Disconnects happening

[muckshifter]

TC has the post-war bake-a-light brown jobbie ... I'm still wondering how she does the toast in the morning.

 

[V_R]

Is that her pic? She must still have a main socket though.

 

[muckshifter]

Is that her pic? She must still have a main socket though.

no, that be my old one

 

[Taffycat]

Our master socket is circa 1969/70. Un-touched (internally) since the GPO man (as I think he still was) wired up an extension box for us in the very early 70s. As I mentioned to Abarb, I'm a tad reluctant to fiddle with the wires, because a pesky vision prob still hasn't been sorted yet.

When I logged-in to the router... no, we didn't lose connection... as you say, I believe the RouterStats monitor probably dipped to reflect that I was fiddling.

The PC monitor doesn't cause a drop out when I switch it on or off... (just experimented) but, it does cause a spike in the RouterStats graph. That monitor functions well, but is now about 6-7 years old... so not impossible for it to be influencing something I guess(?)

The actual connection drop-outs seem to be totally browser related though. When it's opened, the router's internet-connection light turns red, and the connection is completely lost. It doesn't usually last for very long, but a bit infuriating.

Below you can see the dips that occurred when I opened the browser on Terry's PC, earlier. The spike was when I switched the monitor off, then on again, without closing the browser.

 

[V_R]

Well that is odd, and i honestly have no idea why it would do that. Out of interest, if he/you use IE or chrome does it still do it?

The reason i asked about the ring wire is that for an attenuation of 39 you should be getting a much better sync than you are at the mo. For example, my old ADSL connection i used to have an attenuation of 43, and I'd happily sync around the 4.5 - 5.5Mb mark. So you should be getting around the same at least. In an ideal world anyway.

If your wiring is that old it could well still be connected, which it doesn't need to be and will cause issues.

Any idea how far from the exchange you are?

 

[Quadophile]

Just thinking out loud, could it be a case of IP conflict? I am not a network expert but assigning a static IP to one of the machines in the router may solve the problem, could it not?

 

[V_R]

Could be, but i'd assume TC's router will be running DHCP?

 

[Urmas]

The actual connection drop-outs seem to be totally browser related though.

Um...
Clearing the DNS Cache on Browsers

 

[Taffycat]

Yes (Quad) I can confirm DCHP is on.

Distance to the local BTExchange - as the crow flies, is about 1.5 miles, (but by road, more like 2.5 miles.)

(Urmas) Yes, I've cleared browser cache - but makes no difference.

I've also tried using a different browser (in XP) but again, no difference.

It seems to now be getting worse, because instead of dropping once, then reconnecting and continuing normally, it's now dropping out at least three times, before picking up properly. (That is just sitting with the browser open on Google News.)

 

[V_R]

If his PC is off it fine correct?

 

[Taffycat]

If his PC is off it fine correct?

Yes. But after the initial line drops, he can surf around without any problems. It only appears to happen on beginning a surfing-session.

The PC has not been switched off, put into sleep or hibernation mode (just to be completely clear). It is just sitting there, crunching, until any browser is opened to resume browsing.

I've been racking my brains to think of anything "different" that has happened recently; only one thing comes to mind. I disconnected the XP rig a couple of weeks ago, so that I could clean and tidy up the wires.... (birds were starting to think of nesting in there...!)

Our two PCs are not networked, they only share the same router which I can access from either PC (as you'll know.) I accessed the router from the XP PC on that occasion, because after re-booting the PC, it seemed to be very long-winded about connecting to the internet. No idea why.... but the "incident" also knocked out my rig's connection and, as I recall, I ended up closing everything down, then re-booting. It still took a while for the connection to be made, but eventually all router lights turned green again. I didn't alter any router settings, I merely checked the connection-status window, hoping for "clues" ...which were not forthcoming anyway!

 

[V_R]

That is odd, I am baffled in all honestly.....

Maybe when you moved the wires it introduces some kind of interference?? I'm just guessing here now though...

What about if you try safe mode with networking? Does it do it then?

Failing that maybe its time to reset the router, like said above. I doubt it will help as i cant imagine your router is much different from the default config? (Not trying to sound rude there by the way, just asking. )

 

[Quadophile]

That is odd, I am baffled in all honestly.....

To be honest, I am too, how can something like this not get solved.

We must find a solution to this, it may just be baffling for us but come to think of TC, poor thing she must be really frustrated,

Ian has not yet chimed in, maybe he could shed some light on this issue.

