Loses DNS when idle for a while

[dontdont]

I've run multiple different antivirus programs, multiple different
antispyware programs, have a hardware AND software firewall running,
have found no hint of infection since 2001. I've run ShellExView
looking for vermin and haven't found anything that looks likely. I've
run HijackThis and weeded out a few leftovers from broken uninstallers
but the problem hasn't changed.

If I use the system and don't leave it idle then the network is fine
for many many many hours. But if I leave it sit idle for a few hours
then it looses the ability to translate domain names (the DNS fails
somehow).

Using ip addresses after this failure still works fine.

If I run the following batch file:
net stop "DNS Client"
net start "DNS Client"
the problem is fixed, until the next time I leave it idle.

Searching the net and looking for similar problems someone suggested
getting and running LSPFix.exe. That complained about my installed
Port Magic. I don't think that was the problem but instead it just
wasn't on the list of items LSPFix recognized. But I let it remove
Port Magic from the stack and the problem is still exactly the same. I
can reinstall that later.

I've seen lots of reports of XP forgetting the DNS when coming back out
of Hibernate. But I checked my Power settings and I have it turn off
the monitor after 20 minutes but never turn off the drive or go into
standby or go into hibernate. So that doesn't seem like it matches any
of the reports I've found with searching. Either that or this is the
same and people just thought it was hibernate or were calling it
hibernate when this problem happened for them.

Since using bare ip addresses still works after the DNS has stopped I'm
tending to believe that it isn't a problem with DHCP just loosing
connection with the world.

I have the DNS address set to a specific ip address.

I've run the Help and Support Network Diagnostics and expanded all the
items in the resulting web page of results, before and after. (WHY
doesn't this have the option of saving in plain .txt format so it would
be easy to diff two different saves and immediately see what had
changed?!?!?!) But thus far I haven't found anything in that to point
me at a fix.

The problem has been unchanged for a month or two while I've searched
the net and looked for anything that might be responsible for this.

Any ideas how to track down who's fault this is?

 

[Joe]

I've run multiple different antivirus programs, multiple different
antispyware programs, have a hardware AND software firewall running,
have found no hint of infection since 2001. I've run ShellExView
looking for vermin and haven't found anything that looks likely. I've
run HijackThis and weeded out a few leftovers from broken uninstallers
but the problem hasn't changed.

If I use the system and don't leave it idle then the network is fine
for many many many hours. But if I leave it sit idle for a few hours
then it loses the ability to translate domain names (the DNS fails
somehow).

Using ip addresses after this failure still works fine.

If I run the following batch file:
net stop "DNS Client"
net start "DNS Client"
the problem is fixed, until the next time I leave it idle.

Searching the net and looking for similar problems someone suggested
getting and running LSPFix.exe. That complained about my installed
Port Magic. I don't think that was the problem but instead it just
wasn't on the list of items LSPFix recognized. But I let it remove
Port Magic from the stack and the problem is still exactly the same. I
can reinstall that later.

I've seen lots of reports of XP forgetting the DNS when coming back out
of Hibernate. But I checked my Power settings and I have it turn off
the monitor after 20 minutes but never turn off the drive or go into
standby or go into hibernate. So that doesn't seem like it matches any
of the reports I've found with searching. Either that or this is the
same and people just thought it was hibernate or were calling it
hibernate when this problem happened for them.

Since using bare ip addresses still works after the DNS has stopped I'm
tending to believe that it isn't a problem with DHCP just loosing
connection with the world.

I have the DNS address set to a specific ip address.

I've run the Help and Support Network Diagnostics and expanded all the
items in the resulting web page of results, before and after. (WHY
doesn't this have the option of saving in plain .txt format so it would
be easy to diff two different saves and immediately see what had
changed?!?!?!) But thus far I haven't found anything in that to point
me at a fix.

The problem has been unchanged for a month or two while I've searched
the net and looked for anything that might be responsible for this.

Any ideas how to track down whose fault this is?

In the Device Manager, on the NIC or USB ports Power Management tab,
change the power settings to _not_ "Allow the computer to turn off this
device to save power".

 

[dontdont]

In the Device Manager, on the NIC or USB ports Power Management tab,
change the power settings to _not_ "Allow the computer to turn off this
device to save power".

That sounds really unlikely to be a solution, since as I said
I'd already checked that it was never supposed to go into any
power down mode, and now that I think about it I realize I see
the router lights on for that machine even when the computer
has been turned off, so the network card is probably live even
though it isn't set for boot on network activity.

But your suggestion isn't difficult to do and doesn't seem
hard to undo and doesn't seem risky so I tried it.

No change at all. DNS still dead after I leave it idle a while.
But maybe someone who has this problem in the future will
find your suggestion and it might help them.

So, what else is the problem?