There are many ways to connect to the Internet, depending on the provider you choose and the kind of service it provides. If a modem or router is used to access the network and the user is working at a PC or laptop, WAN Miniport PPPoE is one of the most common methods.
This is a software adapter that is used by the operating system to access the WAN. The WAN Miniport is usually used to connect to the Internet via point-to-point protocol over an Ethernet connection. You can read more about WAN Miniport in this article.
However, there’s a fairly common mistake associated with this method, which causes your device to disconnect from the Wi-Fi network.
Error 651 when connecting to the Internet occurs on Windows 7, Windows 8, and later up to the current Windows 10 only when trying to create a high-speed connection based on PPPoE via WAN Miniport. Its main meaning is that somewhere on the section from the PC to the ISP’s Internet server there’s a physical connection problem. And the culprit can be any network equipment – both wire and hosts.
Anyway, if you have this error, here’s how you can fix it.
What are the possible causes and solutions for error 651
The Internet connection comes into the home from the outside through a cable that’s run by your ISP. Then it’s connected either directly to a PC or laptop or to a hub of some kind, such as a wireless router, modem, or switch. The next host is the device that serves to distribute access within the home. After that comes the network port on the PC’s motherboard.
This is where the hardware reasons end and the software reasons begin. The network card communicates with the OS on the PC through the driver, registry entries, and network services. Programs installed on the PC, e.g. antivirus or firewall, may interfere with the work of each component. Therefore, the list of possible causes of connection error 651 is as follows:
- Damage to the core of the network cable or its connectors.
- Failure of the router’s software or hardware.
- The services in the operating system don’t work properly.
- Problems connecting to your PC’s network equipment.
- Operations of the programs that affect the Internet connection.
- Incorrect registry values.
- Problems with the ISP itself.
How to fix the WAN Miniport error
If you want to fix the WAN Miniport error, you can try to follow these steps:
Reboot
This is really universal advice. Restart your PC, reboot your router or modem. And let them stand in the off state at the same time for at least a minute. After that, turn it on. If there was something with a sudden glitch in the settings, it will fix it right away. If nothing helped, move on.
Connect other device
Optionally, if you have another PC or laptop at home. If you get a connection failure on your PC, try to connect on your laptop.
If the problem occurs here too, then the problem is on the side of the ISP or the cable from the router to the entrance. If here everything connects without problems, focus your search before the router – on the cable to the PC or in the network settings.
Wires check
You need to check 2 cables – from the PC to the router and from the router to the entrance.
What’s worth paying attention to:
- If there are breaks somewhere, if there are frayed kinks. Try bending in such places and try to start the connection.
- Pay attention to the connectors. Try to pull them out and put them back in. Look at the bend in the cable as it enters the connector – this is often where things break.
- Pay attention to the indicators. The PC NIC, for example, lights up green when connected and starts blinking orange when transmitting data – this is a good sign. The router or modem usually has its own indication of a successfully connected WAN port.
Router or modem settings fail
If there’s an intermediate device between the PC and the cable from the ISP, it can often malfunction. This won’t necessarily be a hardware problem – code imperfections in the software of these devices can very often cause errors that prevent them from connecting to the network.
The easiest way to overcome such problems is to reboot your router or modem. After that, any software failures that occurred because the router was running too long should disappear.
RASPPPoE client failure
Another way to solve the problem purely programmatically is to recreate the connection. This will only help if the client has all the connection data from the ISP or the ability to go through the entire setup with the tech support operator.
To create a new connection via PPPoE, you have to:
- Open the “Run” menu by pressing “Win + R” and type “rasphone.exe”.
- Click “OK” in the window that appears.
- Start setting up a new connection according to the information from the ISP.
A new connection is very likely to help the connection, if there are no other more obvious obstacles, it should no longer give an error.
