Windows 7 Windows 7 - cannot connect to network for ~15 mins

[Chris06]

Hi, I've searched the internets trying to find an solution to my problem and while I haven't found one yet, I always find myself back on these forums so I thought I might as well sign up and ask here...

Problem: New Windows 7 Ultimate PC cannot connect to my home network or the internet for around 15-20 mins and then it will suddenly work. Windows reports 'No connections are available' and Occasionally jumps to 'identifying network' then back to 'No connections are available' until it gets a connection. Once connected everything works perfectly until i reboot the machine. The network connection is fine as other computers can connect quickly without problems through the same cable. My old computer running xp never had any problems

Hardware:
- asus p8z68-v motherboard which I updated to the latest drivers (as found by windows) but this did not solve the issue so I rolled back.
- Connected to a switch/router that is connected to a billion 7300a modem/router

What I've tried:
- Cannot ping the network/router at all until it is connected
ipconfig reports the following when not connected:

IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : home.gateway
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : F4-6D-04-64-5D-92
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.home.gateway:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes


Then when connected reports:

Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : home.gateway

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : home.gateway
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : F4-6D-04-64-5D-92
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.103(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, 12 January 2012 6:41:27 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, 13 January 2012 6:41:27 AM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.home.gateway:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : home.gateway
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:4137:9e76:105c:1ba2:230b:83be(Pref
erred)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::105c:1ba2:230b:83be%12(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

I've got IpV6 unchecked, that's about the only change I've made.


Any help would be hugely appreciated - i'm at a loss...

 

[Drew]

I have seen it take several seconds to connect but, did you say minutes???? Why 2 routers? Have you tried this just coming straight off the gateway (modem/router)? Have you checked for Firmware Updates? Have you tried a new & different nic card? Do you have anything running in the background @ Start-up that is maybe impeding things?

Try running CCleaner & Malwarebytes, just for good measure. Also, sfg /scannow

Just a few thoughts, from a non-hands-on vantage point... sorry not offering any 1, specific, sure-fire, remedy

Drew

 

[Chris06]

Hi Drew, thanks for the fast reply. It's definitely taking minutes - something like 15 or so before it finally connects. I have tried connecting straight to the modem and it said I was connected to a network, but the internet did not work. Firmware updates? for the modem? - No I haven't but unless windows 7 is doing something different to the other machines running xp and vista I'm not sure what difference that will make. I haven't tried a different NIC yet as It's all brand new, but yes this is one more thing I need to eliminate. And there shouldn't be anything running that is affecting it - has been doing it since the brand new install of w7 a few days ago...
Thanks for your help so far!

 

[Drew]

Chris,

No, firmware updates for the router. I understood you to say u have a unit that is modem & router in 1. How far from the router is the computer? Uninstall the nic, via Device Mgr, & reboot; do not check the box to remove its software.

You're welcome. Sorry, bit tough w/ some issues when not hands-on. Have your IP test the health of the modem; it (the problem) may possibly not be (in) the computer, @ all.

Drew

 

[Chris06]

Thanks for the reply again Drew, I think something in the way one of the hardware items is configured is screwing up the connection. The network config is pretty complex as I bought/added things as I needed them...

Phone line out of wall to modem/router.
connected to this is our printer, wireless router and a switch.
Connected to the switch are our 4 computers...

This configuration worked fine up until now; my windows 7 machine cannot connect to the network/internet unless i leave it for 15-30 mins then it finally connects.

If i connect my w7 machine directly to the modem router it recognises a network but I have no internet connectivity.

If i Connect directly to the wireless router (which also has 4 wired ports) I get instant internet access.

Unfortunately, I cant access the printer or other networked machines in this configuration...

Any further clues? It might be time for a call to the ISP to see if they have any ideas

Just to add: I updated to the latest firmware for both routers - no improvement

 

[Drew]

Chris,

Ok, I am trying hard to visualise what you have & simultaenously scratching my head a good bit...

1stly, I do not think the problem lies w/ the W7 machine to which you refer. That said, I need something clarified. The IP is some phone company, rather than a cable provider & that can often make things more challenging but, anyway... the 1st unit your hitting is what you term a "modem/router"... what I'll call a 'gateway', henceforth in the name of less confusion. IF, it is, indeed, both a modem and a router, is the router portion wired only or, also, wireless? This unit must have come from your IP, correct?

