Loss of internet connection each night

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jim
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J

Jim

I have been having a sudden new problem for the last month or two with loss
of my internet connection each night or after an extended period of
"downtime." Each time I have to reboot to regain the connection, but I am
able to maintain it if I don't walk away from the machine for several hours
or so.

I have not installed any new software exept for that associated with a new
flat-panel monitor (I'm sure the problem started before that). I may have
received one or more Windows updates during this period but I don't know how
to check that. If one has been installed (automatically) could that be the
source of the problem?

I have turned off hibernation and power-down with no beneficial effect.

I have a Dell Dimension 4550 with Penium 4 2.53 GHz and an Intel(R) PRO VE
network card connected to a cable modem. I do not have a router connection
to another machine.

Could it be a driver problem? My NIC driver is dated 2002.

Would appeciate any help in identifying the cause of this problem and what
to do about it. It's not killing me by any stretch but is a bit of a pain.

Thanks to all.

Jim
 
I have been having a sudden new problem for the last month or two with loss
of my internet connection each night or after an extended period of
"downtime." Each time I have to reboot to regain the connection, but I am
able to maintain it if I don't walk away from the machine for several hours
or so.

I have not installed any new software exept for that associated with a new
flat-panel monitor (I'm sure the problem started before that). I may have
received one or more Windows updates during this period but I don't know how
to check that. If one has been installed (automatically) could that be the
source of the problem?

I have turned off hibernation and power-down with no beneficial effect.

I have a Dell Dimension 4550 with Penium 4 2.53 GHz and an Intel(R) PRO VE
network card connected to a cable modem. I do not have a router connection
to another machine.

Could it be a driver problem? My NIC driver is dated 2002.

Would appeciate any help in identifying the cause of this problem and what
to do about it. It's not killing me by any stretch but is a bit of a pain.

Thanks to all.

Jim
Click to expand...

Does _everything_ you try to connect to, fail? For example,
email or usenet or just the web?


When the connection next goes down, open up a command prompt
(Start Button, ->-Run -> (type) ) "CMD"

Type IPCONFIG to get the network configuration.
Note the system's IP address. Ping it- exampe:

ping 192.168.0.2

(but replace 192.168.0.2 with your system's address)

If that works, ping the Gateway IP address.

If that works, ping "yahoo.com"

If that doesn't work, ping 216.115.96.161

The above IP address is one of Yahoo's, if Yahoo.com doesn't
work but the # does, you may have a DNS problem.
 
Kony,

Thanks for responding. In answer to your questions, I lose all access,
including mail, etc.

Have to run but will try your suggestions later.

Jim
 
Kony, et al:

I ran through your tests and as expected all worked except "yahoo.com." You
say I may have a DNS problem. What does that mean (bit of a novice) and
what do I do about it?

Thanks again.

Jim
 
Kony, et al:

I ran through your tests and as expected all worked except "yahoo.com." You
say I may have a DNS problem. What does that mean (bit of a novice) and
what do I do about it?

Thanks again.
Click to expand...

This time at the command prompt, type "IPCONFIG /all"

It will list your DNS servers, so ping one of them.
For example if IPCONFIG /all showed
"DNS Servers . . . . . . . . 204.127.35.333
23.333.221.3"

Ping 204.127.35.333

(then)

Ping 23.333.221.3

If they respond to your ping, I'd suspect a windows
networking config problem. If they don't, you could tracert
them, for example (but substitute your DNS server IP #),

tracert 204.127.35.333

and/or

tracert yahoo.com

then note where the trace stops.
 
Jim said:
I have been having a sudden new problem for the last month or two with loss
of my internet connection each night or after an extended period of
"downtime." Each time I have to reboot to regain the connection, but I am
able to maintain it if I don't walk away from the machine for several hours
or so.

I have not installed any new software exept for that associated with a new
Click to expand...
....

Do you have a firewall?
Something like ZoneAlarm?

What about a system scanner like Spybot-Search & destroy?

What about an antivirus?

and what about a register check. Something like HijackThis?


have you looked for porno images and movies passing trough your computer?
 
Re each question:
1. Have basic ZoneAlarm firewall
2. Have Spybot S&A and have run it recently. Cleaned one inocuous looking
file. No affect on problem.
3. Have McAfee anti-virus with regular auto-updates.
4. No register check.
5. Have no idea if porno images are passing through my computer. How do I
determine that, and how would this cause my problem? I'd think that would
keep my pc running, not shut it off.

I did try system restore back two months (with no effect) and then restored
back to starting point .

Based on all this, what do you recommend?

Thanks.
 
Re each question:
1. Have basic ZoneAlarm firewall
Click to expand...

Doesn't matter- if it worked before any certain time of
night and you didn't reconfigure it, it won't then suddenly
stop working till the next day. However, if you hadn't
rebooted and rechecked the connection when it wasn't
working, do that.

2. Have Spybot S&A and have run it recently. Cleaned one inocuous looking
file. No affect on problem.
Click to expand...

This too, is not likely to allow connections in the day but
not at night. Odds are very high it's either a
power-management, drivers that can't "wake up" properly
issue, or something out of your control, your ISP's
equipment.

Another possibility is ambient temp. Suppose you have
telephone lines or cable outside - that makes an
intermittent connection. When the air or ground outside
cools at night, that can (and does in certain situations)
regularly cause connection loss. However, previously you
reported that you can PING IP numbers but not domain names.
That alone is strong evidence that either your ISPs domain
name servers are unreachable (for whatever reason), or you
have some other windows problem (unlikely).
3. Have McAfee anti-virus with regular auto-updates.
4. No register check.
Click to expand...

This would simply be a HijackThis list of things loading
when the system boots. If nothing suspicious is loading, it
can be discarded.
5. Have no idea if porno images are passing through my computer. How do I
determine that, and how would this cause my problem? I'd think that would
keep my pc running, not shut it off.
Click to expand...

There is no sense in that suggestion, you do not need to
look for porn on your system to combat this problem.

I did try system restore back two months (with no effect) and then restored
back to starting point .

Based on all this, what do you recommend?
Click to expand...

Make a log of when the connections don't work, and when they
don't, do the ping test- ping a known working IP number on
the internet, and a domain name. Log this info and contact
your ISP's tech support, letting them know about this
information else they'll probably just have you do common
things like power cycle your modem or router (but those are
also things you should try).

if your router generates a log, you might also check it to
see if anything unusual shows up.

If this is only a Domain-name resolution (to IP #) problem,
a temporary workaround might be running something like
"Treewalk" ( http://ntcanuck.com/ ) on a system always
connected on your LAN or same system, but you still would
need to contact your ISP and have them fix the problem.

Until the ISP can track down these kinds of problems, nobody
will know. You'd be surprised how long it can take an ISP
to track down a problem due to techs merely recanting the
common "it must be a problem on your end" mantra. Indeed,
it IS often a problem on the end-user's system, but not
always.

The evidence you need is whether you can ping (and tracert)
addresses on the internet when you can't access anything
with a proper domain name (like yahoo.com).
 
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