Windows 7: One PC Keeps Getting Limited Connectivity after 5 min

I just got the WNDR4500 and set it up yesterday. Everything works great except one annoying issue: I have one PC that keeps getting limited connectivity and i have to release/renew the ip to fix it (or power cycle the switch). This happens after 3-5 min. The other devices stay connected even though they are after the switch.

I have my network set up as follows: Cable modem connecting to the router. Router wired connection to PC1, Network Printer. I have a wired connection from the router to a switch in my living room. From the switch there are wired connections to PC2(the one with the limited connectivity issues), a network storage, and PS3.

Everything stays connected, even the PS3 and the network storage, except for PC2. PC2 drops from the internet and the LAN, and the Netgear no longer sees it as a connected device until I release/renew on the PC.

With my old Asus router everything works, with the same PC and the same switch so the issue is with the router. The new router is gigabit, so not sure if that's part of the issue. I'm using a combo of Cat5/5e so maybe switching to cat6 will help?

I tried setting a static IP for PC2, and DCHP. That did not make a difference.

I tried leaving the router with everything defualt, and upgrading to the latest firmware.



I also tried uninstalling the network card on PC2 and re-installing, although I did not check if there was an upgrade to the NIC.

This thread talks about problems with the WNDR4500 and shows some solutions that might work for you.

WNDR4500 loses WAN connection - NETGEAR Forums

Thanks, I saw that already. They are mentioning that the Internet disconnects but the Lan is still active and that it happens to all the PCS after 30 min of inactivity. It seem like the issue was fixed by the new firmware.

For me it happens while i am using the pc, only on one PC, and the LAN drops out too not just the internet connection. I tried the Disable IGMP Proxying and using OPEN DNS as the DNS servers.

It seems like the problem is more with the switch. If the switch isn't a gigabit switch then it might help to go into Device Manager and make some adjustments to the network interface for this connection. Maybe the 10/100 setting will work better.

Okay so I did some more troubleshooting last night.

I disconnected all the other devices so I had the New router connected to PC2 directly with a cat6 cable (no switch). The exact same thing kept happening.

I downloaded the NIC drivers and reinstated them on the PC. I also messed around the speed and duplexing option selecting various settings on the NIC (100 full duplex, 10 half duplex, etc.)

I tried a static IP again, and DHCP, with open DNS servers.

I also tried to have a wireless device connected at the same time. When the LAN drops for PC2 the wireless device has internet connectivity with no issues.

Nothing worked, I have no idea what's going on now.

Have you tried starting up in safe mode with Networking to see if an installed program or an A/V might be causing the problem?

You could also try Autoruns to determine if a start up program is causing the problem. You can uncheck them one at a time to see which one makes a difference.
Autoruns for Windows

I kept reading on the Netgear forum and the current firmware had a bug where it would send out wake on Lan packets to the network non-stop. I guess this cause my one PC to drop the connection.

I updated to the new firmware they release yesterday .1.20 and the PC stays on the network just fine now. Thanks for your help

Ok good, figured it was the router from all the complaints about it.