Tom's Hardware > Forum > Windows XP > Windows XP General Discussion > Loss of Internet Connection
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Kiota   11-19-2006 at 05:00:50 PM

This is very odd problem and given my lack of networking knowledge please bear with me if I initially leave of necessary info.

After long periods of my internet connection being idle (2+ hours usually), all programs requiring internet access are unable to connect. By idle I mean I leave to run some errands with no programs other than Zone Alarm running. My DSL modem still has all lights flashing and active.

There are a couple other scenarios where this occurs as well. Ex. I'm playing WoW for extended periods but not using the internet through any other program, then upon alt-tabbing no other applications are able to connect to the internet even though WoW is still connected and functioning. Rebooting the router/modem doesn't fix it, but rebooting the comp does.

This happened on my last comp as well so I'm convinced its some setting in windows I'm just not aware of. Router is the ADSL EQ-660R with embarq isp. let me know if any other info is needed.

thanks in advance

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fattony   11-19-2006 at 06:38:15 PM
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lots of things you can do to give us a better idea of what's going on when this happens, next time you lose your connectivity try the following:

can you hit websites using internet explorer?

go to start > run > cmd
type: ping www.google.com then hit enter
record the results

go to start > run > cmd
type: ping 72.14.205.103 then hit enter
record the results

ping your router, assuming it's something like 192.168.1.1, see if that works

from the cmd prompt again, do the following:
ipconfig /flushdns hit enter
ipconfig /release hit enter
ipconfig /renew hit enter

then retry all the tests mentioned again above

if it's still not pulling through, unplug your network cable (ethernet or usb), wait a minute then plug it back in and see if it responds

like mosts posts you see here, it's usually the DHCP lease time that your router provides, other times, specially with DSL, the modem and router may have an idle timeout setting or something, you should look in to that

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Kiota   11-19-2006 at 06:48:20 PM
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thanks for the quick response. I'll try those things the next time it happens and post results.

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Kiota   11-22-2006 at 04:54:46 PM
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Ok here's my results:

Can't hit anything using IE.
Google.com ping times out.
72.14.205.103 ping returns 65ms on the 4 pings, 0% loss
Pinging my router <1ms 0% loss
after doing all the dns flush, renew etc all pinging results were the same, but still no connectivity.

Unplugged the ethernet cable and waited a bit, replugged and still nothing.

I also checked into my router setting and didn't see an option to change DHCP lease times or any idle timeouts. Could these settings be in a windows config i'm not aware of?

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Torpedo91   11-22-2006 at 07:09:41 PM
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Have you tried another cable or network card?

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fattony   11-24-2006 at 06:49:26 PM
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hmmm, you can ping with IP but not dns eh...it's weird, almost like it's losing connectivity to the router, but releasing and renewing should work...i don't know man...maybe the nic card is switching into power saving mode

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Kiota   11-24-2006 at 07:14:58 PM
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Haha, just fixed it. Power saving mode it was. Was checking updated drivers in device manager and noticed that under Network Adapters both of my ethernet controllers had the "allow computer to shut down to save power" box checked under power saving. Don't know how I missed this before.

Thanks for all the help.

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