of electricity outage and seems LAN chip is working again, even in UEFI (there was successful check for updates). Seems the same situation as SuperMario's one. I tried the power cord disconnect for 15 minutes before, when I had problems with LAN chip. It seems it wasn't enough time to reset chip status.
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