Network card has a mind of its own

[Swifty]

Just recently my network card has been being a little bugger which is bothersome, every time when I wake up and try to go on my computer the internet will work for about 5 minutes then all of a sudden it does not, I look at the back of my computer and the lights on the networking card are no longer flashing or being responsive, so then I have to disable the network card and turn it back on and it works for a bit longer,

But I have no problem later in the day staying connected to the internet it is just around the time when I wake up...

Any ideas?

 

[DarkXeno]

I would check and see if there is a driver update for the network card.

 

[Swifty]

I would check and see if there is a driver update for the network card.

Done says there is none.

 

[DarkXeno]

Ok this is what I would do, download the lastest drivers for the NIC, removed the network card from device manager and any software that is with it. Reboot and see if windows 7 detects and installs its own drivers for it. Test and see if that works, if still the same remove and install the drivers from the manufactor.

 

[ha1o2surfer]

Reset your router, then if it's still being funky, try a different cable. Last thing to check would be the pins in the network card plug. I have seen people put them in backwards and the clip bends the pins and can cause connections issues like that. if not, then it's a software issue. maybe you have Virtual machine software that needs to be reinstalled?

 

[Swifty]

Router has been reset many times, I have uninstalled reinstalled software on the network card, its wireless by the way, and the only time the network card has been taken out is when I had done my new build put it back in worked perfectly fine until last week, the build happened 3 or 4 years ago, so it has not been touched.

 

[DarkXeno]

hhmm does your router support IPv6? see if there is an update and has support for that, if it doesn't disable the IPv6 in windows 7 and see how that works for you.

 

[Swifty]

Yea I just started using my PC again it was working fine until today now its being a pain in my rear again, none of the two internet connections I use work at all, and disabling it, updating, restarting my computer works... any ideas?

 

[alphanumeric]

Open up device manager and check the power options tab under the properties for you network card. If checked try un-checking "Allow the computer to turn off this device" and see what happens.

 

[debugged]

Yea I just started using my PC again it was working fine until today now its being a pain in my rear again, none of the two internet connections I use work at all, and disabling it, updating, restarting my computer works... any ideas?

Why assume it's the network card that's faulty - it also sounds like the router/modem could be starting a slow death... Is it possible to try another router, or another card, just for a test? I'm only saying this because I spent so many hours, days, weeks....nursing an old, old Netgear with drivers, reinstalls, tweaks, tweaks...it's amazing how they keep creaking along, but what a good day it was when I finally gave up and got a new modem-router.

 

[Swifty]

Yea I just started using my PC again it was working fine until today now its being a pain in my rear again, none of the two internet connections I use work at all, and disabling it, updating, restarting my computer works... any ideas?

Why assume it's the network card that's faulty - it also sounds like the router/modem could be starting a slow death... Is it possible to try another router, or another card, just for a test? I'm only saying this because I spent so many hours, days, weeks....nursing an old, old Netgear with drivers, reinstalls, tweaks, tweaks...it's amazing how they keep creaking along, but what a good day it was when I finally gave up and got a new modem-router.

I wouldn't be able to tell you if it is the router in fact that is the problem because it is my roommate and he has no intentions on giving any care, but I am assuming it works properly because him and his girlfriend use their laptops wireless with no problem at all, and I had stated that I had tried connecting to the internet upstairs which has a different router, than the one I prefer to use and it still did not work on my computer, but when I go onto my netbook I can connect to the upstairs internet perfectly fine, and I haven't tried the main router because my roommate hasn't added my IP to the acception list,

The activity light on the wireless card still blinks for its activity but I am uncertain what the problem is, I have read around online maybe there is a frequency issue?

 

[debugged]

I am assuming it works properly because him and his girlfriend use their laptops wireless with no problem at all.....when I go onto my netbook I can connect to the upstairs internet perfectly fine

That does indeed seem to clear the router.
The interesting symptom is the way it only fails when it's cold first time - failing card or something else in the system interfering? I guess you've tried the advice already given.
Next time the connection fails, and any other time, right click on the network (wireless) icon in notification area and click on Troubleshoot and let it do a diagnostic test. Either it comes up with something, or you can go to Event Viewer and expand the tree down to Applications > Microsoft > Windows > Diagnostics-Network. Dig into any records there to look for clues. Also look at any Errors on the main Overview panel when you open Event Viewer - maybe it's a system error that will give an idea here.
As for frequency bands, I've had problems with 5GHz when the router is quite far from the network card, and it was ok at 2.4GHz, but you can connect most of the time, so I don't think this is the issue for you.

 

[Swifty]

I am assuming it works properly because him and his girlfriend use their laptops wireless with no problem at all.....when I go onto my netbook I can connect to the upstairs internet perfectly fine

That does indeed seem to clear the router.
The interesting symptom is the way it only fails when it's cold first time - failing card or something else in the system interfering? I guess you've tried the advice already given.
Next time the connection fails, and any other time, right click on the network (wireless) icon in notification area and click on Troubleshoot and let it do a diagnostic test. Either it comes up with something, or you can go to Event Viewer and expand the tree down to Applications > Microsoft > Windows > Diagnostics-Network. Dig into any records there to look for clues. Also look at any Errors on the main Overview panel when you open Event Viewer - maybe it's a system error that will give an idea here.
As for frequency bands, I've had problems with 5GHz when the router is quite far from the network card, and it was ok at 2.4GHz, but you can connect most of the time, so I don't think this is the issue for you.

