Windows 7 loosing internet connection - RTM x64

[merk]

Hi all,

Having an odd problem which has only started happening with the RTM build. Let me describe the symptoms.

Every 5-15 minutes i seem to loose internet access. However, if i have an open connection, in this case a remote desktop connection, it remains working just fine. But if i try to pull up any web page, no luck. If i wait a few minutes it seems to clear itself, but then will happen again at some random time. I can just be browsing web pages for this to happen. When this happens the only web page i can pull up is my routers confirguation web interface (Link Removed). If i want to clear the error myself, i go to the network connections and disable and re-enable the connection, at which point it'll work for a little while and happen again.

I'm using my mobo's onboard NIC. Mobo is asus P5K-SE. NIC is an atheros chip. My internet connection itself is working fine since another pc running win7 (also RTM but different NIC and x86) has no problems at all.

Seen a few other posts from people for something similar. One posts suggests turning off the windows power management option of the nic. I tried doing that (although i dont remember if i rebooted after changing the setting) and it had no effect. Plus i want that option enabled since i use Wake On Lan to remotely power my pc.

I'm picking up a pci nic later today and I'm going to drop that in there to see if it'll work with that. If anyone has any other suggestions, i'm all ears.

 

[kevin from Chi-town]

Hi all,

I'm using my mobo's onboard NIC. Mobo is asus P5K-SE. NIC is an atheros chip. My internet connection itself is working fine since another pc running win7 (also RTM but different NIC and x86) has no problems at all.

Seen a few other posts from people for something similar. One posts suggests turning off the windows power management option of the nic. I tried doing that (although i dont remember if i rebooted after changing the setting) and it had no effect. Plus i want that option enabled since i use Wake On Lan to remotely power my pc.

I'm picking up a pci nic later today and I'm going to drop that in there to see if it'll work with that. If anyone has any other suggestions, i'm all ears.

hey merk, welcome to the forum.
so your using the 7 64bit rtm.....have you replaced or updated the drivers for that NIC?

 

[merk]

i was using the latest drivers. I also tried rolling back to a previous driver - no effect.

Really damned annoying since i had no problems at all during the beta1 and rc1 versions. And now, the finished product is giving me grief.

I think i saw someone mentioning going to the atheros site and getting drivers from there, which i haven't tried doing yet. I got the drivers either from asus or from windows update. Although i think the same person said even the drivers from atheros didn;t help.

 

[Howard]

Hi Merk,
I am having the same problem with 64 bit Win7 RTM. I have a very strong networking background (Bachelor of Computer Science & CCNA) and I'm starting to get frustrated with this problem too.

I have eliminated NIC drivers as the problem because I have tried a different brand of NIC with different drivers and the problem still occurs (I can't even get to my router when it drops). Problem still occurs (at an IP level because Ethernet never seems to drop).

I disabled all power managment option both in windows and in the BIOS. Problem still occurs.

I disabled Norton Internet Security (NIS2009) Firewall and intrusion detection (Windows firewall was already off). Problem still occurs.

The next thing I tried was disabling all my other networking interfaces even if they were not connected or in use. This included my USB Wifi card (also tried unplugging it), and notably the VMware networking interfaces I have as a result of having VMware 6.5 installed (this breaks VMware networking but it was for testing). Problem still occurs.

Then I tried disabling IPv6 on the NIC just in case it was trying to connect via IPv6 to my router. Problem still occurs.

Then I got more granular and looked at the protocols running on the adaptor. The interesting ones are:
Symantec Network Security Intermediate Filter Driver - This is for network discover on NIS2009
VMware Bridge Protocol - This is for allowing VMware virtual machine to appear directly on the network
Qos Packet Sheduler - This is for reserving bandwith for Apps that have critical bandwidth requirements

I tried turning each one off one at time and the problem occurs with each scenario.

To detect the problem I have 2 continual pings running; One to my ISP and one to my router. When the problem occurs they both drop at the same time.

Now I am running out of ideas!!!! Now I am looking for thing that my system has in common with other people's who are having the same problem.

Anyone got any ideas???

Howard

 

[merk]

howard,

i think you are having a different problem. Because my problem was exclusively tied to the onboard nic. And someone else witht the same mobo as me tried using older drivers and he got back online with those. I got back online using another nic instead of the onboard nic. Plus when it happened i could still pull up the router and as i mentioned, if i had existing open connections, those kept working.

So it sounds like you have an entirely different, and unfortunately more severe problem. If this were XP i'd suggest uninstalling all the networking protocols and reinstalling. I dont know if you can even do that with Win7 or if it would help.

One thing you might consider doing is if you have a spare drive, do a clean install of win7 on it just to see if the problem persists. If it persists, then could it possibly be hardware? bad ethernet cable or something? if it doesn't persist, then you know it's some configuration issue with your current install.

 

[rbridgeman]

I hate to bump, but..

@Howard: I have a similar problem only when I access myyearbook.com. I can browse for a random amount of time and while browsing profiles, my network access (including cable modem and router) aren't seen by the computer and receive a No Network Access message in the system tray. A soft reboot fixes this and there's no problems browsing using Safe Mode with Networking but it isn't practical.

 

[Howard]

Work around found

I have found a work around now. I use a fixed IP instead of DHCP and all is well. I am not sure what is causing the problem in the first place but a fixed IP works fine.

 

[rbridgeman]

As of my last reply, I have switched out my D-Link DI-604 (that was connected to my D-Link DIR-655 (DHCP disabled)) and set up the DIR-655 only. Some routers say W7 compatible/supported like the DIR-655, so I'll see if this makes a difference. I also flashed it with the newest firmware.

I did this before I read your post, but in any case, it was for the better.

