Ethernet Connection Lost (and Found?)

[alloo]

Have you all tried disabling the windows firewalls, and I mean all of them? Have you tried disabling the security software firewalls?

 

[thr0b]

Yes I did.

 

[Xello]

I tried disabling the windows firewall once, not sure what you mean by 'all firewalls' but i only use the windows one.

I've completed my first day of testing the issue on a new clean install of Windows 7, and the issue yesterday still came up.

Today, i came home from work and seen that my connection to IRC hadn't dropped in 8 hours, what was different? I accidently paused all my torrents before i went to work so there were none running (which usually maxes out my upload constantly).

Could have found the culprit here, i will investigate more.

 

[Chasm]

I think I mentioned this in my OP, but the connection drop is triggered by file transfers. Either bittorrent or copying files over the network will usually cause a drop after some time. If I turn off bittorrent and I don't copy files over my LAN, the network connection is fine.

 

[Eggdashure]

I tried disabling the windows firewall once, not sure what you mean by 'all firewalls' but i only use the windows one.

Not sure if this is where he is going or not, but you can disable the Windows Firewall on certain connections and still have it running on others. Example: I have a Wireless Connection and Wired Connection. Since all of my troubles stem from the wired connection I thought I would disable the firewall and check for issues. Doing this only disabled the Firewall settings on the "Public" network, not the home network. Just my observation.

 

[Chasm]

Ok more information.

The issue is most likely a TCP handshake issue. When the network connection 'fails', I am still able to perform ping and nslookup commands. This is consistent with the symptom of open connections remaining open, since you've already established the TCP connection. Ping just sends ICMP and nslookup by default uses UDP so neither of those require a TCP connection to be established.

 

[Xello]

Alright guys i have found the program at fault for me, and it is uTorrent. I don't know why, i will investigate its settings later, but after not running torrents for 18 hours i have not had a single crap-shoot moment or disconnect with my connection.

 

[RugbyHoe]

Ok more information.

The issue is most likely a TCP handshake issue. When the network connection 'fails', I am still able to perform ping and nslookup commands. This is consistent with the symptom of open connections remaining open, since you've already established the TCP connection. Ping just sends ICMP and nslookup by default uses UDP so neither of those require a TCP connection to be established.

That may very well be, but if the TCP stack is malfunctioning or dead, I still qualify the connection as meeting the "failed" criteria. Ping and nslookup are fine networking utilities, but not nearly so useful to most as are being able to use the web and to access shared files on their home networks. I really don't care how quickly I can find and ping a file server if I still can't play the tunes or videos it is hosting...

Maybe this might help narrow down the issues by eliminating lesser used networked protocols from the equation though. Anyone know to what extent MS may have tweaked the TCP stack for 7? I know they performed a major overhaul in Vista/Longhorn - but I hadn't heard anything similarly terrifying with regards to 7.

 

[codename47]

Signal won't stabilize. 20Mb speed to 1Mb. Driver Issue

Motherboard/NIC: XFX nForce 650i Ultra/SMWUSB-G 802.11g wireless USB 2.0 Adapter #2 (no clue of why the #2 it wasn't there before)

Wired or Wireless: Wireless

CPU Architecture: x64

Upgrade or Clean Install: Upgrade from W7 x32 to x64

Driver details:With the x32 everything worked well. After upgrade the driver that came with the CD stopped working. W7 wouldn't see wireless connections. The NIC wouldn't be recognized.

Problem description: After upgrade my internet would only be recognized after i would install the driver that came with the CD and what i think is an older version of it in the same folder. That's the only way W7 would see a wireless connection. Now that it's recognized my internet speed won't get passed 2Mb when it's actually suposed to be 20. Plus after doing something i don't really know what my signal won't go over two bars in five when it used to be always with three or more.

Solutions or Suggestions: What i have tried to fix it

- NForce 650i driver update
- DOS command "netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled"
- TCPOptizmier: gotten only worse and i think it was when my signal started to get weaker.
- Disaled IPv6 in internet options
- Disabled QoS

Event Viewer is presenting me more than 74.000 errors among which these occur very often:

- TCP/IP failed to establish an outgoing connection because the selected local endpoint was recently used to connect to the same remote endpoint. This error typically occurs when outgoing connections are opened and closed at a high rate, causing all available local ports to be used and forcing TCP/IP to reuse a local port for an outgoing connection. To minimize the risk of data corruption, the TCP/IP standard requires a minimum time period to elapse between successive connections from a given local endpoint to a given remote endpoint.

