I have issues between my wireless router and Windows XP Pro

[M. B.]

I will try to make this as short as possible. For some reason, my router
(Netgear WGR614v3) keeps loosing the connection to my Windows XP SP1,
causing me to loose my DSL connection for about 10 - 30 seconds. Then as if
nothing happened, I am back online. This happenes randomly (sometimes twice
a day, and sometimes more) I know that it is not a defective router, as
I had a D-Link 624 before that, and I have already exchanged my Netgear
twice (trying different BIOS version and tec). All lead to the same
symptom: A little popup box at the bottom right tells me that the LAN cable
has been unplugged (which is not the case). Please remember: Although I
have a WIRELESS router, this lost connection happens on the machine that is
physically connected to the router, so this has nothing to do with wiresless
reception.

I have tried everything I can think of but perhaps someone else has an idea
of what to do? Just for the record, before installing a router I was
running my DSL modem (Verizon) as a router and NEVER had these problems for
over 2 years! The fact is that if I loose my connection to the internet
even for 5 seconds, my Java applets which run in real-time lockup and I have
to restart my whole system.

Here is my system: ASUS P4C800 Deluxe motherboard, which has a 3COM Gigabit
LOM (3C940) network adapter card. I am running the latest known driver
version 1.0.0.46. My DSL modem is a Westell 2200 (latest firmware), whcih
is running in bridge-only mode. I even got another Westell to test the
issue, but the same story.

Without question, the problem seems to be somwhere between my NIC, Router
and Windows XP. It is definately not DSL related since if I plug the
Westell directly to the PC, I never have (had) these issues. One last
point: I have re-checked the router setup and I have the "always" log'ed in
option on. In any case, if my router would log me off my Verizon DSL
account, I would not be getting this "LAN cable unplugged" system tray
pop-up.

And help/suggestions would be VERY MUCH appreciated!

 

[BoB]

We have the same problem with a different brand, it's our cordless
2.4GHz phone, certain channels play hell with it.

 

[M. B.]

do these problems also happen when your 2.4ghz phone is on the hook (and not
in use)?

thanks!

 

[Ron]

Hmm. You don't mention anything about the ROUTER -> MODEM ethernet cable.
Have you tried a different cable in that position?

Also -- although this is extremely unlikely -- what about the possibility
that the ROUTER -> MODEM cable must be a different wiring config?

I only say this because I had this problem when I replaced my Linksys
[wired] router with a new D-Link [wireless]. I simply unplugged one, and
plugged in the other...and it wouldn't work properly. I tried everything
too, (including fresh cables), until a t/s guy said I needed a
"reverse-polarity" cable. I made one up based upon his specs...and presto.
Instant nirvana.

Apparently, in addition to STRAIGHT THRU, and CROSSOVER, there is a *third*
type of CAT5 connector cable of which I was not aware.

<sigh>
HTH
Ron

 

[Nitrof]

I also had that problem for a few days. Changed channel in Netgear config.
Works so far.

 

[justme]

I will try to make this as short as possible. For some reason, my router
(Netgear WGR614v3) keeps loosing the connection to my Windows XP SP1,
causing me to loose my DSL connection for about 10 - 30 seconds. Then as if
nothing happened, I am back online. This happenes randomly (sometimes twice
a day, and sometimes more) I know that it is not a defective router, as
I had a D-Link 624 before that, and I have already exchanged my Netgear
twice (trying different BIOS version and tec). All lead to the same
symptom: A little popup box at the bottom right tells me that the LAN cable
has been unplugged (which is not the case). Please remember: Although I
have a WIRELESS router, this lost connection happens on the machine that is
physically connected to the router, so this has nothing to do with wiresless
reception.

I have tried everything I can think of but perhaps someone else has an idea
of what to do? Just for the record, before installing a router I was
running my DSL modem (Verizon) as a router and NEVER had these problems for
over 2 years! The fact is that if I loose my connection to the internet
even for 5 seconds, my Java applets which run in real-time lockup and I have
to restart my whole system.