Beyond this, it seems to sound like the set up is more complex than need be. I have encountered similar scenarios that impeded connectivity or didn't depending, as you describe, depending on what 'variations' are tried. I've seen it where things were fine if the switch was not in the mix. Is it a pure switch or a router being used as a switch?

If the W7 machine is part of a network (hopefully Homegroup), then the printer could be connected to it & all machine would/could thereby share the printer. Some (wireless) routers have a Printer Server in them offering another alternative approach to things, also.

My point is, I really feel you are running into (hardware) conflicts due to TWO routers AND a switch. Sorry, but, I'm still stuggling to see why some piece of gear can't be eliminated.

Suggestion:

How bout ONE wireless router & connect all machines wirelessly?

Another factor, especially w/ a phone company IP, can sometimes be (wired) distance from jack to modem, modem to computer & so on... even the phone company will confirm, if more than 3 meters there can be a loss of signal.

Mull this over & get back to me, if you like.

Cheers,
Drew

 

[Chris06]

Hi Drew, thanks again for taking the time to reply - makes me glad to know there's people out there willing to take the time to help me out with this problem...

Yes, what I refer to as a modem/router, you probably would call a gateway - maybe its out wacky Australian vernacular, but its this anyway - Link Removed

And yes again, the setup is more complex than it needs to be - Ideally I would have one All-in-one wireless modem/router/gateway with enough ports for our 6 or so wired connections but at the moment I'm trying to avoid buying more hardware when the whole system worked ok up until now.

My main question is, why does it work for machines on vista/xp but not this machine on w7? If there's a setting that I need to change I'd love to find it.

Finally, the modem is only a few metres from the wall socket and has never caused any grief before.

Again, thanks for your help, I'll keep scratching my head and post back if I find a fix...

 

[Chris06]

Just to add one more thing- When I'm directly connected to my gateway/modem I cannot even access my modems homepage. If I plug into the wireless router, which is plugged in to the modem, I can then access the modem homepage. Its like the modem is blocking this machines IP but I have done a reset on the modem and checked it isn't MAC filtering etc and none of that is turned on..

 

[Saltgrass]

I may have a couple of observations. First the lease you show is only good for 12 hours. This should be a setting in the router and mine shows 9 years.

Secondly, I have your board (not Gen3). I have not been able to get windows to find a driver for my network adapter. Currently IPconfig is showing the following for an ID for the card. If you have not, I would go to the ASUS site and download a driver. Have you downloaded any other drivers and installed from the ASUS site?

Intel(R) 82579V Gigabit Network Connection

 

[Trouble]

There are a few things you need to consider when employing multiple networking appliances that are both capable of performing the same or similar tasks (DHCP, Gateway and DNS name resolution).
You need to avoid cascading the devices in a fashion that they are competing with one another in providing these tasks and provisioning your network in to two separate subnets, resulting in double nat to the various network nodes or even perhaps worse providing conflicting/duplicate IP addressing .
When cascading such devices you need to understand and consider which is the upstream device (your ISP provided device) and which is the downstream router (your add-on wireless router, which by the way I haven't seen which one of those you are employing).
In any event you need to force the downstream device to behave like an Access Point rather than a router. By linking switch port (from ISP device) to switch port on Down Stream device.
Before doing this you need to determine the DHCP scope of the Upstream Device in order to configure the LAN side of the Down Stream device appropriately.
Typically these types of devices hand out Class C private reserved addressing usually in the 192.168.1.0 - 192.168.1.255 range with a class C subnet mask of 255.255.255.0
The first three octets 192.168.1 is your network address and the last octet which will likely be 1 thru 254 is the node address assignment sort of your house number (.103 in the example you provided above) on the street you live on (192.168.1 in the example you provided above) with the way to get off your street and go elsewhere (gateway .254 in the example you provided above).
Once you have configured the LAN side of the Down Stream router as a node on the same subnet, ideally using an address either reserved or outside the DHCP scope of the Upstream Router (they often do not hand out the entire 1 thru 254 addresses possible) including the address of your upstream device as the gateway for the down stream device (write everything down so you can access the web interface on the Down Stream device by using the IP address that you assign in your browser as needed).
You need to disable the DHCP service on the Down Stream Device and cascade the two using switch port to switch port (not switch port to WAN port).
That should eliminate double NAT and or IP addressing conflicts.

