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VirulentShadow
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Internet drops, LAN active

Fri Dec 14, 2007 1:41 pm

This has happened for a while, but it was only happening at school, so I thought it was a problem with the school's connection, but now it's happening at home.

Setup:
ASUS A8N SLI-Premium (freshly new; I just got it replaced), AMD x2 4800+, 2 x 1 GB TWINX2048 DDR400 Corsair, 74GB Raptor with XP Pro genuine (just updated through Windows Update), tried with Windows firewall on and off, tried autonegotiation and 100FDuplex

Problem:
1. At school, my internet connection would drop randomly -- sometimes it would be if I was downloading a big file (say, BF2 patches), and sometimes it would be through random websurfing. The cabled connection was fine (not loose), and the light on the motherboard's ethernet controllers still worked (I've tried it using the Marvell port and the nVidia port). A check at Network connections shows "Connected," "This device is working properly," and "100.0Mbps."

2. Now, at home, the same problem is happening (which didn't happen when I was at home over the summer). It seems to be happening even more frequently now (say, consistantly when I try to dl a 720p HD movie trailer). The cable modem also shows that the internet is connected... just, no internet.

I have Symantec Antivirus 10.1.5.5000 and have tried it with autoprotection on and off.

I'm pretty confused here, any help would be fantastic.

EDIT: Just updated Antivirus to 10.1.6... and a note to Admins, if this goes better in Networking, feel free to transfer... I am just not sure if it's a motherboard problem, software, or whatever.
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Nitrodist
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Fri Dec 14, 2007 5:49 pm

Image
 
VirulentShadow
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Fri Dec 14, 2007 6:06 pm

Okedo, we'll see what happens.
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VirulentShadow
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Fri Dec 14, 2007 6:34 pm

nopers, dropped just now.

The only way I can deal with it is to restart.
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Nitrodist
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Fri Dec 14, 2007 6:44 pm

Image

Maybe this is what's wrong?
Image
 
VirulentShadow
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Fri Dec 14, 2007 6:54 pm

Hmm thanks, hadn't seen that one.

I de-checked "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power."

It certainly sounds like it would work...
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VirulentShadow
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Sat Dec 15, 2007 2:32 am

well it worked for a while... but it just dropped again
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UberGerbil
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Sat Dec 15, 2007 3:54 am

When it drops, open a command window and try
ipconfig /all

You can also use the net diagnostics tool (on the Tools menu in the System Information applet) which does essentially the same thing in a GUI.

Have you tried pinging sites from the command line? Have you tried pinging them using their ip address rather than by name? Have you tried
ipconfig /renew
 
just brew it!
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Sat Dec 15, 2007 9:34 am

When it drops, can you still talk to other machines on the local network? Or is all network connectivity dead?
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
Snake
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Sat Dec 15, 2007 10:21 am

Yeah, test to see if you can ping the router when the connection is reported to drop. Keep a command prompt open and ALT-TAB to it quick to check.

Do a ping and an ipconfig /al to see what Windows is reporting.

It could the be most recent "security" updates from MS that came out this week - so secure, you can't even get IE to work!! :lol:

On my office workstation I actually allowed it to be installed (after 4 years of having Auto Updates turned off, I tried it turned back On again) and my IE would crash about 1/5 of the attempts to connect.

So I uninstalled the most recent "Security Updates for Internet Exploder" (err, Internet Explorer), which restored my urlmon.dll (the file reported as crashing). Bingo, no more errors.

Thanks Microsoft. :x :evil: :roll: You've done it again.

And back to OFF my Auto Updates it goes...
 
VirulentShadow
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Sat Dec 15, 2007 1:59 pm

Well first, this has been happening longer than the recent security updates...

Second, it dropped just now, and this page wasn't open (in fact, I had AIM open but away, and facebook open, but not surfing... I wasn't even doing anything), so I did all I could remember, which was ipconfig from the command line:

After ipconfig /all:

Connection-specific DNS suffix -- satx.rr.com
A physical address, DHCP enabled, autoconfig enabled, an IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, DHCP server, and DNS servers -- all with addresses.

Also (which was taken after the internet dropped):
Image

But, after an ipconfig /renew:
Image
LAN 1 is the nVidia port which is not connected. But why can LAN 2 not connect to DHCP server?

What would be the IP address for TR?
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Nitrodist
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Sat Dec 15, 2007 2:07 pm

Why don't you try the other port for now?

Also, you don't need to know the ip, as you can just type in techreport.com in the prompt and it should resolve to the correct IP. If you really want to know, just ping techreport.com and it'll reveal it.
Image
 
UberGerbil
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Sat Dec 15, 2007 2:09 pm

Does your cable modem include a router (ie, does it do DHCP and NAT, giving your machine an address in the 192.168.x.x range) or does your cableco give you an actual IP (static or dynamic)? I realize this was also happening to you at school, but we need to get all the info on the problem in your current configuration.
 