Well heres the funny part I can no longer use the internet but it will say the computer is connected to the internet, but refuses for me to do anything that requires the internet, so I am unsure what the problem is, it stopped working yesterday, and I have tried troubleshooting it says everything is okay, I even tried doing a system restore to the 20th and it worked so I put my computer to sleep and then when I came back to it, it did the same thing, so I am unsure of what is going on.

 

[alphanumeric]

One thing you can do is open a command prompt and run ipconfig /all. That will list your ip address DNS info etc. Clip and past that info here if you like and I'll have a look at it. When you don't have internet access can you access the routers status page, assuming you know how to do that. run ipconfig /? for a complete list of options.

 

[Swifty]

One thing you can do is open a command prompt and run ipconfig /all. That will list your ip address DNS info etc. Clip and past that info here if you like and I'll have a look at it. When you don't have internet access can you access the routers status page, assuming you know how to do that. run ipconfig /? for a complete list of options.

I cannot copy and paste it as I am on my netbook, but is there any specifics your looking for?

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\Nick>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Nick-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : 208.67.222.222

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 208.67.222.222
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Airlink101 MIMO XR PCI Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-14-A5-DB-84-D6
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::f4fe:f19:5b36:310b%12(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.145(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : June-25-11 11:35:39 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : July-02-11 11:35:38 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 301995173
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-14-F1-8C-87-00-23-54-89-B1-BA

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{637E3668-372C-45CD-BAB2-5C24B6EC01F8}:

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

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
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

Tunnel adapter isatap.phub.net.cable.rogers.com:

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

Tunnel adapter isatap.{7F5D3AE2-1822-42BD-89CD-A597FD50250A}:

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

Tunnel adapter 6TO4 Adapter:

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

Nevermind I finally got onto my desktop it allowed me to get on the internet, I deleted a few programs, maybe they were the reason, I now know maybe it was Hamachi that was causing the issue not sure but let me know what you see!

 

[alphanumeric]

The key ones to look at in your case are
Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.145 (Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

That shows that the router assigned that PC an IP address.
If you type http://192.168.0.1/ into the address bar of IE you should see the routers status page or logon page. If you run ipconfig and you get say 0.0.0.0 for your ip address that means you didn't get an ip from the router, your not connected. You want to compare the above 4 entries when you have internet access and when you don't. If they are the same the next step is to ping or try to log into the router. If you can't but another PC can, its most likely a problem on your PC. Maybe drivers or a failing network card.

 

[Swifty]

Yea I can't get into the router settings my roommate has a password for it all ready he was screwing around with the settings because people were finding ways to get onto our router, so he changed the security type differently but I had it set up and working before for awhile, my netbook started acting up just a few minutes ago as well, it wouldn't hold a connection properly so then I thought what my most recent purchase was and it was my Turtle beach X31's and it uses a wireless receiver to connect the headset to it and I was wondering maybe it was causing interference with my wireless activity, so I decided to unplug it and I could get onto both computers under my roommates router which I haven't been able to do, but I am wondering if it was in fact the Turtle beaches or if it was a random luck.

I have read around on reviewers websites about the turtle beach headset that I own currently does cause interference with Wi-Fi, because of the RF box, so I guess that was the issue because my internet is now working, but that still doesn't explain before I bought those.

 

[alphanumeric]

Connecting to the routers login screen, even if you don't know the password, will tell you if your getting a connection to the router or not. My 2.4 GHz wireless phones were screwing up my wireless router. Every time the phone rang I'd lose my connection and have to power cycle the router to get it back. I ended up switching to DECT 6 wireless phones. A lot of equipment uses that narrow 2.4 GHz band.

 

[Swifty]

Sorry for a week bump but I'd really like to solve this problem, I know there has been a lot of advice on how to fix this but nothing has seemed to work, I would just like to clarify if my wireless adapter would be done and time for an upgrade for it, the thing is I believe the network card that I have is almost 5 years old.. I think I tried purchasing a new wireless card but I brought it back because it was a D-link and only had one antenna where as mine has 2 antenna's and the software would not work, so I brought it back and am using my 5 year old card still, I know it is not the router because I can connect to it with my 360 ethernet, and wireless with my netbook and it has a very fast connection with the netbook.

Thanks.

 

[alphanumeric]

What software would not work? If you swap WIFI adapters you need to un-install any drivers and bundled utilities for the old adapter before installing the new one. I say this because a lot of these WIFI adapters try to install their own utility for manging your wireless connection. I personally try to avoid those utilities and only install the driver. I like letting windows manage my wireless connection. My router is a D-Link DIR-655 and I use a D-Link DWA-552 Extreme "N" Wireless PCI Adapter. I don't install or use the D-Link WIFI utility. If it was me I think I would start over with a fresh clean install of windows 7 and then install the latest driver for your WIFI adapter. If I still had problems after that I would be thinking of getting a new WIFI adapter.