Internet Access Randomly Drops on Wired & Wireless Connection

JOL

New member
Hi All,

I've got an older Acer Timeline 4810t running Windows 7. We recently switched from Cox Cable internet to AT&T U-Verse, and I've started noticing that my internet connection will randomly go out when I am connected. This occurs whether I am on a wired or wireless connection. Specifically, I will be browsing the web and, randomly, when I try to pull up a website, I get an error indicating that I cannot connect to that website because I am not connected to the internet. When I check the status of my connection in the bottom right corner, it will show that I am connected to the internet. If I disconnect the ethernet cable (or disconnect and reconnect to the wifi network), the internet service is restored, although it continues to randomly lose connection.

I initially thought that it was a U-Verse issue, so AT&T came out and replaced the router. Unfortunately, I still got the random drops. I then thought it was a Windows issue, so I reformatted by hard drive and reinstalled Windows - still having that issue.

My wife has an older Macbook and does not have this problem. We also do not have this problem with any of the tablets or phones that connect to the network wirelessly.

I am beyond frustrated and do not know what to do. I also don't know if this is a sign that my laptop is at the end of its life, which would be unfortunate since I've only owned the laptop for about 3 years (my last laptop, a Dell, is on year 7 and still churning).

Any suggestions/advice would be greatly appreciated.
 

My Computer

OS
Windows 7 Professional
Forgot to mention that I've got an Intel 5100 wifi card and an Atheros ethernet controller.

After further research, it may appear that the wifi disonnection issue is a known issue regarding this wifi card (Intel WiFi Link 5100 AGN problem - disconnecting). Just weird because I only recently had this problem pop up; this also does not explain why my wired connection randomly drops.

I'll play around with the router, driver and the settings some more tonight to see if I can figure out what's wrong.
 

My Computer

OS
Windows 7 Professional
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