Path of Exile 2 kills my internet connection when I launch the game

Hi,

I’m having a very strange issue and I’m hoping someone can help.

I cannot play Path of Exile 2 at all. Every time I launch the game, my Ethernet traffic (send/receive) drops to almost 0, and I completely lose internet access on my PC.

I cannot open websites

Browsers stop working

Everything internet-related dies

But the moment I close the game, my internet immediately comes back to normal.

So it ONLY happens while PoE2 is running.

I’ve already checked my connection and it seems fine outside the game, which makes me think PoE2 is somehow causing my network adapter to stall or crash.

delete all poe cache/ config / reinstall game not help

Has anyone experienced this before?
Any fixes or ideas would be greatly appreciated — I’m desperate to play 😭

Please help!