UPDATE: It didn't help my issue. I think I've got a problem with a lost cause.

 

[merk]

rbridgeman, you say this only happens when you go to a specific site? When this happens, what do the indicator lights on your router show? Do they still show as being online? Do you have any other PC's connected to the router and can they get online when this happens?

Normally if something like this happens when going to a specific site, i'd assume there's something shaddy going on with that site and avoid it. Next time it happens you might want to try viewing the source of the page and see if there's anything weird going on. A virus/spyware scan on your end wouldn't be a bad idea either.

 

[Doombringer]

Hey Howard, your problem sounds like mine... lots of tweaks attempted but still sporadic internet drops. Keep us posted if the Static IP is still working for you.

Cheers!

 

[chrispbrown2255]

I sometimes see this too.
I'm using a FSC laptop, turion dual core proc with windows 7 home premium.
I have it installed dual booting with windows XPSP3.

Using the onboard wired NIC in XP I've never had a problem, but windows 7 does stop internet access.
I don't get any errors or notifications come up other than IE/Firefox cannot display this page.
I'm not sure what to try next.

This laptop does have wireless, but W7 doesn't seem to like my wireless adaptor but thats another issue

 

[timmax]

Same problem with Internet Connection drop

I have had the same problem with my internet connection dropping every 5 minutes with Win7 Ultimate. I have updated drivers and firmware and nothing helps. I just decided to go back to Win7 RC1, since that seems to be working perfect. Microsoft messed up some where and I hope enough people complain, so they will release a patch.

 

[merk]

Rather then go back to RC1, why not just pick up a NIC? I forgot which one i ordered, but it wasn't expensive $20-$30. That seems to make more sense to me then to change your OS and have to reinstall it at a later date. Just a suggestion.

 

[timmax]

It seems like a waste of money to change out my router and NIC that work perfectly fine with Win7 RC1. I think Microsoft messed up some where. A lot of people seem to be having the same problem, even people who have bought a new computer built with Win7.

 

[merk]

I dont think you need to replace your router - just the NIC.
Link Removed - Invalid URL
That's the one i am using now and it's less then $20 from amazon. I'd rather spend that much money and avoid having to reinstall windows later. Obviously that's just my personal choice though. So if re-installing windows at a later date doesn't bother you, then stick with what you have. One thing to keep in mind though - there's always a slim chance this wont get fixed before your RC1 times out. Then not only will you wind up having to buy the NIC anyhow but you'll still have to reinstall. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[timmax]

Thanks for your suggestion. I will give it a try.

 

[Borris]

Hello guys,

I just want to say that I have the same problem.
The sollution where you suggest to change the NIC doesnt work for me because my issue is on my Dell M4400 Laptop, and to be honest when it worked fine in RC1 and not in RTM, it can't be my NIC in any way, it has to be something else.

Anyhow like I said im running Windows 7 x64 on my Dell M4400 Laptop.
My issue was in the beginning something I could live with, because it was only early in the morning (when I first booted my laptop) and then had to wait like 10 minutes before beeing able to browse any websites, my MSN messenger is also affected by this but not Skype. Skype is able to connect right away.
Lately its been getting worse, now its every 10-15 minutes. Ive tried running CCleaner both registry and basic cleanup, nothing helps.

Halp me Microshaft QQ

EDIT:
I forgot to mention this:
I am running a VmWare of windows XP on VmWare Workstation 6.5 on the very same machine that has this issue (yes VmWare 6.5 under the "Faulty" Windows 7 x64) and that instance of windows has no issues what so ever, and since its using the same hardware, my hardware must be ok. Does my reasoning fail?

 

[merk]

When i suggested the NIC was the problem, i didn't mean the hardware itself, i meant the driver for it. Different NIC will have a different driver (unless they are using the same chipset, then you might actually get the same driver).

To me though it sounds like your issue is different. Because you are getting some connectivity. Otherwise skype wouldn't be able to connect either and your VMware instance of XP wouldn't be able to connect as well since they are all going through the same network interface ultimately.

For your laptop, you could always try using a USB NIC. That'll cost a little more though. And i dont know of a specific USB based NIC that definitely works with win7.

One thing i noticed when i was having problems is that something that already had an established connection seemed to work. If i had a remote desktop connection open, it would remain connected/working but i couldn't open a new connection. maybe that's why your skype was working - maybe it already had an open connection before the problem started?

Sorry - not sure what else to suggest to you to help resolve this. I'd go to the dell site, find out what chipset is being used and do a search to see if other users have the same issues (or just search on that model laptop). Does dell offer this laptop with windows 7 on it? if so see if you can download another driver. Or contact them and see if they have anything helpful to offer.

 

[kingskin]

Hi Guys,

Same problem here -W7 Ultimate RTM - Yukon gigabit on my ASUS P5Q Premium board - Lose LAN connection under heavy load - reboot cures all.

I just tried disabling power management to allow the NIC to bring the car out of standby as per instructions i found on the internets.. will report back if it fixes it...

 

[Borris]

I have installed the newest NIC driver from Intel (instead of the WDM Windows Driver) and that seamed to solve, atleast, this issue, but another one has come up:
Windows keep shutting off my NIC when my laptop goes into "sleep mode" and I do sleep mode in quotations because the laptop is still on but my monitor is off, a simple keypress or mouse action will "wake" the computer.
SÃ¥ when the computer "wakes up" the NIC has go get a new dhcp address and all my things are disconnected (RDP, Messenger, Skype, Dameware NT Utilities, etc.) I have removed the checkmark in the NIC properties where windows is able to shut off the NIC, does not help. But this issue is another side of the story and not related to this thread, just thought id share. Anyhow, upgrade from Windows WDM driver to Intel's driver seamed to fix it.