Here is my system: ASUS P4C800 Deluxe motherboard, which has a 3COM Gigabit
LOM (3C940) network adapter card. I am running the latest known driver
version 1.0.0.46. My DSL modem is a Westell 2200 (latest firmware), whcih
is running in bridge-only mode. I even got another Westell to test the
issue, but the same story.

Without question, the problem seems to be somwhere between my NIC, Router
and Windows XP. It is definately not DSL related since if I plug the
Westell directly to the PC, I never have (had) these issues. One last
point: I have re-checked the router setup and I have the "always" log'ed in
option on. In any case, if my router would log me off my Verizon DSL
account, I would not be getting this "LAN cable unplugged" system tray
pop-up.

And help/suggestions would be VERY MUCH appreciated!

Is there anything in your system event log associated with
TCPIP or EL2000, such as "Port A is down"? I have seen this
with my P4P800 Dlx with DLink 624. I finally got fed up
and just installed a $15 NIC card.

 

[M. B.]

First of all, thank you everyone for the different suggestions. Here is
what I have tried:

1) Disabled the onboard 3Com Gigabit LOM (3C940) Network card (via the
motherboard BIOS)
2) Installed a Netgear Fast Ethernet FA310TX network card, which worked fine
for over 2 years before. It is set to Auto-Sensing speed, Threshhold=256
bytes and burst length is 16 DWORDS.
3) Made sure that the MTU is set to 1492 and disabled UPnP on the router.
4) Double-checked that each CAT-5 cable to make sure it is working fine. I
even replaced two of them and then pulled and tugged them to see if any of
these might cause this disconnection problem, but I could not replicate the
issue described below
5) And yes, my Westell Verizon DSL modem is running in bridge-only mode.
6) As far as I can tell, this cannot be some kind of a power-saver feauture
issue, as I have lost connections while I was typing and when the monitor
was in "screen saver" mode.

But alas, I am still having the same issue. Every few hours I get that
"LAN cable has been unplugged" system tray icon pop up at the bottom right
and I loose the internet connection. Give it about 20-30 seconds, and I
am again auo-reconnected to the internet.

One other thing: Some of you have mentioned that the 2.4Ghz phone sometimes
cause havoc, but I again remind you that my issue has nothing to do with
wireless interruptions. This is happening on the machine to which the
router is physcially connected.

I am open to hear any other ideas.

 

[daytripper]

Hmm. You don't mention anything about the ROUTER -> MODEM ethernet cable.
Have you tried a different cable in that position?

Also -- although this is extremely unlikely -- what about the possibility
that the ROUTER -> MODEM cable must be a different wiring config?

I only say this because I had this problem when I replaced my Linksys
[wired] router with a new D-Link [wireless]. I simply unplugged one, and
plugged in the other...and it wouldn't work properly. I tried everything
too, (including fresh cables), until a t/s guy said I needed a
"reverse-polarity" cable. I made one up based upon his specs...and presto.
Instant nirvana.

Apparently, in addition to STRAIGHT THRU, and CROSSOVER, there is a *third*
type of CAT5 connector cable of which I was not aware.

Actually, after straight-thru and crossover, the (only) "third type" of CAT5
patch cable is the "Incorrectly Wired" version...

/daytripper (hth ;-)

 

[Jim in Canada]

I know you said you do not think it is "power saver feature" problem, but
have you tried de-activating the network card option to "allow the computer
to turn off this device to save power" just to see what happens?

Jim

 

[Paul]

First of all, thank you everyone for the different suggestions. Here is
what I have tried:

1) Disabled the onboard 3Com Gigabit LOM (3C940) Network card (via the
motherboard BIOS)
2) Installed a Netgear Fast Ethernet FA310TX network card, which worked fine
for over 2 years before. It is set to Auto-Sensing speed, Threshhold=256
bytes and burst length is 16 DWORDS.
3) Made sure that the MTU is set to 1492 and disabled UPnP on the router.
4) Double-checked that each CAT-5 cable to make sure it is working fine. I
even replaced two of them and then pulled and tugged them to see if any of
these might cause this disconnection problem, but I could not replicate the
issue described below
5) And yes, my Westell Verizon DSL modem is running in bridge-only mode.
6) As far as I can tell, this cannot be some kind of a power-saver feauture
issue, as I have lost connections while I was typing and when the monitor
was in "screen saver" mode.

