Hardware problem leaves hundreds of helpers in despair

You know it: You want to have a relaxing evening and play a game or watch Netflix, but suddenly the internet is gone. Usually the reason for this lies with the internet provider, who has another malfunction, or a defective LAN cable.

On Reddit, a user is currently struggling with a much more unusual internet problem: As soon as he flushes his toilet, his PC loses the connection. This bizarre problem is now keeping a long list of volunteer helpers on their toes. They all wonder where the mistake could be and come up with surprisingly complex theories.

Toilet makes the internet go away

In his Thread im Techsupport-Subreddit the user InfamousBurns explains his bizarre problem: As soon as he flushes his toilet and the box fills up with water again, his PC recently lost the internet connection. Restarting the Ethernet adapter in Windows does not help. Only when he completely reboots his PC is his computer online again.

According to his own statements, he lives in an annex, which is why an approximately 30-meter-long Ethernet cable was laid from the main house through the floor to his apartment. Since this cable runs there close to the water pipes, the user senses the problem precisely there.

Creative theories from the Reddit experts

Many users take the problem of InfamousBurns as an opportunity to crack cheap puns like “shitty internet”. However, at least as many really want to help him solve it – and sometimes put forward absurd theories.

Water pressure: The person concerned has the assumption that too high water pressure moves the pipes in the walls after the wash cycle and that they come into contact with the LAN cable. He sees for himself that this makes relatively little sense – after all, everything works again after a reboot.

Electrical interference: Several users suspect electrical interference is behind the problem. For example, a pump or an electronic water meter could ensure that the connection suffers as soon as they are activated when the flush is activated.
power saving mode: One user advises that the person concerned should check the energy saving options of his computer. His PC could possibly deactivate the network card during longer stays in the toilet and thus cause problems that can only be resolved by restarting.

Broken grounding as a possible solution?

Probably the most plausible-sounding guess leads the problem to the Condition of the water pipe return. A helper suspects that this consists of two metal pipes that are connected with a piece of PVC. As soon as the flush is activated, the water no longer forms a bridge between the metal parts.

That could be important because the all wiring probably grounded by a connection to the water pipe will. If the Ethernet wanders far enough and both sides no longer have a common ground, this can lead to problems. It is even possible that the ground plane is defective and the Ethernet cable, which was laid 30 meters through the floor, serves as a new path to earth.

The loo choking internet connection isn’t the only crazy hardware problem Reddit users have encountered. Another player played with the wrong graphics card for about four years: