About twice a day, I’m losing my internet connection, forcing me to reboot the DSL modem and my computer, which invariably fixes the problem. I run Windows XP Pro and, yes, I know, I should have a Mac. My set up is that I have an external DSL modem and then I have a D-Link wireless broadband router. Interestingly, when my main computer loses the internet connection, the other computers in the house stay online. But it usually proves necessary to cut the power to the modem and restart it to get my connnection back on. The disconnect rarely, if ever occurs when I’m using the computer–almost always when it has been idle for awhile. I leave my system on 24 hrs a day and inevitably I have to re-boot when I get up in the morning and when I get home from work.
I don’t have any idea how to even begin to diagnose the problem, much less fix it. Any ideas?
I too have the same problem but with an old machine with w95 on it; on a local net and connected to all our media stuff. I think it is a hardware problem like windows should be able to shut down the HD when idle for 30 minutes but BIOS already manages that by default and once the appropriate flag/toggle is tripped it stays on no matter what you do or even if you go into BIOS and change it back.
Also if you run XP firewall that can have the oddest results, ours - for example - chewed our HP color printer so bad it is now trash.
Strange affair,
I have had similar problems two or three times last week.
When I got in from work the broadband connection was cut even though the PC was switched on all day and I too had to reboot.
I’m not a systems engineer and don’t play one on TV–with that caveat: Is the error message you get when you try to use the browser along the lines of “This page cannot be displayed” or “cannot find server, DNS error”? Win XP apparently is prone to this. Does your modem have any software with which you can “renew” your IP address? I have basically the same always-on setup as yours, save for a cable instead of DSL connection; my ISP (Ma Ferguson’s Stormdoor and Internet Company) provides their customers with a little applet that renews the IP. I believe you can accomplish the same thing by doing this {for your security, this instruction is pasted from Micro$oft its ownself, so you can certainly trust it ‘:roll:’:
" …you can use Network Connections to view and renew an IP address. To do this, open Network Connections, right-click a network connection, click Status, and then click the Support tab."
Then I believe you have to click "repair (which naturally the good folks at MS neglected to mention). Also, if it’s DNS errors you’re getting, please see the following excellent reference, which was quite helpful when I was having these problems: http://cable-dsl.home.att.net/dns_cache.htm
If your trouble lies elsewhere, other than troubleshooting your modem with its diagnostics software (which you’ve probably already done), and checking the router (i.e., are all its little lights on as they should be–if not, reset it–mine gets pissy sometimes after power fluctuations, or maybe it’s sunspots) I’d next shift responsibility to your ISP…
Hope this helps, or at a mininum, does no harm.
Hippocratically,
scottielvr
Much as folks love to trash PC,s and Microsoft, there are plenty of reasons this could happen and many that have nothing to do with Bill Gates or his bank account. Dale, have you talked to your ISP to see if they’ve been having reports of similar issues from other users? Does your computer connect directly to the modem or are you using the wireless connections you mentioned? Is there a full moon? Did you pay a full and honest tithe at church last week? What’s the state of those little bumps on the back of your tounge??
All these things can cause major computer glitches - yes…even on Macintrashes or whatever they’re called.
How about a non-software possibility? My DSL modem goes out occasionally. I’m sure it’s the modem, since it has both PCs and Macs connected to it, and they all go out. Turning it off for about 10 minutes usually fixes it.
I noticed that it was quite warm, so I decided that at least part of the problem has to do with overheating. Now I let it hang off the edge of its shelf, suspended in mid-air by its cords, to provide more circulation around it, and it seems to go out less frequently.
Of course, I could be wrong, as happened that one time back in '57…
Dale, have you talked to your ISP to see if they’ve been having reports of similar issues from other users? Does your computer connect directly to the modem or are you using the wireless connections you mentioned? Is there a full moon? Did you pay a full and honest tithe at church last week? What’s the state of those little bumps on the back of your tounge??