But alas, I am still having the same issue. Every few hours I get that
"LAN cable has been unplugged" system tray icon pop up at the bottom right
and I loose the internet connection. Give it about 20-30 seconds, and I
am again auo-reconnected to the internet.

One other thing: Some of you have mentioned that the 2.4Ghz phone sometimes
cause havoc, but I again remind you that my issue has nothing to do with
wireless interruptions. This is happening on the machine to which the
router is physcially connected.

I am open to hear any other ideas.

I have heard a term "DHCP lease" and maybe the Netgear is not
renewing the lease before it expires. I don't know exactly how you
would fix it. Even if you take the Westell out of bridge mode, and
let the Westell terminate PPPOE and do NAT, that still doesn't
guarantee you won't have the same problem. In Google, I saw
mention of an "auth" port having to be open in a firewall, to
make DHCP work seamlessly, but the primer below doesn't mention it.

The only reason this comes to mind, is DHCP lease periods are measured
in hours or days, so the periodicity is in the right ballpark.

x4
Phone_Line --- Westell 2200 --- Netgear -------- WinXP Computer
Dual Connect WGR614v3
Router/DSL Router
Modem 4 port+wireless

Bridge Mode PPPOE, NAT,
No functions DHCP, routing, etc.

Netgear:
ftp://downloads.netgear.com/files/wgr614_ref_manual.pdf

Westell:
http://www.westell.com/content/sales/2200_userguide.pdf

Primer on DHCP - dhcp_primer.ps - either print or distill.
ftp://contrib:[email protected]/sysadmin/dhcp

BTW - That Westell looks complicated - I can see why you are
running it in bridge mode.

Paul

 

[M. B.]

Jim,

The NIC that I have doesn't even have Power-Saving mode as an option. But
thanks of thinking about it...

- Michael

 

[M. B.]

I have been battling this issue now for a week, and just came up on
something
interesting:

As suggested by some, I disabled the "Wirless Zero Configuration" services,
and within 10 minutes of the reboot, I again lost the LAN connection. I
went inside the Manage | System Event Log and found this first entry (under
TCPIP) :

The system detected that network adapter
\DEVICE\TCPIP_{143B8F42-637C-404C-BA9D-ED75774914C4} was disconnected from
the network, and the adapter's network configuration has been released. If
the network adapter was not disconnected, this may indicate that it has
malfunctioned. Please contact your vendor for updated drivers.

*** and only 5 second later, another entry ***

The system detected that network adapter
\DEVICE\TCPIP_{143B8F42-637C-404C-BA9D-ED75774914C4} was connected to the
network, and has initiated normal operation over the network adapter.

*** ALSO *** I actually got to watch the router (Netgear WGR614v3) during
one of these "disconnects" from the LAN and saw that it looked like it was
turned off and then turned back on again (almost all of the lights went
dark, except the POWER light) and then re-sync'ed). I would love to tell
you that it might be a
defective router, but this is a SECOND one of this kind that I am trying
with the same symptom.

I have also re-checked but my "current" NIC card does not have any
power-suspend mode (or sleep mode), so this cannot be the case. And
lastly, my router does not have any "lease expiration" options so it cannot
be this (especially that sometimes my connection holds 2 hours, and
sometimes just 15 minutes)

So, I am back to first base. For sure it cannot be bad cables (tried 5
different ones), bad router (tried 5 different ones from 3 different brands
Linksys, D-Link and now Netgear) and bad NIC card (tried two different
ones).

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Paul]

I have been battling this issue now for a week, and just came up on
something
interesting:

*** ALSO *** I actually got to watch the router (Netgear WGR614v3) during
one of these "disconnects" from the LAN and saw that it looked like it was
turned off and then turned back on again (almost all of the lights went
dark, except the POWER light) and then re-sync'ed). I would love to tell
you that it might be a
defective router, but this is a SECOND one of this kind that I am trying
with the same symptom.

