Forum Discussion

5 years ago

Madden NFL 21 - Cannot connect to EA servers - Check Ethernet Cable Message

Product: Madden NFL 21 Platform:Microsoft XBOX One Which console generation do you have? Microsoft Xbox One X What is your gamertag/PSN ID? Date/time issue occurred January 11/ morning time Wh...

EA_Blueberry

Community Manager

5 years ago

Hey, @rickysteve40

After looking over the UO Trace there is significant packet loss and wide ping variance. The range you're experiencing is a major concern where it could be a damaged server site your connection is hitting along the way to our servers. There's been some wild weather across the United States lately including blackouts in the East region, so it may not be your equipment or your local network but rather an ISP backbone technical issue.

A similar player was having trouble connecting and their ISP discovered an issue. It's this post here: https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/PS5-Madden21-can-t-connect-to-server/m-p/9961639/highlight/true#M8557

I recommend contacting your ISP and showing them these trace route results so they can help troubleshoot the path your connection is taking to our servers.

Understanding your results

There are a few things to keep your eye out for when running these tests.

High ping times: If your average ping times are often above 150ms, you’ll see slower response times in-game. If they’re over 200ms, you’ll probably have connection drops.
Packet loss: If you see numbers other than 0% or 100% in the % Loss column, it means data is being lost at that point in your connection. If you see it in more than one place, or if the numbers are high, this is probably what’s causing your connection issues. Make a note of the hops where packet loss is happening, and contact your ISP to let them know about it
Big differences between the best/worst ping times: This is a good indicator of an unstable connection. The difference between your best and worst ping times should be 100ms at most. If it’s more than that, that means a jittery or spiky connection. This is what causes lag in games and is the source of frustrating inconsistencies in performance. If you see this in your UOTrace, talk to your ISP about that, too.

rickysteve40

5 years ago

@EA_Blueberry Hey blueberry, I don’t think this will work because I couldn’t log into the servers with my Xbox connected to my mobile hotspot either so it doesn’t sound like that’s the issue to me.

EA_Blueberry
Community Manager
5 years ago
@rickysteve40

Mobile hot spots are not advised for today's connectivity requirements for online console gaming. With the packet loss and high ping times you were receiving in the report this is unfortunately something we will not be able to fix as the results indicated it's a local network problem, I'm sorry.

You may want to check the wiring for your cables and router for any damage that could be contributing to the significant packet loss. If you're able to purchase a gaming router and return it to the store for a full refund in the event it doesn't improve your connection, that's worth a try. If you intend to play our games in a competitive mindset and are on WiFi, going with a router that can boost your speed is ideal. You mentioned you're playing 3 stories up, I'm guessing there is a lot of objects the WiFi signal has to travel through to get to your console. Microwaves, steel, walls, people walking in front of the signals path, and a whole lot of other random factors can play a part in WiFi strength.
- rickysteve40
  5 years ago
  @EA_Blueberry Thanks for the info. I think my point about the hot spot was that it still
  Doesn’t work while connected to my
  Hot spot as another games still work. It doesn’t make sense that it’s my local wifi if the hot spot doesn’t work either.
  - KBreezFolk
    5 years ago
    I too am experiencing the exact same thing and I’m on PS4
- rickysteve40
  5 years ago
  @EA_Blueberry Alright blueberry, so I just had a technician from my ISP come by, he ran tests and said everything looked good. He even replaced the equipment and I’m still getting the same error message. The fact that I get the error message after that and when trying to run the game off my phone hot spot points towards the issue being on EA’s end.
- Boltboy77
  5 years ago
  I started getting must be signed in to PlayStation Network error today. I have reset the modem, router numerous times. I have deleted the application and re-installed and still get the same message. My son is straight down the hall and has no problem playing madden 21. I have loaded and played every game installed on my PlayStation and have no trouble with any of them only Madden 21.
  - rickysteve40
    5 years ago
    @Boltboy77 It seems to be a more prevalent issue every day. Imagine the number of people it may be happening to who don’t know to go on these forums to report bugs like this.