Windows 7 Windows 7 Dell Studio 15 laptop connecting to FIOS router but not internet

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fecurtis

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I just got a new Dell 1555 Studio laptop with Windows 7 Home Professional, the router I have is a Actiontech MI424WR and our provider is FIOS...everything works great except I can connect to the router and the internet will work for a variable amount of time but then suddenly not work. It'll say I'm still connected to my router but not the internet, even when I bypass the router and just use a wired connection, I get the same result, it'll work for a brief period of time then no longer let me use the internet.

I've tried a TCP reset and rebooted and it did not resolve the issue. Any assistance is greatly appreciated.
 
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if your having issues staying connected even after bypassing the router, you MAY have issues w/Verizon. Go here Line quality testing - dslreports.com and join the queue for a quick line quality test. This is a trusted site....they're just bouncing packets back and forth looking for latency or in your case maybe dropped packets. If you have a bad connection you can also use their report to your ISP. Please repost with results and we'll go from there
 
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Thanks I'll put it in the queue. I don't think it's Verizon though, I meant to add that the other computers running off the same router are working just fine, as is the PS3 and the wifi on my Blackberry.

I also tried setting up a static IP address in the meantime to see if that'll help.
 
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Update, went over to a buddy's place who has FIOS and the same router as I...I've been logged in with no issues for the past 1.5 hours now.

Is there something on my router that I should be checking?
 
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I would certainly use your current environment to compare your router config with your buddies. I would also give some thought to what device or devices exist on your network that doesn't exist on his that might be generating noise, or excessive collisions causing network interruption at your place.
 
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Good idea, I also have A LOT more devices at home than is connected here...among them:

1. 3 computers (the 4th is wired)
2. PS3
3. Wii
4. XBox360
5. Blackberry 9550
6. iPhone 3G
7. iPod Touch
8. Two work computers

Granted very rarely (if ever) are all of these devices are on the network at one time. I know if they were, they'd drain the bandwidth....but I'd imagine the router is capable of connecting all these devices at the same time if it ever came to it.
 
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Start off as simple as possible, maybe with just your new Dell and see how it goes. It just takes one bad device to really cripple your network.
 
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Is there an efficient way to find what device is crippling the network?

Sorry for all the questions, while I'm not computer illiterate...dealing with networks is something I've never really done before as I've never had problems with network connectivity.
 
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Back in the day, you could usually watch the activity lights on your switch ports for excessive activity, (we used to call it beaconing on token ring, and broadcast storms on ethernet) but since according to what you've said already, you only have one wired device so I would bet your wireless light pretty much just stays on. Probably the best bet would just be to bring them back up from full power off state one at a time and monitor the behavior...you can watch the packets sent and recieved under "Local Area Connection Status", I'm not sure how you would do it on your game machines, etc. Maybe somebody knows a good freeware network monitor / packet sniffer. Not sure what else to tell you. Just test, trial and error and try to do it logically.
 
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Entering DNS settings in the Verizon MI424WR router to opt out of DNS Assistance Note: The Verizon MI424WR router screens may vary slightly from those shown below, depending on when you purchased your Verizon router and the version of firmware loaded on it.


  1. Open a Web browser and enter Link Removed in the Address bar at the top of the screen.
  2. Enter your router user name and password into the login screen.
  3. Select your time zone in the Time Zone field.
  4. Click OK.
  5. Click My Network.
  6. Click Network Connections.
  7. Click the Edit icon for the Broadband Connection type that has "Connected" in the "Status" column. Don't confuse the Broadband Connection with the Network (Home/Office). In the example below, "Connected" is displayed in the Status column for the "Broadband Connection (Ethernet)," so the Edit icon would be clicked in the Action column of that row.

    Link Removed - Invalid URL
  8. When the Broadband Connection Properties screen displays, look about halfway down the screen for the DNS Servers information. Write down the DNS server addresses, and then click Settings at the bottom of the screen.

    Link Removed - Invalid URL
  9. Find the DNS Server area about halfway down the screen.

    Link Removed - Invalid URL
  10. Change the last octet of the Primary and Secondary DNS Server addresses to 14. For Example:

    You look up the DNS information and the server numbers are:
    • 123.123.123.12 Primary DNS
    • 123.123.123.12 Secondary DNS
    You would change the addresses to the following when statically assigning them to the computer or modem/router.
    • 123.123.123.14 Primary DNS
    • 123.123.123.14 Secondary DNS
    Note that the .14 is the special set of servers that will opt you out of the DNS Assistance program.
  11. Click Apply.
  12. Click Apply to confirm that you won't be able to connect to Verizon while the DNS server information is saved.
  13. Review the updated Network (Home/Office) DNS settings to confirm your new DNS settings have been saved.
  14. Click Apply.
  15. Close the Verizon MI424WR router setup window.
  16. Restart your computer.
  17. After your computer restarts, open a web browser and enter Verizon.com to test your new DNS settings. The Verizon home page should display
 
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Wow, thanks very much for the very detailed write up. I did as you instructed and rebooted. So far everything appears to be working fine, but as it's been historically, it'll take it a moment before I start having connectivity issues again.

Not sure if this is important (it would seem as though it would be), but it's not just the router...when I try taking the computer that's wired to the internet and plugging it into my laptop, the same problem exists.

Crossing my fingers and hoping that this solution works as it's been a very trying past few days.
 
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Well, then perhaps you may be correct, but I think if I interpreted an earlier statement from you, that you experienced the same problem when you connected the New Dell with a wire. If that's correct then both devices would have to be going bad. I would suspect rather that it's some third party software like an added Firewall, or AntiVirus / Internet Security Suite or perhaps Bonjour Service, mdnsresponder, or something like that can you check and let us know if you have installed any of these programs (Bonjour comes with Itunes and a type of Bonjour comes with CS3 and some other apps) try uninstalling (not disable, not turn off) any such third party apps that may be impacting network performance or perhaps work through a clean boot using this from Microsoft How to troubleshoot a problem by performing a clean boot in Windows Vista or in Windows 7
 
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Good point, I would imagine it's pretty improbable that the device is defective enough so that it can't connect via wireless and wired connections.

I don't have many since the computer is new.

I have:
Bittorrent
iTunes
Gtalk
GVoice
Peerblock
PS3 Media Server
Blackberry Desktop Manager
Blackberry Media Sync

I should try removing all those?

Plus there's the BS software that was installed by Dell and my antivirus software is McAfee.
 
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Why don't you just try the clean boot link and see what happens. Peerblock sounds bad, but I'm not familar with it I know that if you have the Bonjour service running and probably mdnsresponder, they could be causing your issues. Some applications are not Windows 7 Ready (compatible) and the results are often problems similar to what you are experiencing. Uninstalling applications can have consequences like for example I-Tunes, you should backup your licenses if applicable, only you could or for that matter should decide what you can uninstall, all I'm doing is pointing you toward possible solutions, that I've noticed have worked for other with similar issues.
 
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Ok I followed the clean boot instructions and here's what I found...

Clean boot with only anti virus, ran fine, let it run for about 30-45 min, no problems.

Turned on half of my various applications and rebooted, ALL computers on the network ran very very slowly. Some pages not even loading (just stared at a white screen).

Turned on the remaining half and rebooted. Speed is fine on my computer, slow on others.
 
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