Network driver update killed facebook

I while ago I had met a strange issue.

I noticed that facebook is not loading in browser if accessed at work. We do not filter facebook, so, for this reason, the issue was more odd.

I could not find anything in our DNS, it returning correct results.

So, I gave up and stop using facebook. Until I have opened it accidentally while surfing over the wireless connection. Over wireless it was working.

In this conditions I got more interested in this issue. It was clear for me that the cause was on the laptop I am using. So, I have reinstalled the drivers. No luck.

After some days, I realized that I have updated the wired network driver via Windows Updates.  I went to the installed updates, uninstall the new version of the driver and… facebook WORKED!

Here is the culprit (winqual link is not working):

Realtek – Network – Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller

Download size: 272 KB

You may need to restart your computer for this update to take effect.

Update type: Optional

Realtek Network software update released in June, 2011

More information:

http://winqual.microsoft.com/support/?driverid=20441149

Help and Support:

http://support.microsoft.com/select/?target=hub

It seems that winqual.microsoft.com was replaced with sysdev.microsoft.com.