- The PCASp50a64 NDIS Protocol Driver service failed to start due to the following error:
The system cannot find the file specified. (this one is like 50.000 times)

- Faulting application name: setup.exe_SMCWUSB-G 802.11g Wireless USB 2.0 Adapter, version: 12.0.0.58851, time stamp: 0x45e5fc0e
Faulting module name: ISSetup.dll, version: 12.0.0.58851, time stamp: 0x45e5fbd0
Exception code: 0xc0000005
Fault offset: 0x00092e5f
Faulting process id: 0x3b8
Faulting application start time: 0x01ca45e8ac15bf20
Faulting application path: C:\Users\...\Desktop\SMCWUSB-G_DRV_v1.0.0.9 (Vista included)\Drivers\setup.exe
Faulting module path: C:\Users\...\AppData\Local\Temp\{A6A5D37D-5DD7-4E05-B286-D0AF6223EE3E}\ISSetup.dll
Report Id: f2efb720-b1db-11de-ba83-00044b06c5cb

- WLAN AutoConfig service has successfully stopped.

I saw SMC "created" a W7 driver now..but after downloading it i saw they only provided two .sys files and a few .inf. So i don't really know what to do with them. I'm getting pretty desperate here.

 

[guitardog247]

I keep seeing these internet connection problems. And stlill, no one has said if they have created a workgroup, or tweaked the sharing settings, or created a homegroup. I'm telling you that is the answer to your problems! But yet this post will get ignored.
It's not about drivers. Also have you checked out How to setup Local Area Connection in Windows 7 ~ xclusive4all

Just don't set up our IP for static, leave it at DHCP.

And create a workgroup, and home network. This will take care of your problems once and for all.

 

[Chasm]

So workgroup and DHCP are the defaults when you install Windows. I don't know about others, but I turned sharing on a long time ago to transfer my files to this computer. I also have no reason to believe workgroup settings would affect the TCP stack. Nice tutorial though.

 

[codename47]

Tried and failed

Thanks for the reply Guitardog but after doing the changes you mentioned i am still getting 2.5Mb speed when i was suposed to get 20.

Any other sugestions?

Thanks

 

[codename47]

Update

Actually now i have been getting more problems of instability. After a few hours after teh changes sugested by guitardog it's been worse....

 

[davefr]

Issue Solved

Motherboard type and/or NIC chipset(s) having the problem

• Gigaybyte i45, Realtek 8111 LAN (also have second Biostar i45 system w/Realtek 8111 LAN with same exact problem)

CPU Architecture (x86 or x64)

• Intel QX9650 (X64) (both systems)

Upgrade or clean install?

• Clean installs. Tried both W7 32 and 64

Driver details (i.e. manufacturer and version of driver experiencing connectivity issues)

• Tried native MS drivers, tried latest Realtek W7 8111 drivers from their website, also tried Realtek Vista driver in W7's Vista compatability mode.
• I also bought a D-Link DFE-530TX PCI add in ethernet card with the onboard LAN disabled. (same problem)

Problem description (LAN? Internet? Frequency?)

• Internet browsing (Firefox and Explorer) starts out very responsive. After a few minutes I see an increase in server timeouts and dropped connection issues. It continues to degrade until I restart the system. (disabling ipv6, power management and uninstalling anti virus and firewall SW has no effect)

Solutions or Suggestions

• Reverting back to Vista solves the problem

I finally eliminated all my ethernet/internet dropped connection issues. (After struggling for several weeks swapping NICs, drivers, clean W7 reinstalls and implementing various configuration suggestions)

As a last ditch resort I decided to swap out my wireless Linksys WRT54G router and replace it with a spare Belkin wireless router I had. All the connectivity problems instantly went away. I put the router back in the data path and all the problems came back. (Even after I flashed in new Linksys firmware).

I had previously totally eliminate the router and went straight from NIC to broadband ethernet and the problem stayed the same without the router in the data path???

This Linksys router still works great with Linux, XP and Vista but does not like W7. However shouldn't a router should be O.S. agnostic? (not knowing or caring anything about the O.S.!!)

Summary:
In summary I need a router between my PC and my broadband source for reliable connectivity but it can't be a Linksys.

I believe that there's some strange conflict between W7, NIC drivers, Linksys and internet/ethernet communication protocol.

If you have a similar issue try a different router.

 

[kensiko]

Hello,

I would like to add an information I should have told everybody else before. Linksys routers (old one I think) do not like autotuning feature of Windows 7. I know that since December 2008, where my connection to work (remote desktop) doesn't last 1 minute. Turning off this feature enables me to stay connected.

At home, I have the connection drop problem with a WRT54G router, but my autotuning is disabled.

To disable it, type "netsh int tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled" in a command prompt or in the Run box (Run as administrator).

 

[luves2spooge]

It's been a while since I posted on this thread because I thought the orginal command 'netsh winsock reset calatog' had fixed all of my problems... not so. It did help though, my connection went from dropping every few mins to just dropping on rare occasions. I have tried Kensiko's command and am hopping it works. Time will tell...

