Internet Connection not recognized

I've had this problem ever since I installed windows 7 and tried looking for a solution but since the OS was new I figured I wouldn't find anything. I've looked through this forum but it's hard to describe this problem so if I missed it I'm sorry.

My setup is multiple computers -> router -> modem. Modem is bridging connection from router and router handles the pppoe. I used to have static tcp/ip settings on my personal pc but now I just have the router reserve an ip for my mac address.

The problem I have is that my home's internet connection is up (other computers can go online) and my pc's lan connection to the router is connected, but windows does not confirm that I have an "internet connection." This problem usually occurs when I push my connection to the limit via streaming or torrenting (not hard on 1.2mbps down, 0.3mbps up). I'm always on ventrilo and here are some symptoms of the problem.

I turn on my computer and connect to the internet. It works fine for a while. Let's say I'm on ventrilo and start torrenting and then browse the web. Soon I start getting 404s and when I check my network settings it says no internet connection (network and sharing center, red X over 2nd bar between multiple networks and internet connection). While this is happening my torrents will keep going and I can talk on vent, but most services will not connect.

The problem seems to be my computer is pinging some place and because of a clogged pipe the ping is timing out, this is only my conjecture. Obviously I am connected to the internet as I am downloading and chatting. If this happens while I am streaming on most web sites, the video will continue to download/buffer but the website will not respond. This happens to be on wired and wireless connections. My router is a netgear WNR3500.

My current solution is just to disable my network adapter, wait a few seconds, then enable it. Usually this works but often if I resume what I was doing it goes out again. My network adapters on this laptop are LAN and wireless.

Anyone know a possible cause? fix? or someone had this problem?

do you have the version 1 or two of the router?

Answer

Based on the picture it looks like I have version 1 of the router, this problem also happens to me at school and friends' houses though.

It's a tricky thing to explain but here goes. When I say my internet connection is up, I mean the router has the connection established, ie another computer can go online. I never lose connection to the wireless network (or local network when wired). When this problem occurs:
I am still connected to the local network
I am still able to talk on ventrilo, buffer streaming video, and download packets through bittorent (as long as any of these were started before the internet connection dropped).

I am not able to:
Connect to websites
Go online with most programs

If I open the network and sharing center there is a "map" on the top with 3 parts: This Computer, (my wireless network name), and Internet. These 3 icons (with text below) have 1 solid gray bar between each. When this problem occurs the left 2 have a solid gray bar between them but the one to internet has an X through it and the globe is faded black and white.

My guess is that windows determines whether I have internet or not by pinging a specific website. Once windows has established that I have an internet connection, it manages it such that programs that go online (like firefox) are directed towards the internet connection, and if there is none then windows does not let the process continue. The issue here is that I have an internet connection and the problem is this supposed ping is timing out due to clogged bandwidth. This is only my hypothesis.

vileguy said:

Based on the picture it looks like I have version 1 of the router, this problem also happens to me at school and friends' houses though.

It's a tricky thing to explain but here goes. When I say my internet connection is up, I mean the router has the connection established, ie another computer can go online. I never lose connection to the wireless network (or local network when wired). When this problem occurs:
I am still connected to the local network
I am still able to talk on ventrilo, buffer streaming video, and download packets through bittorent (as long as any of these were started before the internet connection dropped).

I am not able to:
Connect to websites
Go online with most programs

If I open the network and sharing center there is a "map" on the top with 3 parts: This Computer, (my wireless network name), and Internet. These 3 icons (with text below) have 1 solid gray bar between each. When this problem occurs the left 2 have a solid gray bar between them but the one to internet has an X through it and the globe is faded black and white.

My guess is that windows determines whether I have internet or not by pinging a specific website. Once windows has established that I have an internet connection, it manages it such that programs that go online (like firefox) are directed towards the internet connection, and if there is none then windows does not let the process continue. The issue here is that I have an internet connection and the problem is this supposed ping is timing out due to clogged bandwidth. This is only my hypothesis.

Did you check to see if you had the most recent firmware for your router?

also, if you are havign problems viewing web pages, may have something to do with the DNS servers...

can you please do the IPCONFIG /ALL and post it up on the site so that we all can see your connection status.

Well I can't answer the "can you or can't you" because normally I can and when I have a problem I can't. Right now obviously I can, my internet is working fine. When the problem occurs, most internet-using applications that are already going continue to work fine such as ventrilo, but new connections fail such as attempting to load a web site. When this problem occurs I can communicate over my network just fine and other computers in my house are on the internet just fine but I am not.

My router very likely does not have the newest firmware, if the router's software's self-updater takes care of that then I'll do that tonight, but if I have to flash it manually I'm not very confident doing that and will need advice.

It may be a DNS problem but I'm not sure how I could fix that. When this problem does happen 99% of the time I can fix it by just disabling my network adapter, waiting 10 seconds, then enabling it; however, if I resume my heavy-bandwidth usage (which is usually what's going on when this happens) it often craps out again very quickly.

Here's the ip info for my current wireless connection:
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Vile>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Vile-Laptop
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-13-E8-8C-D9-C5
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::a491:3f91:8ae9:3e4d%11(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.8(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, January 15, 2010 2:10:28 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, January 16, 2010 2:10:31 AM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 184554472
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-12-43-5B-2B-00-17-42-6A-59-A2

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

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. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:4137:9e50:1479:115e:bf96:767b(Pref
erred)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::1479:115e:bf96:767b%13(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

Tunnel adapter 6TO4 Adapter:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft 6to4 Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 11:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft 6to4 Adapter #3
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{92CC9937-4A4F-401F-B449-0DBE9383680E}:

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

C:\Users\Vile>

vileguy, the problem lies with your bittorrent client's settings. I'm a supporter for Azureus Bittorrent Client (now Vuze), but I've gone inactive for sometime now. Your problem is that your bittorrent client (and some other process) are abusing your 0.3Mbps upload speed, which is not much. Your issue is normal for those with "wrong settings" on their bittorrent clients. What you can do: throttle down the upload speed in your bittorrent application, or you can use this speed calculator, it is applicable to ALL bittorrent clients.

Here's the analogy: you can speak/translate speak 100 words a minute (0.3Mbps upload), each minute you used 88 of those 100 words to translate your boss's speech, a foreigner (bittorrent traffic). Now, along with your boss's speech, you have your own notes to speak out (ventrilo), that used up all the 12 words per minute you got left (you used up all 0.3Mbps upload). Now in between those writing sessions, you need to talk to the audio operator to turn down the volume of your microphone (the network map), but you can't, you are speaking as fast as you can, and you can only cope with 2 jobs, translating your boss's speech and your inserting your own notes (bittorrent and ventrilo). You can't speak more than 100 words per minute (your computer can't ping/access other site, the upload slot is out, all used), which then results you can't speak to the audio operator resulting microphone volume still on high (404s, and no internet in network map, no response from the target website) although you are still translating the speech (the torrent is still running).

zzz2496