Periodic Internet disconnections - related to program activity?

[bVork]

Every so often (once or twice in a 24 hour period), my internet completely disconnects. It drops me from IRC, torrents, Steam, any browsing I'm doing, and so on. This seems to happen only on this computer (I have another computer and an Xbox 360 on the same wireless network, and neither of them drop when my computer drops.

This, alongside the consistent HDD activity light (and sound) that appears during these disconnections, leads me to believe that there is a program on my computer causing these disconnections. I'm reasonably certain that I am virus free and a "legitimate" program is causing, as I run regular scans using both Microsoft Security Essentials and Trend Micro HouseCall.

However, I'm still stumped: I have no idea what program could be causing this and I have no idea to figure out how to deduce this. Can somebody recommend me some monitoring tools that I can use to see what programs are active when these disconnections occur? I have tried going to Resource Monitor but it never ever seems to open fast enough to display what is going on during the disconnections, so I need something that provides logging functionality. Can anyone suggest free monitoring tools I can use to clear up this mystery?

 

[seavixen32]

Have a look at this Microsoft article: How to troubleshoot network connectivity problems in Internet Explorer

You might also want to run a virus scan with Malwarebytes.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free

 

[bVork]

Well, I'll give Malwarebytes a shot, though I don't think it's likely to turn anything up.

Diagnosing network connectivity isn't going to do anything. The disconnections are so brief that I wouldn't have time to perform any of those steps in the brief period when my connection drops. And, surprise surprise, there are no problems that Windows can identify when my connection is working fine.

Again, I'd like to reiterate my original question: can you recommend some monitoring software so I can figure out exactly what is occurring during these disconnections?

 

[chev65]

Well, I'll give Malwarebytes a shot, though I don't think it's likely to turn anything up.

Diagnosing network connectivity isn't going to do anything. The disconnections are so brief that I wouldn't have time to perform any of those steps in the brief period when my connection drops. And, surprise surprise, there are no problems that Windows can identify when my connection is working fine.

Again, I'd like to reiterate my original question: can you recommend some monitoring software so I can figure out exactly what is occurring during these disconnections?

Looks like you mention wireless in your first post.

You might try using a different wireless channel, you can change the wireless channel in your routers wireless set up page. Also if you see the msoft wifi miniport adaptor enabled for some reason, try disabling it.

If you think it's program causing this you can look in Task Manager in the Network section to see what might be running.

Perhaps if you can post a screen shot of your ipconfig/all before and during the dropout it would be helpful.

Wireshark is a good network monitoring program if that's all your interested in?
http://www.wireshark.org/

Using dual routers on a single network can also cause problems.

As far as wireless channels go, keep in mind that your neighbors can easily change channels or add network hardware that will end up causing channel overlap problems to occur. Checking the channels around you once and assuming that you can never have a channel crossover problem isn't very logical.

 

[bVork]

The mathematician's answer to the wireless or wired question would be "Yes." I'm using a Linksys WRT54G with DD-WRT firmware as a wireless bridge for my PC and an Xbox 360. I'm 99% positive that the problem is computer-specific because the 360 does not disconnect, and nor does another computer I have that is using the same wireless connection (but via its own internal wireless card and not a bridge). WIreless channels have absolutely nothing to do with this. I worked out which channels don't interfere ages ago when I set up this system in the first place.

Task Manager isn't particularly helpful. I'm not an idiot. No running processes appear to be the cause for this, and I cannot get at Task Manager (or its more useful cousin, Resource Monitor) fast enough to see exactly what is eating CPU and disk time when the disconnections occur. Same goes for the ipconfig /all. I'm not exactly The Flash. I must emphasize that these disconnections are very brief - just long enough for everything to disconnect and then reconnect. Here is my ipconfig /all as of this moment, though: ipconfig /all - Pastebin.com

But this still leaves my original question: what software can I use to monitor my connection to see what is going on when disconnections occur?

 

[UsernameIssues]

The mathematician's answer to the wireless or wired question would be "Yes." I'm using a Linksys WRT54G with DD-WRT firmware as a wireless bridge for my PC and an Xbox 360. I'm 99% positive that the problem is computer-specific because the 360 does not disconnect, and nor does another computer I have that is using the same wireless connection (but via its own internal wireless card and not a bridge). WIreless channels have absolutely nothing to do with this. I worked out which channels don't interfere ages ago when I set up this system in the first place.

Task Manager isn't particularly helpful. I'm not an idiot. No running processes appear to be the cause for this, and I cannot get at Task Manager (or its more useful cousin, Resource Monitor) fast enough to see exactly what is eating CPU and disk time when the disconnections occur. Same goes for the ipconfig /all. I'm not exactly The Flash. I must emphasize that these disconnections are very brief - just long enough for everything to disconnect and then reconnect. Here is my ipconfig /all as of this moment, though: ipconfig /all - Pastebin.com

But this still leaves my original question: what software can I use to monitor my connection to see what is going on when disconnections occur?

Try Process Monitor - you can filter on just network activity.

 

[Andrew52]

bVork, I have the exact same problem. Did you end up fixing your problem?

Thanks