Random problem connecting to the internet

  • Thread starter Thread starter James Robertson
  • Start date Start date
J

James Robertson

Hi,

I have a very strange and very irritating problem getting Windows/IE to see
my internet connection everytime the machine boots. (It seems to work
randomly half the time and the only way I can get it to work when it fails
is to reboot.)

Ok, my machine used to have a network card installed which wasn't actually
connected to anything. (Ie it was installed/working just didn't physically
have a cable plugged in.) This was Local Area Connection 1. I also have a
USB ADSL modem connected. This is installed as Local Area Connection 3 (I
have no idea why it's not 2) with a static IP (static DNS, default gateway
etc too) to my ISP's network. Windows/IE is setup to automatically detect
network settings.

Half the time Windows/IE will just fail to use the network connection which
actually has a connection and will just throw up 'The server cannot be
found' error messages when I try to open a website. (Outlook Express/mIRC
and any app which uses IE's connection settings also just throw up similar
messages.) I have some applications which seem to perform their own
detecting which work fine regardless so I know it's not a problem with the
hardware.

The way I used to be able to solve this was to disable and then re-enable my
network card. (Leaving it disabled didn't work.) Oh, it was also possible
to get it working by deleting the network card from the hardware
configuration. (Windows of course rediscovered it upon bootup and
reinstalled it.) So, after a while of this going on I decided to remove the
network card entirely. Big mistake. I now have just the modem connected
(Local Area Connection 3) and it still does it. Although now of course when
Windows screws up I have no way of correcting the problem - apart from
rebooting and praying. :o(

So, does anyone know what might be causing this and more importantly how to
correct it?

James
 
Of course. ;o)

Sorry I should have said: This is an on going problem and has been since I
last reinstalled Windows at the start of the year.
 
Checked for spyware?
Check Network connections, and disable networkconnections that are not
necessary. Is this machine attached to a LAN as well? In that case go to
Advanced, advanced en make sure the internal (LAN) nic is on top in the
bindingorder.
In the TCP/IP properties of the external (internet) nic make sure only
TCP/IP is bound.
Don't put any ISP DNS-numbers in the nic(s).

Marina
 
Nope, no spyware.
The modem is the *only* network connection. When I had the other network
card in the machine (which wasn't actually connected to anything) I could
get around the problem by either deleting that card from the hardware
configuration or by disabling and then re-enabling it. That card is no
longer present though. (I was hoping by taking it out Windows would realise
that the modem is what I wanted it to use.)

J
 
Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : dev1
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Kit ADSL USB
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-D0-E8-96-2F-36
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 80.35.21.101
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 80.35.21.2
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 80.58.0.33
80.58.32.97
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled


Obviously this is with the connection working, but I can't see any
differences between this and when it doesn't work.
 
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