 

[Taffycat]

That is odd, I am baffled in all honestly.....

Maybe when you moved the wires it introduces some kind of interference?? I'm just guessing here now though...

I had the same thought, when I discovered a lead dangling from one of the router ports... the other end had become disconnected from my old Vista PC (not currently in use.) That didn't turn out to be the cause though.. lol.

What about if you try safe mode with networking? Does it do it then?

Good question... untried so far, but will put it on my to-do list.

Failing that maybe its time to reset the router, like said above. I doubt it will help as i cant imagine your router is much different from the default config? (Not trying to sound rude there by the way, just asking. )

That's not rude ...your questions/suggestions are very helpful. The router was configured by my ISP's manager, before he sent it out to me last year. The only change I made, was to switch off the wireless component, in favour of using wired connections. Has been completely okay for many months since that time......... until now.

To be honest, I am too, how can something like this not get solved.

We must find a solution to this, it may just be baffling for us but come to think of TC, poor thing she must be really frustrated,

Ian has not yet chimed in, maybe he could shed some light on this issue.

Well Quad, I have to say that it's extremely kind of you, V_R and the other contributors, to be so patient. The problem might well be on-going, but it really helps to be able to discuss it with knowledgeable folk.

 

[Quadophile]

We have ruled out many possibilities but following was not attempted as far as I remember. Please check following just to be doubly sure. These suggestions were from Quadophile Jr who I had detailed discussions with after dinner and he came up with these after going through the thread.

• Have you run a virus/malware scan by any chance(XP)?
• How about the services running on the PC (XP)?
• Can you also check task manager and verify if any service seems to be hogging up any resources such as memory.

After you post your results we will see what should be our next step.

 

[Taffycat]

Last night, before finally turning-in, I took a bleary-eyed look at the LAN connection properties in XP. On the list of checked-items, I saw that "File and Printer sharing for Microsoft Networks" was checked... As already mentioned somewhere above, the PCs don't share anything. So I un-checked that item and re-booted the computer.

Duh..! Still a (brief) drop-out.

This morning, when we opened the browsers, there was another, but it seemed more half-hearted... router light flickered green/red./green/red a few times, then a brief drop - again. So then I did the same check on my own LAN properties and found that the option for sharing printers, etc., was also checked. (Yes, I should have probably looked last night... but too tired at the time lol.)

Have un-checked that, but won't know the outcome properly for a while, because we have to go out this morning, so will be shutting everything down in a minute.

You all possibly know the outcome already and are saying, "...Meh, that's not going to work..!" But I shall cross my fingers and anticipate happily, until our return when we boot-up again, lol.

Your suggestions (Quad) will then be my next step, thank you for those.

 

[Urmas]

Yes. But after the initial line drops, he can surf around without any problems. It only appears to happen on beginning a surfing-session.

The PC has not been switched off, put into sleep or hibernation mode (just to be completely clear). It is just sitting there, crunching, until any browser is opened to resume browsing.

Have you tried "reversing" this? That is... switch off YOUR computer while that other computer "is just sitting there, crunching", go to that other puter, start browsing.

 

[Taffycat]

Back... just booted up the computers again. It took a heck of a time for them to actually connect to the internet, so this time, I used the Win 7 network diagnostic. I hope it isn't being too cheeky to add what it came up with here... but to me, it looks as if there are errors with the set up(?)

When I first installed Win 7 on this PC, it surprised me when it just made an internet connection pretty much automatically. So, numpty that I am, I've not sought to tweak anything, as previously, all seemed to be working okay. Now I'm wondering if there is some setting that needs to be adjusted/altered...?

To Urmas - thanks for the suggestion... but individually, the PCs are pretty "happy"... it's only recently that they have ceased to play-nice with each other lol.

Once again, thank you all for looking, as always I very much appreciate your help

 

[EvanDavis]

Your suggestions (Quad) will then be my next step, thank you for those.

I would also go for resseting the router as mentioned before..

 

[V_R]

Lots of good ideas to try, Scans etc.

Back... just booted up the computers again. It took a heck of a time for them to actually connect to the internet, so this time, I used the Win 7 network diagnostic. I hope it isn't being too cheeky to add what it came up with here... but to me, it looks as if there are errors with the set up(?)

That all looks fine to me, the only one you need to worry about is the top bit of the first img. Your LAN connection.