VirulentShadow
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Sat Dec 15, 2007 2:20 pm

To Nitrodist -- I'll try pinging a site the next time it goes down, and perhaps after that try the other port. I'm pretty sure the same problem has happened on both ports though (I've fooled around with it for a while).

To UG -- the cable company gives a dynamic? ip address (lease obtained, lease expires) that is not the basic 192....
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UberGerbil
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Sat Dec 15, 2007 2:40 pm

Nitrodist wrote:
Why don't you try the other port for now?

Also, you don't need to know the ip, as you can just type in techreport.com in the prompt and it should resolve to the correct IP. If you really want to know, just ping techreport.com and it'll reveal it.
Assuming there isn't a DNS problem of some sort. And yeah, definitely try the other port. (And if it happens on both ports, this topic probably does belong in Networking)

What are you running in terms of firewalls? I realize you said you turned the Windows fw off, but are you sure there isn't another one in your AV/security suite?
 
just brew it!
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Sat Dec 15, 2007 3:08 pm

Try grabbing the latest Marvell drivers here.
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Snake
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Sat Dec 15, 2007 4:04 pm

You wouldn't happen to have the nVidia firewall activated, do you??...

It's unreliable if you do

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=nv ... l+problems

and is a known flake in some installations....like your Asus A8N-SLI and some XP configurations.

Kill it - and probably remove ALL nVidia software except the chipset drivers.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/17579 ... l-problems

If you still have issues, check for those NIC updates.
 
drsauced
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Sat Dec 15, 2007 4:48 pm

Boy, it sounds like a good old fashioned duplex mismatch... although unlikely with a gigabit NIC. Perhaps change the duplex setting from Auto to 100 Full, and see if that helps.
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just brew it!
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Sat Dec 15, 2007 5:15 pm

Snake wrote:
You wouldn't happen to have the nVidia firewall activated, do you??...

It's unreliable if you do

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=nv ... l+problems

and is a known flake in some installations....like your Asus A8N-SLI and some XP configurations.

Kill it - and probably remove ALL nVidia software except the chipset drivers.

Yes, ActiveArmor has to be one of the worst pieces of crapware I've ever had the displeasure of installing. But doesn't it require an nVidia NIC? He's using the Marvell NIC, so ActiveArmor should be out of the loop... right?

Regardless, if ActiveArmor is installed, I agree that you should nuke it.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
dolemitecomputers
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Sat Dec 15, 2007 6:04 pm

Have you had any sort of spyware issues before it started or have you ran any kind of spyware / virus scan? I had a client that was having a similar issue after removing a few spyware apps. The connection would drop everyday or so. When I would check it, I was not able to ping the gateway or any other device on the network. It would suddenly start working again. I switched her from wireless to a wired connection and it started doing the same thing. Even rebuilding / resetting the windows network stack would not resolve it. Eventually, I did a clean install of windows xp and it has been fine since.

If it is a pretty consistent problem i.e. happens every few hours or so, then try to boot with a live disk such as any Linux distro or even BartPE. Run that and see if it keeps happening.

Edit: Also try what Dr Sauced suggested. Change the duplex mode to auto and see if that helps.
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2_tyma
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Sat Dec 15, 2007 6:37 pm

i had this same problem and found out the problem is msn messenger causing it cuz i could run my pc for 11 days and open msn for 2 minutes and it would disconnect, if i dont connect to msn messenger it never fails.
duno how or why but that solved it
 
Snake
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Sat Dec 15, 2007 10:26 pm

just brew it! wrote:
Yes, ActiveArmor has to be one of the worst pieces of crapware I've ever had the displeasure of installing. But doesn't it require an nVidia NIC? He's using the Marvell NIC, so ActiveArmor should be out of the loop... right?

Regardless, if ActiveArmor is installed, I agree that you should nuke it.


Yes, but according to the OP:

Problem:
1. At school, my internet connection would drop randomly -- sometimes it would be if I was downloading a big file (say, BF2 patches), and sometimes it would be through random websurfing. The cabled connection was fine (not loose), and the light on the motherboard's ethernet controllers still worked (I've tried it using the Marvell port and the nVidia port).


So he, at the minimum, has enabled the nVidia port even if he later switched to the Marvell. It makes sense that, therefore, that maybe the full app suite for the nVidia NIC was installed by the setup routine - including ActiveArmor.

If there are ANY ActiveArmor DLL's or API's in the system...all bets are probably off and ActiveArmor is flaking the XP WinSock subsystem and probably all network HAL's in the kernel.

If this is true...ALL nVidia software has got to go. It's the only way we'll make sure it isn't the problem.

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