<<snip>>

That is symptomatic of the PHY chip inside the netgear being reset.
The PHY will then go through the renegotiation of connect rate (10/100
half/full) and when the lights come back on, it is finished configuring.
During this time, the device at the other end of the link will be
unhappy, and it will go through a state change as well. The PHY interface
inside the Windows computer will interpret this state change as a
pulling and reinsertion of the cable.

My guess is the processor inside the Netgear is losing contact with
some of its hardware. It initiates a hardware reset, and you see the
light blink. It could even be that the processor in the Netgear has
crashed - you would have to compare the "power up" LED flash sequence
to what you are observing, to judge whether the Netgear is just
rebooting or not.

Doesn't it make you wonder why the design is up to "v3" ?

Paul

 

[M. B.]

I am happy to report that after 8 days of constant battles, reboots, phone
calls, cable pulling, router changing, it seems that I finally have found a
combination that has had me using Verizon DSL account for over 12 hours so
far without any kind of interruptions.



Since so many of you tried giving me comments and suggestions, I felt that
it is necessary for me to post this here so that the next person will not
(hopefully) need to go through this hell as I did!



My original problem was that when after I purchased a D-Link Wireless Router
DI-624, I would get disconnected from Verizon DSL at least once every 2
hours or so. My internet access would "freeze" and then a little popup box
at the bottom right system tray would tell me that the "LAN cable has been
unplugged". After about a minute or so, my internet connection would be
back working This was NEVER happening during the 2+ years I was using my
Westell modem alone (running in router mode).

Please keep in mind: The problem I was having was not wireless related as
it was happening to the desktop computer to which the router/westell was
connected to!


During these last 8 days, I tried: one DI-624 wireless router, two Netgear
614v3 routers and two Linksys WRT54G v.2 routers. In addition, I received a
brand new Westell 2200 modem from Verizon. I also tried about four
different CAT-5 cables. Here is the final outcome:



I have the Linksys WRT54G (version 2) wireless router connected to the
Netgear Fast Ethernet FA310TX network card in Auto-Sense mode (using the
built-in XP drivers, as Netgear told me that there was never a newer
revision released). I have DISABLED the built-in 3Com Gigabit LOM (3C940)
network card (via the ASUS P4C800 Deluxe motherboard BIOS), DISABLED the
Zero Wireless Configuration service, and have put in the IP/Gateway/DNS
address numbers inside my Windows XP Network Connections | LAN setup. My
operating system is Windows XP Pro SP1 and the modem is a Westell 2200
configured as bridge only.



If my situation continues to be stable, I *might* try to go back to the 3Com
built-in card (disable any power management) and then re-enabling the Zero
Wireless Configuration services. But in reality, I am happy with the way
things are and have already spent enough time trying to get my router to
work with Verizon DSL without having it drop connections!



Now, the next step will be setting up the WIRELESS part of this. I don't
even yet have a laptop with me on the premises, but the 802.11g card that I
already have is the D-Link DWL-G650. I hope and assume that this will work
okay with the Linksys...



One thing I must say is that I never realized that how many problems other
users are having. I would have thought that since 802.11x has been around
in the mainstream by now 2+ years, that things would have been much more
"system friendlier". And again, my issues were not even WIRELESS related.
All 3 tech supports were not really helpful, as none of them realized that
the problem is somehow between the router and Windows XP (Ethernet card?)
loosing a connection, which of course results in Verizon DSL loosing the
connection also.



One other comment about the Netgear 614 v.3 router: A number of people have
responded to tell me that they have had this random "router resetting"
happen to them (where the routers behaves as if someone turned the power off
and then back on, and the lights flash) just as if you first turn it on). I
was lucky to witness it myself during one of the "disconnects" that I had.
This was actually the reason why I went back to try the Linksys one more
time. So, I would definitely recommend staying way from this 614 (version
3) model.



Once again - THANK YOU everyone!