Internet Connection Constantly Dropping During Certain Activities.

Terriblyconfused

Reputable
Jun 7, 2014
6
0
4,510
Hello, apologies for the long thread, I'm going to try and make it as detailed as possible.

Wireless Network Adapter: NETGEAR WNDA3100v2 N600 Wireless Dual Band USB Adapter (only a couple months old)

Modem: Cisco DPQ3925

Motherboard: ASUS M5A97 LE r2.0

Power Supply: Corsair RM650

OS: Windows 7 (I don't know how to check which driver version I have, sorry!)

ISP is Cox, I think I have a broadband connection (I'm embarrassingly bad at this stuff).

There are 2 other PCs connected to this router, none were in use and the issue remained. I got one of those bugcode USB driver blue screens a while ago but that has since stopped happening. Occasionally the PC will restart itself a couple times when I try to boot back up.

I've recently run into an issue where whenever I have Youtube or streaming services like Twitch.tv running, my internet connection will cut off shortly after I enter the site. The internet icon will have the yellow sign with the ! on it.

This happens sometimes on text based sites like forums and emails but not nearly as quickly or frequently as these streaming sites (I typed out this entire thing, made an account here etc. and it didn't cut out). Sometimes unplugging and replugging the adapter in works, other times I have to restart the PC to get the internet connection back. When I unplug/replug it sometimes the icon will go from the PC screen with an X over it, to the bars with an X over them, to the bars with the yellow dot over them and flash between them.

I've looked up various things online and have tried everything I've found via Google so far (23 attempted fixes).

1. Reset router.
2. Switch wireless adapters.
3. Switch USB ports.
4. Uninstall/reinstall drivers for every USB port with keyboard.
5. Uninstall/reinstall drivers for every USB port with mouse.
6. Disable/enable sound card.
7. Disable/enable CD drive.
6. Attempt to update graphics driver, sound, USB, everything (I have run driver identifier and it said there are actually drivers that can be updated including the SATA Controller, USB Composit Device, USB Root Hub, USB mass storage device, Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller, and ASMedia XHCI Controller) I did download the latest SATA driver from ASUS but have no idea where to extract the file to or if I should even do that so I left it alone.
7. Flush DNS.
8. Reset IP.
9. Clean Boot.
10. Make Computer Browser service active.
11. Old hotfix (no longer works with my pc).
12. Disable IP Helper service.
13. Looked for GUID registry, wasn't there.
14. Disabled “Wake Up” on wireless router.
15. Disabled IPv6.
16. Disabled WMM/Short GI.
17. Disabled Bonjour.
18. Uninstalled Bonjour.
19. Disabled Computer Browser service.
20. Disable Net Bios service.
21. Disable Net Bios on router.
22. Switched to Google DNS.
23. Disabled firewalls.

I'm not very tech savvy, this is just what I've found on Google and I've had no success in fixing the issue. I'm running out of options so I'm hoping someone here can help me. I'm not opposed to trying any of the things I've already tried if someone thinks I may have done it wrong or missed something. If you want an event log please tell me how to create and show you one because I forget unfortunately. Thank you!
 

Terriblyconfused

Reputable
Jun 7, 2014
6
0
4,510
I have not unfortunately. I suppose I could try and set up the desktop over there if it comes down to it. I've been using this set up for almost a year now (adapter is new though, like I said, and I tried the old one. Same issue) and the issue has just started happening a couple days ago.
 

Terriblyconfused

Reputable
Jun 7, 2014
6
0
4,510
Doing full system malware & antivirus scan now. Did a malware one earlier but it wasn't the full system one I don't think. Will edit this post with results.

EDIT: Did a malware and antivirus scan and both came up clean.

I also tested a laptop in another room and the connection was 100% fine while watching streams, so I think the modem is fine.
 

Terriblyconfused

Reputable
Jun 7, 2014
6
0
4,510
Update: I tested out the wireless adapter on a laptop within 5ft of my computer and had the connection drop while on twitch.tv using a stream to test. It took longer than usual, but it still dropped. The normal built in laptop router did not drop the connection when tested. This makes me think it's the adapter but I've also tested a different adapter on my PC and the connection still dropped.
 

NBSN

Admirable
If you connect it directly to your modem and experience no issues, but experience issues only when connected using adapter...then it is due to issues surrounding the adapter. I don't know if it is due to router/adapter/computer/ISP settings, faulty adapter, program issues, or interference. But if it only happens with the adapter then its got to have a connection to it. That is about all the advice I can give on the problem at this time to be honest. I can troublshoot my connections here at home but that has taken hours before due to a lot of issues with bad factory set router settings, router programs and interference. And I don't really think I can offer any more "help" with your issue.
 

Terriblyconfused

Reputable
Jun 7, 2014
6
0
4,510
Well I managed to find a long cat5 cable and plug it directly into the modem. It worked then, I tried a few more things and decided to try getting a PCI card. It's been around 20 hours now and it's been fine so hopefully it has been fixed. Crossing my fingers that this headache is over.
 

NBSN

Admirable


That is good to hear, so it does sound like it was the adapter all along.