Internet connection lost after undetermined amount of time

[Mike]

I have been having the same problem. It seems that
computer tries to renew my IP lease approx 12 hrs before
it has to and causes the DHCP to timeout. Thus me losin
my internet connection. My router works fine because I
can still access the other CPU's on my network. What
kind of router do you have? Until I or you can fix this
problem, what I do is have the router release then renew
the ip or dhcp. This seems to work for me. I started to
have this problem 2 months ago. Since then nothing until
today. What IP do you use. ie comcast......

-----Original Message-----
Running WinXP network off of a router with a LAN cable

connection. After a certain amount of time,
undetermined, I have to close all programs and restart
them or reboot because they won't connect. I've checked
and rechecked all settings. Cleaned up email folders and
deleted cachefiles and temp internet files. This started
happening out of the blue without anything being
installed that is new. I used to be able to keep my
connection for weeks, not it's hours until I have to
reboot. The cable modem is fine and has been tested.
The router has been rebooted and reset. Any ideas?
Virus defs are up to date and working properly. No virus
present in the system. No spyware and all MS patches
have been applied. I'm running Zone Alarm firewall. I've
also verfied that my NIC is not set to go into power save
mode.

I don't have this problem with the Win98 machine

connected in the same way via Lan cable connection. I
can leave that computer on for weeks without restarting
or losing my connection.

Is there some setting specific to XP that is causing

what seems to be a timeout of my connection, specific to
XP?

 

[Guest]

I've been having the exact same problem...its driving me insane.
I even disabled the DHCP server that leases IP's and made all my connections use a static IP. I still get disconnected after a few minutes whenever I download something or web-browse. All the router's firewall settings are set to allow the programs I use and I disabled Zone Alarm. What is going on? ANYONE PLEASE HELP!! MVP'S where art thou???

 

[Guest]

Hey everyone. There is a Windows XP bug that disconnects the user from the network every so often. Its Article <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;828940">828940</a>. You need to request this hotfix directly from Microsoft...something I think is really not necessary. Why isn't it just on their website or windows update? oh well... anyways, hope that solves your guys' problems!

-greg

 

[Guest]

Misery loves company...

I'm using a D-Link 614+ 2.4 GHz Wireless router, which also provides the option for wired connections, which is the case with this specific computer. My ISP is Comcast. I can't put my finger on when exactly this problem started happening, but 2 months sounds about right for me too. I've been consistently updating with Windows update for critical updates, I wonder if they made an update that is causing the problem? This sounds like my problem Its Article <a href="http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;828940">828940</a>, but I'm not making a connection with the wireless function of the router. Mike or Dan, are you have this problem with a wired or wireless connection? Have either of you tried contacting Microsoft for the solution above?

Paul

 

[Ryan]

I'm seeing this same problem as well. My XP box worked fine on a
Colorado Comcast cable connection, through two linksys routers and a
motorola modem but, when I moved to California and got a California
Comcase account with a different motorola modem (roommate took the old
one) and one linksys router between the box and the modem, my XP box
started losing its IP all of the time. I reinstalled (the box needed it
anyway) with no luck, upgraded to SP2rc2 with no luck. The only thing
that will restore my connection is if I phyically disconnect the box.

Most of the time, when it loses its IP, the entire machine will
"freeze" -- I can't open applications or menus or restart. It's not a
panic or anything like that since the UI server is still responsive, I
simply can't interact with the system at all. Unplugging the
connection, however, unlocks everything and when I plug it back in it
will grab an IP. Then lose it after a period of time.

Does this hotfix actually fix the problem we're encountering -- it
appear to only address issues with their WiFi networking stack.
Additionally, it looks like it's already included in SP2 (which I have
installed). In fact, all of the files patched in that hotfix under XP
are *older* than the files on my SP2rc2 system. All of my files have
the version 5.2.2600.2149.

Something else must be going on...

 

[Ryan]

(something got munged in my first post... sorry! reposting, hopefully
correctly this time)

I'm seeing this same problem as well. My XP box worked fine on a
Colorado Comcast cable connection, through two linksys routers and a
motorola modem but, when I moved to California and got a California
Comcase account with a different motorola modem (roommate took the old
one) and one linksys router between the box and the modem, my XP box
started losing its IP all of the time. I reinstalled (the box needed it
anyway) with no luck, upgraded to SP2rc2 with no luck. The only thing
that will restore my connection is if I phyically disconnect the box.

Most of the time, when it loses its IP, the entire machine will
"freeze" -- I can't open applications or menus or restart. It's not a
panic or anything like that since the UI server is still responsive, I
simply can't interact with the system at all. Unplugging the
connection, however, unlocks everything and when I plug it back in it
will grab an IP. Then lose it after a period of time.

Does this hotfix actually fix the problem we're encountering -- it
appear to only address issues with their WiFi networking stack.
Additionally, it looks like it's already included in SP2 (which I have
installed). In fact, all of the files patched in that hotfix under XP
are *older* than the files on my SP2rc2 system. All of my files have
the version 5.2.2600.2149.

Something else must be going on...

 

[Ryan]

I've been having the exact same problem...its driving me insane.
I even disabled the DHCP server that leases IP's and made all my
connections use a static IP. I still get disconnected after a few
minutes whenever I download something or web-browse. All the router's
firewall settings are set to allow the programs I use and I disabled
Zone Alarm. What is going on? ANYONE PLEASE HELP!! MVP'S where art
thou???

