Connection problem. Webpages don't load, downloads still work.

darkdragon88 · 08 May 2013

Hello everyone, I have this really odd problem with my internet connection that I hope can get fixed.

Sometimes it looks like my internet connection just stops working. The weird part is that I am still connected to my home network and if I have downloads going or a video streaming, it still downloads. I can't (for example) open a new tab and go to a webpage (chrome says the webpage is not available, firefox says server not found, IE says cannot display the webpage, but as long as the downloads were going before the connection messed up, they still keep going. Even utorrent can download when webpages don't load.

As for my network, the connection is the same that I've had for the past couple of years and never had this issue. My phone and my sister's laptop have no problems, so this has to be my laptop's issue.

My only way to repair is to diagnose the problem and my network adapter gets reset.

Some thing of note is that this never happened to me before until I had a problem and had to reformat my drive C.
I also updated my network drivers from my laptop company's page.
-another thing is that it seems to all work again after an hour or so

Thank you in advance for any help!

EDIT: I've noticed chrome says it is a DNS error. I hope this helps

chev65 · 09 May 2013

Hello dark dragon, the ipconfig looks fine other than it appears you aren't using a Windows 7 approved driver, if it were an approved WHQL driver then the Msoft Virtual WiFi miniport adaptor would be showing here. This is most likely the cause of this problem.

You might try going to the manufacture of your machine to look for an updated version of the driver for the Atheros AR9285 driver, or go to the Windows update Center to see if they have a driver for this adaptor.

Looks like you have Asus.
http://support.asus.com/ServiceHome.aspx?SLanguage=en

darkdragon88 · 12 May 2013

Thank you for your help. I had to search a little harder for that driver but it is updated. The weird thing is that so far it seems like when I'm closer to my router, my connection is fine. When I go further away (like to my room), on Friday and Saturday night the web page loading error happened once on each night until I diagnosed -then it seems okay again.

chev65 · 12 May 2013

Whey type of signal strength do you have? Which anti virus are you running?

Try running the Xirrus WiFi inspector, post a screen shot of the read out here.
XIRRUS - High Performance Wireless Networks | Xirrus

darkdragon88 · 12 May 2013

The signal strength is between -66 dBm and -70 dBm (I tried changing the channel on my router last night from 6 to 11 but I had the same problem)

The anti virus I am running is avast

Thank you for your reply!

I had to edit in this connection test when my connection dropped again. I didn't test if a download worked but my web pages started loading after about 30 minutes -which is how I posted this.

chev65 · 14 May 2013

darkdragon88 said:

The signal strength is between -66 dBm and -70 dBm (I tried changing the channel on my router last night from 6 to 11 but I had the same problem)

The anti virus I am running is avast

Thank you for your reply!

I had to edit in this connection test when my connection dropped again. I didn't test if a download worked but my web pages started loading after about 30 minutes -which is how I posted this.

Honestly with the connection strength in that range you can pretty much expect the connection to drop out on a regular basis, for reliable wireless connection you need to be in the green, that's just how wireless works. There is no fix for this other than either moving closer to the router or installing another access point.

darkdragon88 · 14 May 2013

chev65 said:

darkdragon88 said:

The signal strength is between -66 dBm and -70 dBm (I tried changing the channel on my router last night from 6 to 11 but I had the same problem)

The anti virus I am running is avast

Thank you for your reply!

I had to edit in this connection test when my connection dropped again. I didn't test if a download worked but my web pages started loading after about 30 minutes -which is how I posted this.

Honestly with the connection strength in that range you can pretty much expect the connection to drop out on a regular basis, for reliable wireless connection you need to be in the green, that's just how wireless works. There is no fix for this other than either moving closer to the router or installing another access point.

Why did my connection not do this before my system restore, though?