Internet connection stops working after awhile.

I'm having an annoying issue with my internet connection.

It will work fine for awhile; sometimes hours, sometimes minutes, and then I randomly won't be able to connect to anything. Windows says I'm still connected and can't find any errors, and when I try to connect to anything it gets timed-out.

I did notice that there are quite a few things in the device manager under "Network Adapters," though not sure if there's anything in there that could be causing a problem.

My laptop is the only computer in the house that has this issue, and it's had it on both of the connections I've tried using.

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit, if that matters.

Thank You.

Alondite said:

I'm having an annoying issue with my internet connection.

It will work fine for awhile; sometimes hours, sometimes minutes, and then I randomly won't be able to connect to anything. Windows says I'm still connected and can't find any errors, and when I try to connect to anything it gets timed-out.

I did notice that there are quite a few things in the device manager under "Network Adapters," though not sure if there's anything in there that could be causing a problem.

My laptop is the only computer in the house that has this issue, and it's had it on both of the connections I've tried using.

I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit, if that matters.

Thank You.

I'd have to see a screen shot of the ipconfig/all from this machine to see what's going on there.
You may have too many tunnel adaptors or the msoft virtual WIFI miniport adaptor may be causing problems or you could have too many virtual adaptors enabled which tends to cause problems.

Here's my ipconifg:



Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Sean-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : domain.invalid

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8102E/RTL8103E Family PCI-E Fast Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.20)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-23-5A-42-AF-BA
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : domain.invalid
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Atheros AR5007 802.11b/g WiFi Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-24-2C-6E-D6-25
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::40dd:bed4:27aa:d891%11(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.254.7(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, May 17, 2012 1:57:45 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, June 23, 2148 9:28:44 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.254.254
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.254.254
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 184558636
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-17-46-30-C3-00-23-5A-42-AF-BA
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.254.254
192.168.254.254
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:4137:9e76:cd3:399d:3f57:1f8(Preferred)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::cd3:399d:3f57:1f8%13(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{295BDD4F-60A2-499E-AA21-8A5C678A786B}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #3
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.domain.invalid:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : domain.invalid
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #4
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

The DNS domain.invalid seemed like it could be causing an issue, but both the computers on my network have it and it doesn't seem to be causing any issues on the other computer. It also comes up even when the internet on my computer is working (like now).

Here's a screen cap of the network devices:

If you typed any DNS servers into your IPv4 properties window you should remove that entry and just let the router handle the DNS instead. I believe that may be the reason you are showing two of the same default gateways for your DNS server, there should just be one gateway showing up there. You should make sure you have two functional DNS servers typed into your routers settings for DNS servers.

This wireless connection may work better if you disable the Atheros wireless connection firewall software and instead just let Windows handle the connection. Reboot after making the changes. You should also be using WPA2 with AES encryption for this connection. If you make any changes to the routers settings you will need to change the wireless profile to reflect those changes.

After making those changes if you are still having intermittent connection problems try using a different channel for the wireless connection. You can use Xirrus WIFI scanner for to find clear channels in your area. Channel overlap causes connection problems all the time.
http://www.xirrus.com/Products/Wi-Fi-Inspector

Networking isn't exactly my strong suit. How would I go about making the above-mentioned changes?

Alondite said:

Networking isn't exactly my strong suit. How would I go about making the above-mentioned changes?

You should be able to get to your routers set up page by typing the default gateway into the URL of your browser. 192.168.254.254 should get you there. It's hard to say exactly which page the settings are at because all routers use a slightly different page for this.

To access the wireless profile manager go to the Network and Sharing Center, it will be on the left side there. You should be able to either uninstall or disable the Atheros wireless firewall software in Device Manager or you can uninstall it from add/remove programs.

The IPv4 properties window can be accessed by right clicking the wireless connection in the Network and Sharing center, choose properties, then Internet Protocol version IPv4, then properties again and remove the DNS from there "if there is one".

If you haven't already, you will need to type in two DNS servers into your routers set up page. You can try using Google's DNS servers, 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 but there are many others to choose from. It's hard to say exactly what this problem might be without more information. Trying a different wireless channel after scanning the area can help to fix intermittent connection problems.

I'm only getting "Limited Access" when I disable the Atheros firewall. Will that correct itself after I reboot?

Alondite said:

I'm only getting "Limited Access" when I disable the Atheros firewall. Will that correct itself after I reboot?

That firewall shouldn't be required. It looks to be an add on that was installed with the Atheros wireless connection software. You can try a reboot, if the firewall being disabled is preventing a connection then just enable it again.
It might also help if you can find actual Windows 7 drivers for the Atheros AR5007 32 bit WIFI adaptor. I might be able to find them for you but there are no system specs filled out.

If you haven't checked yet, make sure you are using WPA2 security with AES encryption. You can make the changes in your routers set up page, you will also need to make changes to your Windows 7 wireless network manager. Change the wireless profile for this connection to reflect the changes made to your routers settings.

My router seems to have very limited user options. I don't see anything about WPA2 security anywhere. I can change it on my laptop, just can't find out how on on my router. Why do I need to use WPA2 security, by the way? My network doesn't have it enabled, but I've been on networks that do and I still have the same issues.

It could just be coincidence, but itunes seems to cause issues. Just having it on, or particularly when I try to search for album art is when my connection seems to keep timing out.

Here's my laptop's model number if it helps. I'd like to note that it came with Vista, but I got a free 7 Ultimate upgrade through my school so I'm using that now.

HP Pavilion dv7-1245dx Entertainment Notebook PC

A few things I've realized that I think are worth noting:

Adaware closes with an error whenever it happens.
My IRC client and any torrent downloads I have going seem to be unaffected
I've been on Facebook when it has happened, but have no trouble navigating different pages on Facebook. Any new pages (or pages not on Facebook) timeout when I try to open them.