Interestingly enough, the following works:
1) Borrow a friend's firewire cable.
2) Connect your XP box to your PowerBook with the borrowed cable.
3) Share your PowerBook's ethernet connection with its FireWire
connnection using IP over FireWire.
4) Give both FireWire ports a static IP.
5) Surf the net!

To me, this screams DHCP but it could also be a problem with the
ethernet stack since I have circumvented that as well. (Using FireWire
w/ static IPs as opposed to Ethernet w/ DHCP.)

Does *anyone* have *any* advice? I doubt the wireless hotfix mentioned
in this thread will do the trick since A) I'm not using WiFi and B)
under XPSP2rc2 all of my files have newer versions than the ones
provided in the hotfix. I would really like to get my XP box back on
the network *without* using my PowerBook as a crutch.

 

[Guest]

I've been having this problem with a wired connection...the wireless conn. i have is fine...if u guys keep getting disconnected with a wireless conn. go to the properties of the network youre trying to connect to and uncheck the IEEE 802.xx box..that fixed the problem with the wireless conn. but not with my hard-wired conn.
I even went as far as returning the router i bought....cheap D-link router...couldnt even upgrade the firmware...got myself a linksys...still having problems..i think its something with windows because a friend has the exact same setup as i do and he has no problems...maybe its time for a format :\

 

[Ryan]

Interestingly enough, the following works:
1) Borrow a friend's firewire cable.
2) Connect your XP box to your PowerBook with the borrowed cable.
3) Share your PowerBook's ethernet connection with its FireWire
connnection using IP over FireWire.
4) Give both FireWire ports a static IP.
5) Surf the net!

To me, this screams DHCP but it could also be a problem with the
ethernet stack since I have circumvented that as well. (Using FireWire
w/ static IPs as opposed to Ethernet w/ DHCP.)

Does *anyone* have *any* advice? I doubt the wireless hotfix mentioned
in this thread will do the trick since A) I'm not using WiFi and B)
under XPSP2rc2 all of my files have newer versions than the ones
provided in the hotfix. I would really like to get my XP box back on
the network *without* using my PowerBook as a crutch.

Ok, this is pathetic... *someone* must have *some* idea of what is
going on here! MVPs? MSFT employees?

Networking worked until a couple of weeks ago. Now, regardless of the
NIC I use (I have two in my computer), regardless what cables or
routers use, after a *clean reinstall* of Windows XP SP 1, after an
upgrade to SP2rc2, and whether or not I give the machine a static IP, I
*cannot* stay connected to the internet.

Here's a question for others in this thread: were you or are you using
ZoneAlarm? If so, what version? I have uninstalled ZoneAlarm 5.0 Pro
and my computer now no longer locks up when it loses its IP but it
still loses its IP.

What the hell is going on here?! My Mac OS X and Linux boxes aren't
having *any* issues, so it's not the router or the cable modem. Hell, I
can get an IP and surf the net for a while, but my XP SP2 box *always*
loses the connection after a minute or two, sometimes after a couple of
seconds! Note: physically disconnecting and reconnecting the box causes
the connection to resume, but it will always fail after a random period
of time.

What is the problem? How can I diagnose this when there is *nothing* on
MS KB and *noone* has any suggestions?!

*argh*

 

[Guest]

For those of you running zonealarm....
UNINSTALL IT....zonealarm is what has been causing my connection loss and my hard-wired pc to freeze whenever I download.
Now the problem is how to get zonealarm to work properly because its very secure...too secure for our own good. I tried to add an expert rule to zonealarm that opens the ports for the P2P program I use to download but it still lost connection after some time. I hope this solves some of your problems...strange that my wireless pc has zonealarm but it works fine...
btw d-link sux...get yourself a linksys. the admin interface is much simpler and easier to use and the wireless signal is stronger than the d-link router's

 

[Ryan]

For those of you running zonealarm....
UNINSTALL IT....zonealarm is what has been causing my connection loss
and my hard-wired pc to freeze whenever I download.
Now the problem is how to get zonealarm to work properly because its
very secure...too secure for our own good. I tried to add an expert
rule to zonealarm that opens the ports for the P2P program I use to
download but it still lost connection after some time. I hope this
solves some of your problems...strange that my wireless pc has
zonealarm but it works fine...
btw d-link sux...get yourself a linksys. the admin interface is much
simpler and easier to use and the wireless signal is stronger than the
d-link router's

What if, after uninstalling ZoneAlarm, I still have issues? I used the
provided ZA Uninstall application, not Add/Remove Programs. Thankfully,
I upgraded to SP2rc2, so I have *a* firewall running, even if I don't
trust it to work properly (yet).

So, I'm not using any D-Link equipment (Linksys router and a Motorola
cable modem, and the problems still happen even if the XP box is
connected directly to the modem). I don't have ZoneAlarm installed.
Though, since this is Windows, there might still be some crap left on
the system screwing it up. I don't want to re-re-install, as
reinstalling didn't fix my problems the first time but I'll do it if
there's a chance ZoneAlarm's still screwing stuff up.

So, no D-Link and no ZA... what else could be a problem?