PC won't stay connected to internet "Round 3"

**Sweeper** · May 16th, 2006, 01:55 AM

I've posted about this before with no fix...

But now this is driving me CRAZY! My PC out of 2 others and an XBOX is the only one that won't stay connected to the internet after sitting for 2-4+ hours. I have to reboot to get back on? I have turned the power saving feature off on the software for the NIC also. I've had this problem now for some time and I tried everything "I" could think of. So, finally I figured that the onboard NIC might be failing. So I bought a new Linksys NIC. Plugged it in. Downloaded the latest drivers. NADA... SAME THING. What the heck am I missing????

"OS" Win XP
system specs in sig.....

**jrsweger** · May 16th, 2006, 02:30 AM

What do you get if you do an IPCONFIG /ALL when this happens?

**Gettinbye** · May 16th, 2006, 03:06 AM

Don't know if I can help, but lets give this a shot, huh? First, I'll make the assumption that you have antivirus and antispyware protection (and hopefully firewall as well) covered, yes?
Couple questions:
Which (if any) machines are wireless, and which are not? Does your ISP assign a static or dynamic IP-and how many IPs? Do you have Dsl or Cable (or other) and what speed? Is your machine set to go into hibernate or standby? Has this always been the case with your current ISP or is this a new development? Sorry about all the questions, but a little more info would help. Heading to bed, so I'll check back tomorrow after work, but here's a couple ideas to consider:
If you run DSL, your MTU value should more than likely be 1492 (not the windows default of 1500). Probably not the culprit, but a possible performance gain nonetheless.
In your router setup, if your ailing machine is wireless, try adjusting the beacon interval setting (if available) lower than what it currently is (I usually run 50ms on my wireless network-seems to work best for me).
In both modem and router, look for QOS (quality of service) settings...giving a higher priority to the disconnecting machine may help (although it has the potential to cause connectivity problems with the other machines depending on available bandwidth and network traffic).
IMHO, creating a backup of your registry would be a good idea before any attempts at fixing anything.

**Sweeper** · May 16th, 2006, 05:51 AM

I'll make the assumption that you have antivirus and antispyware protection (and hopefully firewall as well) covered, yes? YES

None are wireless.
Using Road Runner Cable
Has been a problem with my PC only for about a year
PC does not hibernate or go into standby

What part of IPCONFIG do you need to know?

**Detritus** · May 16th, 2006, 06:48 AM

Copy and paste everything IPCONFIG says.

**Sweeper** · May 16th, 2006, 08:05 AM

here's a screenshot... gotta go to work... be back on this evening... once I reboot....

**jrsweger** · May 16th, 2006, 10:31 AM

Well if that is from the point of failure it looks normal. That is if you have been away for more than say 4 hours (overnight) and you would not be able to use your browser.

What are you using for a Firewall, Antivirus, etc?

**Sweeper** · May 16th, 2006, 06:20 PM

ZoneAlarm, Norton System works 2003 ... that was while it was working. I'll post one when it goes offline again...

**Sweeper** · May 17th, 2006, 04:12 AM

just had to reboot to get connected. Here is what it showed before I rebooted.

Funny.... it looks fine? But, nothing connects. No Instant Messengers, No email, No browsers (I run 3 of them) Firefox, AOL, MSN. Has to be a software issue? But where?

**jrsweger** · May 17th, 2006, 04:21 AM

I'm guessing firewall, but I don't know why, since you say you have all the standby/sleep mode, etc's disabled. I recall having a similar issue with my EZ Firewall when I first set it up but right now I just can't remember what I changed. Try disabling your firewall to see if it makes any difference.

**Gettinbye** · May 17th, 2006, 11:50 PM

You might want to look at Zonealarm settings for the "automatic lock". If it's set to "on", click the "custom" button to see what the time-out settings/options are.
After that, we can start trying to narrow it down a bit. Next time you lose connectivity, try the release/renew in your ipconfig utility (type ipconfig /release and hit enter, then type ipconfig /renew and hit enter. Then check to see if connectivity is restored.

**jrsweger** · May 19th, 2006, 01:44 AM

Any updates?

**Sweeper** · May 20th, 2006, 02:14 AM

Deleted Zone Alarm and it's been connected ever since.... ? Weird since I've been using Zone Alarm for years without a problem. ???

**jrsweger** · May 20th, 2006, 02:41 AM

Well that narrows it down a bit! Must be a setting that changed. I'm not familiar with Zonealarm so I can't be of much help there, sorry.

**Sweeper** · May 20th, 2006, 09:09 PM

something changed.... I tried to reinstall it and it started all over again .... ???????

**electric** · May 20th, 2006, 09:42 PM

cant remember if you said before if your wireless or not but if
you are hardwire check the connections at your computer plus
router ,could be a loose connection especially if the adapter didn't lock in

had this happen and had to wiggle the cable end to get a connection
from time to time to log on

**Sweeper** · May 20th, 2006, 10:52 PM

New card, New line, Router connection was switched to another port and snaps in place just fine. No problems there. Something with my software and Zone Alarm doesn't agree. ??