Internet connection lost after a short time surfing

[Art]

I'm loosing my internet connection after surfing /IE6 or
emailing w/Outlook or Outlook Express. It will just stop
and gives a DNS error in IE. I can ping the outside world
using IP addresses, but not domain names. My system specs
are:
Win XP Pro
2x 2.4GHz Xeons
1 GB Crucial RAM
Asus PC-DL Deluxe MB w/onboard Intel Pro 1000 CT NIC

Topology:
Me - Linksys switch - Linksys router - cable modem -
outside world

Someone suggested I run a program called Winsock XP Fix
which rewrites the tcp/ip stack in the registry. It
didn't work.

The only thing I've found out in all this is that this
problem 'seems' to be isolated to dual cpu machines. This
is the second dual cpu computer that I've had this
problem with. Is there something different with a 2 cpu
kernel?

I've also tried ipconfig /releasedns - /renewdns without
luck. The only thing that works is a reboot. I do this 2-
5 time every night and that's getting really old.

Any help or suggestions would be very, very welcome.

 

[Guest]

Sorry. It is not isolated to dual CPU machines. I have to reboot to restore my connection several times a day too. Here is a reply I just posted to someone else. Maybe it will help.

"I think I have an issue just like yours. I find this issue in many forums on the net, but never a solution. So perhaps this additional info will with other potential replies.

Network Config:
-All comps using wireless router with firewall
-Cable Modem Connection
-Comp A is XP Pro - hardwired to router - ICF disabled - running PC-Cillin
-Comp B is XP Home - uses wireless card - ICF disabled - no antivirus (shame on me)

It's a guarantee that if Comp A goes into standby, I lose my internet connection. But have also lost it while working in IE. Have not tried pinging to the web, but can ping to the router. Control Panel says the LAN is Enabled. When the connection drops, the PC has to be rebooted to reactivate connection. Ran IPFIX from CMD, but to no avail. Comp B never exhibits this issue.

Am going to disable PC-Cillin next. Don't know where else to try. Hopefully this will help someone help us both."

 

[Guest]

-----Original Message-----
Sorry. It is not isolated to dual CPU machines. I have

to reboot to restore my connection several times a day
too. Here is a reply I just posted to someone else.
Maybe it will help.Thanks for the reply. Actually, I'm releived that there
is someone else having a similar problem on a single cpu
computer. Now all we have to do is get Microsoft's
attention on this.

Next time it happens, try pinging a domain name that you
know the IP address of. Ping both the name and the IP.
What you should find is that you can ping the IP, but not
the name. When you have an internet connection, pinging
the name will give you the ip address. Because of this,
the problem seems to be with the DNS cache on the
effected computer.

Have you tried ipconfig /flushdns followed by
ipconfig /registerdns? It may work in your case.

There is also the program I mentioned in my first post
that completely rewrites the tcp/ip stack in the
registry. It also will backup the registry before you do
this. See: http://www.webattack.com/get/winsockxpfix.html

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

Am going to disable PC-Cillin next. Don't know where else to try. Hopefully this will help someone help us both."

Terry,

you ma have to uninstall it completely, at least for a test.
Perhaps it's an older version that's not fully compatible?

For more information, please have a look at
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxNetwork.htm.

Hans-Georg

 

[Guest]

Thanks to Anonymous and Hans both. You have suggestions I have not tried yet. One item of note based upon your link Hans, I do use Zone Alarm. I am going to uninstall it first - only because that is the easiest and I have a firewall in the router. Not ready to uninstall PC-CIllin, as I have a subscription update service with it and hate to think of the nightmares ore-establishing if it is not the culprit

Art, are you by any chance using Zone Alarm or PC-Cillin? I will try your ping suggestion. And will also try the ipconfig commands. Not ready to try to rewrite the IP stack, but as i have to use this PC for buiness, gotta wait til a better time. WIll keep you posted.

 

[Guest]

Ok guys. Update. I have removed Zone Alarm from my offending PC and voila!. No dropped internet connections today! No reboots! If I read things right, it stems from multiple firewalls fighting for control. In my case Zone Alarm and my Netgear router. I found the follwoing text on the Zone ALarm site

"Due to the potential for conflicts and problems that can arise from using multiple firewalls, Zone Labs recommends the use of only ZoneAlarm and a virus scanner
When multiple software firewalls are installed, there is no way of ordering which product will get a packet and which will report it; the determination as to which product gets operating system preference to monitor the traffic will be made at random. When running more than one firewall, ZoneAlarm might not be able to report on incoming port scans or hack attempts. In some cases, running two software firewalls at the same time can cause more problems than running only one
ZA+/ZAP works well with hardware firewalls - in these cases the hardware firewall would protect incoming ONLY (you would need to set that up for logging if you wish to see those alerts) while ZA+/ZAP continues to protect with Outbound Control. Also, note that some software firewalls, such as the built-in Windows XP firewall) provide inbound protection only. ZoneAlarm provides both inbound protection and outbound anti-Trojan protection via application control.

I hope this helps someone out there.

 

[Hans-Georg Michna]

Terry,

thanks for the report!

Hans-Georg

 

[Guest]

Well it seems I'm still out in the cold on this one. I
don't use Zone Alarm or have the XP firewall running. I'm
behind a router that acts as my firewall. Also, there are
two other XP boxes on my network that don't have this
problem.

I've tried using DHCP, static IP, and I've even changed my
DNS servers. I've rewritten the IP stack. I've reinstalled
NIC drivers. I've added NICs. What am I missing?!?

Are there any Microsoft employees reading this post? Do
you have a suugestion?