Last Updated on March 20, 2022 by Dave Farquhar
My kids’ favorite video game is Roblox. And they used to have a fair bit of trouble with it disconnecting. Since I’m an IT professional, I tried to solve the problem for them. If your Roblox keeps disconnecting, or says lost connection, what I did for them will probably help you as well.
Roblox needs a solid network to stay connected. Switching to wired from wireless often helps, but in extreme cases, you may even want to consider trying another network card.
Why does Roblox keep saying lost connection?
Roblox gives its message that it lost connection when it doesn’t get a response from the game servers after a certain length of time. It’s the equivalent of the “your Internet connection is unstable” message on a Zoom call. If your Roblox keeps disconnecting, it’s like that old Verizon commercial says: it’s the network.
The difference is with audio and video, you can fake it to a degree. Zoom can repeat the last bit of communication a few times to fill in the gaps while it waits for the connection to improve. A multiplayer game can’t guess what other players did. Trying to fake it isn’t fair.
So let’s talk about solving the lost connection problem in Roblox.
If your computer has both a wired and a wireless connection, the first thing to try is using a wired connection. Even though some wireless connection types have a theoretical higher speed than wired, a wired connection is more stable and consistent. Wireless connections share the airwaves with any number of other things, and they can and will interfere with one another. Wired connections are much less susceptible to interference.
So if your Roblox connection disconnects over wireless, try plugging the computer directly into the router with an Ethernet cable. If you have greater than a 100-megabit Internet connection, CAT5e or CAT6 cable is best. CAT5 cable is only rated for 100 megabits.
If wiring in directly helps, I have tips for running a wired connection in a house that doesn’t have them, while keeping the tools required at minimum..
Check your Internet connection
Sometimes the problem is the Internet connection, and trust me, Internet providers deserve every bit of the hate they receive, but the problem may or may not be the Internet connection itself. The first thing to check is whether anything else is losing connectivity.
If you have trouble streaming video and doing other things online, you’re going to have a tough time with Roblox as well. If you have a bad Internet connection, the first thing to try is connecting directly to your router. But if that doesn’t help, frequently the best thing to do is to contact your Internet provider and ask for a line check.
If you are able to stream video, conduct Zoom calls, and do other things online consistently, then it is probably not your Internet connection.
When all else fails, it may be a hardware problem
Roblox is a pretty demanding application. And in extreme cases, the networking that is built in to many systems isn’t always up to the task. When I installed better network cards in my kids’ systems, it eliminated almost all of their Roblox connectivity issues. Dropped connections went from being something that happened daily to only happening a couple of times a month. I am an IT professional who works from home, so my home network is pretty resilient. I have fiber Internet, and commercial grade network equipment.
But in the end, what made the most difference was disabling the Realtek network card in their computers and replacing it with either an Intel or Broadcom card. I don’t notice a ton of difference between Intel or Broadcom, but both of them work much more reliably than the more common Realtek.
Before you buy another network card, it may be worth trying a different computer. If Roblox works well on one computer in the house but not another, the network card is probably making a difference. I have found some Realtek cards are better than others, but if you want to be safe, use a better brand card.
Finding Broadcom or Intel cards to solve Roblox connection issues
You may not be able to go to the nearest consumer electronics store and buy a Broadcom or Intel card, but surplus cards from the commercial market are pretty easy to pick up inexpensively on eBay, especially early in the week. You should be able to pick one up for less than $20, including shipping. Here’s a link. Many will be Dell or HP branded, but that’s fine, they’ll work in other brands of computers happily.
Keep in mind replacing the network card is much easier in a desktop computer. Replacing the network card in a laptop isn’t always possible and it’s more difficult. On a laptop it’s much easier to try a USB Ethernet adapter, but your results will vary.
For social media and even a lot of video streaming, the network card doesn’t make much difference. But from what I have found, Roblox is one of the more demanding applications on your networking hardware. More demanding than my web server that can serve up 3 million page views per year. Asking 3 million web page views doesn’t seem to be too much for a Realtek card, but a couple of days of Roblox seems to be a different matter.
Roblox lost connection problems, in conclusion
So to wrap it up, when Roblox says lost connection, here are the things to try in order:
- Check to see if anything else is problematic
- Try a wired connection instead of wireless
- Try another computer
- Replace the network card
David Farquhar is a computer security professional, entrepreneur, and author. He started his career as a part-time computer technician in 1994, worked his way up to system administrator by 1997, and has specialized in vulnerability management since 2013. He invests in real estate on the side and his hobbies include O gauge trains, baseball cards, and retro computers and video games. A University of Missouri graduate, he holds CISSP and Security+ certifications. He lives in St. Louis with his family.
Mild disagree on the laptop comment… I’ve managed to replace the NIC on various laptops, new-at-the-time (2017?) and used. There seem to be two connection standards (the newer one is called NGFF for “Next Generation Form Factor”), both of which are basically M.2-adjacent.