 

[mjh74]

Just thought I'd add here, as I've spent numerous days and finally worked out my windows 7 problems (as per my early post in this thread). A vista laptop that has been working on my network for 2 years without a single glitch started to display the same symptoms!! NOTHING had changed!

I went looking around forums using the word "vista and networking" and unearthed identical issues that we're seeing in windows 7. After about an hour of changing settings of the vista laptop, the thing that fixed it was to DISABLE file and printer sharing and ENABLE network discovery of devices. All of a sudden the laptop saw the router again and internet access resumed. Why all of a sudden after so long it just randomly did this is far beyond me!

 

[RugbyHoe]

Motherboard type and/or NIC chipset(s) having the problem

• Gigaybyte i45, Realtek 8111 LAN (also have second Biostar i45 system w/Realtek 8111 LAN with same exact problem)

CPU Architecture (x86 or x64)

• Intel QX9650 (X64) (both systems)

Upgrade or clean install?

• Clean installs. Tried both W7 32 and 64

Driver details (i.e. manufacturer and version of driver experiencing connectivity issues)

• Tried native MS drivers, tried latest Realtek W7 8111 drivers from their website, also tried Realtek Vista driver in W7's Vista compatability mode.
• I also bought a D-Link DFE-530TX PCI add in ethernet card with the onboard LAN disabled. (same problem)

Problem description (LAN? Internet? Frequency?)

• Internet browsing (Firefox and Explorer) starts out very responsive. After a few minutes I see an increase in server timeouts and dropped connection issues. It continues to degrade until I restart the system. (disabling ipv6, power management and uninstalling anti virus and firewall SW has no effect)

Solutions or Suggestions

• Reverting back to Vista solves the problem

I finally eliminated all my ethernet/internet dropped connection issues. (After struggling for several weeks swapping NICs, drivers, clean W7 reinstalls and implementing various configuration suggestions)

As a last ditch resort I decided to swap out my wireless Linksys WRT54G router and replace it with a spare Belkin wireless router I had. All the connectivity problems instantly went away. I put the router back in the data path and all the problems came back. (Even after I flashed in new Linksys firmware).

I had previously totally eliminate the router and went straight from NIC to broadband ethernet and the problem stayed the same without the router in the data path???

This Linksys router still works great with Linux, XP and Vista but does not like W7. However shouldn't a router should be O.S. agnostic? (not knowing or caring anything about the O.S.!!)

Summary:
In summary I need a router between my PC and my broadband source for reliable connectivity but it can't be a Linksys.

I believe that there's some strange conflict between W7, NIC drivers, Linksys and internet/ethernet communication protocol.

If you have a similar issue try a different router.

+1 for mentioning the WRT54G router and dusting off some old cobwebs from my brain.

I had lots of problems with one of those routers when I first "introduced it" to a Vista wireless connection. For some reason, having the Vista PC active on the WLAN would cause the router to bork, and require a power-cycle reset to get it working again. Remove the Vista machine, and the router would stay happy. I tried firmware upgrades, new NIC drivers, etc, but nothing really worked (I stopped short at repaving it with DD-WRT though - not that I was chicken, I just really didn't want to exert the effort).

The only way I could get anything you could call close to being a stable wireless connection on the Vista machine, was to assign static i.p.s to all of the wireless client PCs (both Vista and XP machines) on the network - but even then I'd still end up having to recycle that router a couple of times a week when it would hang. It was very frustrating.

Of course, I ultimately "recycled" that router on a more permanent basis (dumped into the spare parts bin), and I haven't had any similar issues with the D-Link DGL-4300 that replaced it. It just works...

 

[scifiguy]

• ASUS P5B-E with onboard Atheros L1 Gigabit (orig manu. by Attansic)
• Wired
• x64
• Clean install
• Win7 Installed 2.3.7.29 driver dated 10/13/2009
• Periodic dropping of connection especially under heavy load

I found this suggestion elsewhere after struggling with this disconnect problem ever since I installed Windows 7. I now have been running without disconnect for 48+ hours including heavy file transfer and online gaming without a single dropped connection. I don't know if it will work for all adaptors, but it seems to work for the Atheros one. Complete steps for easy follow:

- Right click Computer>Properties>Device Manager>Network Adaptors

- Double click your network adaptor.

- On the "Advanced" tab select "Task Offload" and turn it OFF in the value drop down.

It is my understanding that Task Offload is supposed to increase performance by having the NIC take over some of the work from the CPU, but I guess its flubbing it for some cards under Windows 7. Hope this helps someone else!

 

[guitardog247]

update

Actually now i have been getting more problems of instability. After a few hours after teh changes sugested by guitardog it's been worse....

Sorry codename. I think we had different issues anyway. My issue was NO internet, not slow. Whatever I did took care of it.