"Ethernet" Connection Drop

Digger · 19 May 2009

I've taken many snapshots recently of my connection over the weekend, but this one here was different and takes the cake so far, as it will have me digging for more answers. Hence the name

I blew this up so you can see a closer look... pay attention to the deep drops, both up and down.... the dotted lines represent 10secs. Now one would expect the drops to be on the "same line", at the same time. That wold lead me in one direction more likely, but this isnt the case. Tis why i said it doesnt matter if just up, down, or both, that make a difference. Which if both up and down dropped at same time, well then thats more explainable, atleast in my practical mind. but, not the case.

"Ethernet" Connection Drop-big-graph.png

and of course if you remember me stating i have a 10mb connection, you can see that i am not using it all by any means... the upload is around 85% utilized

"Ethernet" Connection Drop-big-graph2.png

now look here at the spikes above the 85% upload threshold and complimentary dips with DL. I hold it at 85% because anything more degrades the overall throughput wan side.

now this just happened 30 mins after i posted the 2nd shot. I didnt change anything i was doing, was same processes... actually coincidentally most likely happened when i went to submit a post to a different thread.

"Ethernet" Connection Drop-big-graph3.png

also here is a snapshot around the same time of the router's info page. With an uptime of 6.5 days currently. I noticed some quirkyness, particularly the errors and also the usage of IP sessions is rarely pretty high, but not max limit, and is explainable with the given tests. So i am not suprised at that, just taking note of.

"Ethernet" Connection Drop-router.packet.info.png

"Ethernet" Connection Drop-router.packet.info2.png

sexytool · 19 May 2009

Any magnetic interference nearby like a speaker or sub?

That's pretty bad dropping, but nothing unsual, especially for broadcom hardware.
There's only two hardware router vendors i trust, billion and siemens.
You can't get a "cheap" wireless router with either so it's not an option for most, but honestly if you want a trouble-free experience you simply have no choice.

Computing is a "Get what you pay for" industry.

Digger · 19 May 2009

and 20 mins later after being connected most the morning (4+ hours).... bam

"Ethernet" Connection Drop-big-graph4.png

take notice here, as the download DROPPED FIRST... the upload, in green, was still transmitting before the failure.

complete d/c. First troubleshoot didnt get it back connected, nic reported as showing no available networks with red X. Took 2 times of doing this before it finally corrected itself and connected.

note fyi, the yellow is the overlap/combining of both up and down.

edit: Here's what it looks like after connection was re-established...

"Ethernet" Connection Drop-big-graph5.png

Digger · 19 May 2009

sexytool said:

Any magnetic interference nearby like a speaker or sub?

nope... went down that line long ago

sexytool · 19 May 2009

If it's a router dying out, your download SHOULD be dying first as the device fails to respond.
The uploading will continue for up to 5 seconds while your PC tries to just "keep going anyway, must just be lag!".

Turn the router off for a while, set up an ad-hoc network between the laptop + PC. Leave it copying large files over network for a few hours and see if you again get the "No network" with red X.

If you do, then it's windows 7 networking infrastructure crashing the wireless router when SVCHOST comes accross the error that causes IT to die out and kill your local LAN.

Digger · 19 May 2009

sexytool said:

If it's a router dying out, your download SHOULD be dying first as the device fails to respond.
The uploading will continue for up to 5 seconds while your PC tries to just "keep going anyway, must just be lag!".

Turn the router off for a while, set up an ad-hoc network between the laptop + PC. Leave it copying large files over network for a few hours and see if you again get the "No network" with red X.

If you do, then it's windows 7 networking infrastructure crashing the wireless router when SVCHOST comes accross the error that causes IT to die out and kill your local LAN.

right, the whole thing, i lose everything, lan wan, my hair... everything

and yes, i am inclined this has to do with somekind of framework thats causing this

sexytool · 19 May 2009

Actually, i forgot. The other option is to grab tweak7 and reset to default settings for the local network :P

Try it, please. It's worked for me so far, going on 24 hours.
Considering i had 2 network dropouts in 30 minutes before i reset settings with tweak7, i'd say the problem is definitively fixed.

Digger · 19 May 2009

also, i would be inclined to think it was the router IF the following things werent true

1. tried this on two different routers, tho same chipset
2. this matters not if traversing thru lan or wan.
3. In the past, with these routers when trying different firmware, if a crash happened for whatever reason, a hard reboot was required. That is not needed.
4. If i could produce these same results with the laptop with the intel chip.

Nothing sticks out when using either router as both results are very similar. So like i said, my next test would be using one of the routers in client mode and "bridge" the wifi of the two routers, thus disabling wlan feature and just leaving the Lan ethernet connection available. Like using the second router as a complex wifi adapter. May produce more insight into the log files as far as the wifi connectivity. If that fails... end of story. Tho i'm not too optomistic being the intel adapter hasnt had a problem nor foced the issue/problem, nor does the wired up Media Extender run into any issues.

Digger · 19 May 2009

you also have to understand, no matter wireless or wired, i believe they are both connected. Like i said, red x, no networks, when in this neighborhood, its full of wifi around me... not just my own... now if i just lost connection, and seen my own router network drop off the face of the earth, then this would be solved with a trip to best buy, or a rushed shipment from online. I'd be on my happy way, but tis not that easy.

fseal · 19 May 2009

Just a reference point.

I had no net connectivity problems UNTIL I installed the nvidia nforce driver set for my 680i motherboard.

Then I would lose all ethernet at some point anywhere from about 10 seconds to an hour of HEAVY net use. Local net gone, the driver or interface was hosed until I rebooted.

I "rolled back" to the original built in MS supplied ethernet driver (Dec 2008) and it's back to working fine.

I always turn this machine off when I'm not using it, so the longest I've gone is probably 8-10 hours in a streach, but no drops in that period using the built in W7 driver.