Windows Vista Keep getting disconnected from internet

[Mom]

Have a new computer (emachine et1331G-03W..nothing to run NASA with, but sufficient for what we do). Have had it about a month. It came with Windows 7. Have a Motorola modem through ATT internet. We keep getting disconnected. Seems to have just happened the last three days, so I don't know that it just being win 7 that is doing it. Also, AOL 9.5 keeps getting "frozen" at odd times, though Mozilla's Firefox doesn't seem to have problems. We do a lot of movie watching and my husband plays Spades on yahoo, so there's no telling what we've picked up. I keep running AVG and Spybot S & D, and they're coming up clean.

I did have a problem with connection speed three days ago that the ISP had to redo our network from their end. They thought I might have a bad modem, but then said that they got the problem fixed.

Is there anything I can run (and not pay a fortune for) to check for anything else icky that may have crept on to the machine? Or do you think the modem is going ka-put? I'm not the most tech-savy person, but I'm pretty good at following directions.

 

[Radenight]

It definitely sounds like a modem problem.. But then again it could be your ethernet driver screwing up.. Perhaps a reinstall of the ethernet driver would solve the problem.. To do this you need to figure out what model you're motherboard is. Then you would go to the manufacturers website and download/install the latest available Ethernet driver for you're motherboard. Some drivers require you to uninstall the old one before installing a new one so just make sure to check to see if that is needed before installing the new one..

You say you've already run AVG and SpyBot with nothing coming up.. Though these programs don't catch everything if nothing came up there's a pretty good chance you're system is clean as far as spyware and viruses go.. Unless some pesky Malware got in.. To check for that you would need to download a Malware checker.. There are various free apps for this out there. Just do a search on Google for one and you'll find a suitable one in no time..

I hope this helps.. I know how annoying it is to keep losing internet connection.. It's no fun at all.. Let me know how you make out..

 

[Mom]

I haven't made changes that I can remember off the top of my head, though I'd have to think about it. I'll check the malware stuff and call the company re: the modem.

Thanks all

 

[randin]

Does resetting the network device (disable/enable) help the problem temporarily?

 

[Mom]

Not sure...if I unplug it and plug it back in, it works fine.

 

[audunth]

I'm also having problems with my internet connection. After my computer has been on for some time (like overnight) it suddenly seems to have no connection to the internet. The status says it's connected to the internet, I can ping internet sites, but browsers or any other programs trying to connect to the internet fail. The UTTERLY USELESS "troubleshooter" just says "Can't identify the problem", nothing else. I guess if you're smart enough to know that you have to plug in the network cable to connect to a cabled network, you're beyond help from Microsoft's "troubleshooters".

Anyway, disabling and enabling the network adapter does nothing. A restart brings everything back to normal.

I've now tried installing the network driver downloaded directly from Marvell (I have a Marvell Yukon onboard network card) replacing the driver provided by Win7.

Anyone else had this problem? Pinging works fine, but no programs can connect, not even to the router web user interface.


Regards
Audun

 

[kaiser2011]

Woah i had the exact same problem 2 days ago. I am in uni and i connect to university net, University has it own ISP.
I had not installed anything, just normal browsing, when i started loosing internet connectivity. I thought it was my ISP but when my friend came over with his laptop and connected to my cable connection, his internet was working fine.

IT showed that i was connected to internet for a while, but then lost internet access. Trouble shoot would tell me that DNS is not responding. i tried DNSflush and that didnt help. It did ping to websites at some times, but most of time it didnt. I used to randomly get usable internet connection for 3 minutes and then go away.

I had a mess of of linux on my PC so i wanted to format my HDD and reinstall windows anyway. SO i did that and well internet worked just fine after that.

I dont know what was wrong though. Was really buggy. I doubt that it was some kind of malware or Virus.

 

[audunth]

It happened again this morning, so obviously the ethernet driver wasn't the problem. Pinging all websites I tried worked, no delay in the responses. But no programs could connect. Mozilla, IE, antivirus update etc. they all returned network connection errors. As always, a reboot fixed the problem. I went into the advanced adapter properties and turned off Energy Star, then I went into the advanced power options and deselected "Allow Windows to turn off this device to save power" to see if that helps. Guess I'll know tomorrow morning.

It's a big problem for me, cause it's my HTPC and it's supposed to stay on 24/7. My XP would last for weeks without needing a reboot, so if I can't fix this, I'll have to go back to XP, which sucks, cause the HD video support is better in Windows 7.

Regards
Audun

 

[kaiser2011]

as i mentioned earlier. i got mine fixed after reinstalling windows. i know it seems a daunting task, but i am used to reinstalling windows.

hope yours get fixed soon

 

[audunth]

Well, I just installed Windows 7 a few days ago, so I don't think a reinstall would help. If it happens again tomorrow, I'll uninstall PC Tools Firewall Plus and see if that helps.

 

[audunth]

I uninstalled PC Tools Firewall Plus, and since then it hasn't happened again. So I guess it was a bug in the firewall. Yes ofcourse I tried just disabling the firewall, but that didn't help. So guys, stay away from PC Tools Firewall Plus.
I've been using Kerio Personal Firewall for years without any trouble, so I guess I'll wait for a Windows 7 version. There is actually a Windows 7 version included in a beta release of Vipre (by Sunbelt, which is the company who bought Kerio and renamed it to Sunbelt Personal Firewall). I'm gonna install that in a few days to try it out.