Windows 7 - Network Connection Dropping

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broken1

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I have a very strange intermittent problem.

I am connected via WiFi to a Netgear Router and am using a fresh installation of Windows 7.

Every so often, "I get the page cannot be displayed" connection lost. Click refresh, and it connects. My router says my connection has been up for 10+ hours, and Windows doesn't register the Wifi Connection dropping.

Every so often though, it just misses a webpage and I have to hit refresh.

I have another laptop and it works perfectly on this network - so it must be something software based? Any ideas or diagnostics I can try? I am fresh out of ideas. Seems like windows is secretly dropping the connection every so often for a couple of seconds and I don't know why.
 
Try a contstant ping of the routers default gateway and see if any packets get dropped when you experience the problem.

Have you tried another browser?
 
Update all Drivers first. Wifi, chipset, general mobo drivers.

Secondly. I prefer using a strong Wifi encryption as I find that from Vista to 7 it has an effect on the speed. I don't know if it's proven, or just my opinion, so take it on my opinion. Use at least WPA2-PSK if your router supports it.

Lastly. Google for optimum Wifi settings for the card you have. Changing the channels on the Router between 6-11 is also a preferred solution I have used in the past.

Range? How far are you from the router and does the router actually submit all it's Wifi strength? Most routers have a hidden Config page where you can up the transmit power, just contact Netgear to find out about your model and if it's available :)

ciao ;) :D :p
 
Contsant Ping : Pinged about 24 times, 32 bytes of data, 1ms, then times out 3 times, then continues. Every 20 - 30 ping requests, 3 time out. Then it goes on fine for a long while...then 3 time out.

I have tried Chrome, IE8 and Firefox.

All drivers are up to date! WPA2-PSK is the security used. High strength signal.

As I said, Windows doesn't register that the wireless is lost, pages just stop loading and connecting.
 
broken1 said:
Contsant Ping : Pinged about 24 times, 32 bytes of data, 1ms, then times out 3 times, then continues. Every 20 - 30 ping requests, 3 time out. Then it goes on fine for a long while...then 3 time out.

I have tried Chrome, IE8 and Firefox.

All drivers are up to date! WPA2-PSK is the security used. High strength signal.

As I said, Windows doesn't register that the wireless is lost, pages just stop loading and connecting.
Click to expand...

Firewall/Antivirus issue? Reset TCP\IP?
 
In Network and Sharing center, choose Change Adapter Settings, and Right Click>Properties the Wireless connection you use, choose Configure, and on the Power Management tab, uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" check box. If this does not work, get Malwarebytes Free and Superantispyware, and do proper scans. Add a decent virus program on top of this for a scan as well. Malwarebytes often saves me pc's that are seriously infected, and SuperAntiSpyware does a good job as well. But a third reputable virus app should also be cool.

If these things do not help, maybe you should have it checked out if you have a warranty on it.
 
Forgot to add. things that interfere with wireless is water...are there a lot of plants/fishtanks/people that pass through between your location and that of the wireless router? If so, nail those plants down, tell the fish to stop driving their fishtank in between you and your wireless signal, and get the people out of the way. Also, it's not been unknown for devices like microwaves and wireless phones to interfere with wireless. If that is the case, switch them off, see if it improves. Also on this possible problem, like teraside said:
Changing the channels on the Router between 6-11 is also a preferred solution I have used in the past.
Click to expand...
Not just those frequencies, work on the extremes. Choose 1, choose 6, choose 11, and 13 if you have it. Why I say that, some of the frequencies slightly overlap. If there is anyone else around there using wireless, it could be interfering. Switching between those frequencies could rule that out as the problem, or show it to be the problem, as they are only likely to use a frequency, and only the one under and above goes in the possible overlapping zone.

Very keen to hear if you and how you get this sorted.

Hope these ideas help!
 
I use Windows 7 on my notebook and I move between network connections often. Sometimes I'm on a wifi connection at home, sometimes a wired lan connection at home and then sometimes a wired lan connection at work. What I find happening is that the wired network connection often does not connect properly on a change of connection. It just refuses to pick up the dhcp address. This happens at home and work - so it's not a router problem. My solution is simple - I go into the network adapters, right click the LAN adapter, and disable it, then re-enable it. This takes a few seconds and results in the connection working perfectly every time. It's crap, but then that's Windows for you. It sucks, but I have to use it.
 
francoislr said:
In Network and Sharing center, choose Change Adapter Settings, and Right Click>Properties the Wireless connection you use, choose Configure, and on the Power Management tab, uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" check box. If this does not work, get Malwarebytes Free and Superantispyware, and do proper scans. Add a decent virus program on top of this for a scan as well. Malwarebytes often saves me pc's that are seriously infected, and SuperAntiSpyware does a good job as well. But a third reputable virus app should also be cool.

If these things do not help, maybe you should have it checked out if you have a warranty on it.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

I have tried the power management settings and will report results.
 
So, any luck Broken1?

TheMightyP said:
I use Windows 7 on my notebook and I move between network connections often. Sometimes I'm on a wifi connection at home, sometimes a wired lan connection at home and then sometimes a wired lan connection at work. What I find happening is that the wired network connection often does not connect properly on a change of connection. It just refuses to pick up the dhcp address. This happens at home and work - so it's not a router problem. My solution is simple - I go into the network adapters, right click the LAN adapter, and disable it, then re-enable it. This takes a few seconds and results in the connection working perfectly every time. It's crap, but then that's Windows for you. It sucks, but I have to use it.
Click to expand...

Have you tried setting a fixed host ip on your router perhaps? You usually put your mac address (cmd>ipconfig /all > the entry next to Physical Address) in somewhere, and then whenever it sees that wireless, it gives the same ip. Would be interesting to see if that makes life a little easier for you.
 
Any timeouts while pinging your router on the same network are indicative of a serious network problem (the end result being packet loss). If you have another wired PC, I suggest ping the router for about a minute and see if any requests time out. If you still get timeouts, debugging time. Remove any hubs and wire your PC straight to the router, test again. If you get timeouts, change cables and try again. Still getting timeouts, you might want to send the router back on warranty as its the most likely point of failure. No timeouts, add in a hub, test again. If it fails, the hub is the point of failure. Basically, start with a very basic network setup (WIRED) and expand it out, testing each step, till you discover the point of failure.

Most likely causes are a faulty hub, cable or network/wireless interface.
 
No luck yet - was busy yesterday so didn't have too much time to play around.

I will try the fixed IP.

The whole setup works perfectly when I connect from another computer...so I dont think it's the hardware. It could be the wireless card in the machine - but it worked perfectly before Windows 7..so I donno. Could be coincedence though.

I will report back once I've had the chance to fix IP address and try a wired connection (later this week).
 
If it's the wireless component(be it drivers or the card) I am sure the wired connection will work fine. Another thing you should try is connect up the laptop on another wireless.

Important though: have you tried the different channels? Lots of people discount this, and it ends up being it. Try it as well, especially if your laptop is on a different location than the other one. A wireless signal that interferes from the neighbor could affect 1 pc but not another if it's closer to it.
 
Hi Guys...

Seems like setting the IP as static in the router fixed it. There must have been IP address conflicts. Been surfing the whole of tonight and not one single disconnect! Great!

Thanks for the help.
 
Awesome stuff! I like making my router always assign certain ip's to certain pc's...makes things easier for me...always glad to help:-)
 
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