 

[Chris06]

Wow, thanks for taking the time to reply guys, much appreciated! Alot to take in there...

I've updated my drivers to the latest on the asus website - still tells me I have a Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller as my ethernet device...

Trouble, everything you have mentioned (mostly) makes sense to me, however I have never had a problem with this setup in the past running at least 4 or 5 different computers on this network. Why is it only affecting my new windows 7 machine?

If its any help the gateway/router is using factory settings as is the wireless router. The gateway is connecting our ISP fine and is assigning network addresses fine - it assigns the wireless router 192.168.1.101 (makes sense as it would be the first connection as its always powered on). The wireless router gives itself a network address of 10.0.0.1 and assigns my machine 10.0.0.2 and I successfully connect to the internet.

However, if I plug my machine into the switch which is plugged into the gateway (As every OTHER computer on the network is) or directly into the gateway itself I get nothing. I cannot even ping the gateway. If someone could explain why this is I'm sure I would be halfway to solving my prob. Keep in mind that I've found if I leave the computer for ~15mins it will eventually connect to the gateway - why is there this delay?!?!!

Anyway, in the meantime I can connect to the 'net instantly by plugging into the wireless router but I'd really like to be able to connect to other machines on the network.

Again, thanks so much for taking the time to reply!

 

[Drew]

Go to the IP & swap the Gateway for a new one. After reading (all) your comments, Chris, more than once, go swap it.

Drew

 

[Trouble]

Why is it only affecting my new windows 7 machine?

There are a couple issues that may be causing the current issue with only your Windows 7 Machine.
The first being a potential issue with the current firmware running on the gateway and only your ISP can advise as to potential resources that might address that issue.
Second, some router have some issues with Gigabit Network Adapters and for some reason cannot Auto Negotiate for a proper IP addressing scheme when in Auto or 1000Mbps Full Duplex mode.
To see if that is the issue that you are experiencing please
Click the Start Orb and Type
ncpa.cpl
and hit enter
Select then right click on your Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller and choose properties
Click the Configure button near the top right
Select the Advanced tab and in the left Property: column look for something called
Speed and Duplex and select (highlight) it
In the right Value: column use the drop down arrow and select
10 Mbps / Half Duplex
NOTE: Remember these steps as you are going to want to experiment with different settings and ideally you'll want to ultimately get it to 100Mbps / Full Duplex but you may want to do this incrementally graduating up in speed 10 to 100 and duplex half to full.
While you are in there select (highlight)
Network Address in the left column and in the right column enter this value (after selecting the radio button adjacent to the text box)
F46D04645D92
That is your unique MAC address for your Realtek adapter.
Reboot your machine and see if you get DHCP from your gateway now.
And this is the optimal location to obtain the most recent drriver (mis-spelled intentionally) for that particular Network Adapter.

If its any help the gateway/router is using factory settings as is the wireless router. The gateway is connecting our ISP fine and is assigning network addresses fine - it assigns the wireless router 192.168.1.101 (makes sense as it would be the first connection as its always powered on). The wireless router gives itself a network address of 10.0.0.1 and assigns my machine 10.0.0.2 and I successfully connect to the internet.

As I suspected you have two separate appliances providing DHCP resulting in two separate collision domains involving double NAT (Network Address Translation).
While, as you indicate, this will and does work, it can also result in and over complicated network environment which in many case will result in some trouble with some, more sophisticated, networking. Like port forwarding for RDP and various Games and other Applications that may need ports open to traverse from your Down Stream network through your Up Stream network and on to the internet. As well as some more basic networking like NetBIOS propagation. Maybe not as critical for your particular needs as perhaps someone else.
Regards
Randy

 

[Chris06]

Randy/Trouble, You win!Changed the Speed and Duplex settings to 10mbps/full duplex and got a connection straight away. Changed it back to auto or 1gbps and its back to saying a network cable is unplugged. So is there anything I can do, or do I either put up with 10mbps network or buy a new gateway/switch/wireless setup....? Again, thanks all for your help, would have never thought to try half the stuff you guys suggested, much appreciated!

 

[Trouble]

Good to hear that you were able to resolve your problem and thanks for posting back and letting us know.
Regarding managing speed and duplex I would continue to experiment. Going to 100 half and then to 100 full. You are not really going to do any better than 100 full anyway unless you have an end to end Gigabit network (that means cables, cable ends, switch ports, etc.,)