Ok
I searched but could not come up with anything that seemed to be my answer. I dont want to call tech support if I dont have to. HEre is my problem. After a while of being on the internet, my conection just suddenly drops. I thought it was just my cable modem doing it, but I just got DSL yesterday and the problem is still around. So, I know it is in the computer somewhere. Could someone please give me some pointers and suggestions on fixing this without calling John Muhammed Ali at tech support.

 

Go to microsoft.com and download the last upgrade, you got a virus....

 

just out of curiousity, how did you come up with that?

 

yeah, how do you figure I have a virus?

 

dinty, I will look around and see if I can find something, my first place to look would be at the NIC and move on from there. If I find something I will let you know.

Also, how long does it stay offline?

 

It will reconnect when I restart.. I am not sure why it goes offline..
most of the time it is from inactivity, but sometimes, I am in the middle of something and it just goes. Thanks RandallT for your help. I know the guys from the weekday crew could possibly shine some light next week. I am just frustrated as I dont know much about this crap

 

ok, so tell me how you have you network set up. Do you have a router, or do you just connect straight to your DSL/Cable modem? Do you run wireless or hardwired? Have you tested a new peice of Cat-5 cable to your computer from the DSL/Cable modem?(which I highly doubt this is the problem). Do you have the same modem you had when you were on cable?

also, what OS or you running? XP Home/Pro......what?

 

They (the DSL installers) hooked it up via wireless (new modem and router). It is a brand new cat 5 cable. This is why I think it is something to do with the software of the computer. I have XP home..

 

shoot me an e-mail. I have an article for you.

ranmic@***.net

 

When your connection drops, open up a dos window and type:

tracert www.cnn.com

(or any other website)

That'll give us a clue as to whether it's stopping on your machine or if it's your ISP shutting down because of inactivity. I've had a alot of problems with that at work. ISPs swear up and down they aren't dropping connections and after a couple days of log files we prove it to them.

Let us know how it goes.

-Fatz

 

Fatz, you're right. One of the articles I sent him talks about that. It could be anywhere, and can be a real pain in the A$$ sometimes. One of the articles suggested the problem occures when the router tries to renew it's IP with the ISP and the default timeout is set too short. anyway, I sent them to him, wish him luck.

 

thanks Randallt an Fatz. I will read them. I have been tracking the problem and it seems to happen when it goes to sleep mode. Could there be a setting that might be terminating the connection?

 

Yes there is, Sounds like Power Save is set to on, in either your nit or wireless card.

Go into the devices software and there should be a setting somewhere that says something like, Allow Power Save Mode; make sure that is off.

Edited to add:
BTW, I would disable sleep mode anyway, my systems are always on. Sleep mode sometimes works, but is prone to issues like this and other, more severe, issues. I don't like that function. Running 4 computers at home I don't see any difference in my electric bill if we shut them all completely off each night. So I can't see the benefit to sleep mode.

 

If its disconnecting you after being inactive for a while click start, right click My computer, click hardware, device manager, click the + next to network adapters then right click on your NIC (be it wireless or not, whichever you're using), click properties, click on the power management tab, then uncheck "Allow this device to turn off..." Not all NICs have this option so you may not have it.

 

Yep, that is why I addressed the NIC in my first response. Those things can be a pain. We have our laptops at work do it all the time and the remote "wakeup" won't work on them. It sucks.