Windows 7: Intermittent Internet Connection After Recent Upgrade

Hi everyone, I recently (today) upgraded from Vista Home Premium to 7 Home Premium on my multi-booted Dell Inspiron. Other O/S's are Linux Mandriva 2010 and Ubuntu 10.04. I'm having difficulty making an Ethernet connection consistently. I have to uninstall my network adapter and restart so the adapter gets reinstalled almost everytime. This is getting aggravating. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Probably due to inferior in-place Upgrade. A clean reinstall is much better.

Is it using a Dell connection manager? Much better to use the built-in Windows 7 utilities, another reason to clean reinstall from booted Windows 7 upgrade DVD to the WIndows partition.

Rightclick on connection to run Troubleshooter which actually works in Windows 7. See what it says about the problem when it occurs.

Thank you gregrocker for your reply. When I run the Troubleshooter it states that the Ethernet cable isn't connected which is not true. I have even disconnected the cable then reconnected and it states that it is not connected. Presently I am forced to log-in as Administrator, right-click on Network icon on taskbar, select Network & Sharing, select Change adapter settings, right-click on Local Area Connection (Intel(R)82562V-2 10/100 Network...), and repeatedly disable and enable connection until it finally connects. I don't know what 'Connection Manager' is being used. All I wanted to do was upgrade from Vista HP to 7 HP and I sure didn't expect such a hassle. Thanks again for your assistance.

It may help to reset Winsock for windows 7. This has fixed the same no browser access problem after upgrade from vista problem before.


1. Click start, type cmd in the Start Search box, right-click cmd.exe, click Run as administrator, and then press Continue.


2. Type netsh winsock reset at the command prompt, and then press ENTER.

Note If the command is typed incorrectly, you will receive an error message. Type the command again. When the command is completed successfully, a confirmation appears, followed by a new command prompt. Then, go to step 3.


3. Type exit, and then press ENTER. You should be prompted to reboot, if not you should reboot and test.

The other possiblity is that Dell hasn't made many decent drivers for the inspiron systems to work with Windows 7. You may need to search high and low to find ones for your particular model, the 530S.

This post at the Dell site talks about the problem with a few possible solutions.
http://en.community.dell.com/support.../19574311.aspx

A clean install might work better in your case.
Clean Install Windows 7

Thank you chev65 for your assistance. Winsock update didn't solve problem. Checked-out Dell posts and downloaded/installed latest driver pkg. from Intel. Problem not solved. Yesterday I received Windows 7 backup discs. It looks like I'll have to uninstall/reinstall using this disc. Is it difficult to uninstall Win 7? I appreciate any and all assistance. Thanks again.

The Linux distros could also be interfering. Always best to have OS's on separate HD's booted via BIOS to avoid interference. If not GRUB should be installed last after Windows 7 to a wiped HD: Where to install ubuntu in my system?

Do the Windows 7 disks provided include a Windows 7 Installation DVD? If so, boot from it to do a clean install after formatting the Windows 7 partition first: Clean Install Windows 7 You do not need to reinstall Vista first, as the DVD will scan system to see any OS and allow use of Upgrade version key.

If there was formerly GRUB on the Windows 7 partition, wipe it first using free Partition Wizard bootable CD to Wipe from the Disk tab. You may need to do a workaround to clean install Upgrade version Windows 7 to wiped partition: Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

The installer is mostly driver-complete, with newer arriving quickly via optional Windows Updates. Any drivers then missing in Device Manager can be found on the Dell Support Downloads webpage or driver CD if provided.

Install updates and then programs slowly over time to gauge performance after each. Don't let any programs write themselves into msconfig>Startup as they become freeloaders on your RAM/CPU and can spy on you. I only allow AV and gadgets.

Use a lightweight free AV like MS Security Essentials which works perfectly with Windows 7 Firewall.

When it is finished, clean and order the HD perfectly using state-of-the-art free CCleaner then Auslogics Disk and Registry defraggers monthly.

Then save a Windows 7 Backup image externally so you never have to reinstall again, just reimage the HD or replacement using DVD or Repair CD.

Hi gregrocker, thanks for the info. I'll let you know when I decide which way to go. Will probably have more questions. I get real antsy when dealing with hard drives. Don't feel I know enough to be dealing with partitioning. Please standby. Thanks.