Sudden Internet failure

Charp · 03-31-2008, 10:06 AM

I'm posting this now from my regular computer, but in about 10 minutes I won't be able to open any websites, or do anything online, but nothing seems to say that I'm disconnected. This has happend in two different situations. At home using my family's ethernet, and here on my college campus, connected via ethernet. The wireless is a add on pci linyksys that has been updated. The ethernet device is built in to my ABIT motherboard. Realtek RTL8169/8110 Family Gigabit Ethernet NIC. Both have the same exact issue and both have updated drivers.

I've gone into ipconfig and it appears that I'm connected, and I have tried releasing and renewing my ip address. I have also tried running Winsock on my computer.

Any thoughts or ideas of what might be the source of the problems? my motherboard itself? I've considered it but I'm a little worried about flashing my bios, I'm unsure of a reliable flash program for this particular motherboard.

EDIT: The one at my family's house was wireless not ethernet.

johnwill · 03-31-2008, 12:35 PM

I can't imagine this being the BIOS, since it obviously worked at some point using the same BIOS.

Have you tried both wired and wireless connections? Do both fail?

When you've been connected, then can't connect, I'd like to see the following.

Try these simple tests.

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt:

Type the following commands, one at a time, followed by the Enter key:

IPCONFIG

PING <computer_IP_address>

PING <default_gateway_address>

PING 216.109.112.135

PING yahoo.com

Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter.
Paste the results in a message here.

<computer_IP_address> - The IP Address of your computer, obtained from the IPCONFIG command above.

<default_gateway_address> - The IP address of the Default Gateway, obtained from the IPCONFIG command above.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.

Let's see this as well.

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt:

Type the following command:

IPCONFIG /ALL

Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.

Charp · 03-31-2008, 04:28 PM

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Joey>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : coolbreeze
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : uh.edu

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : uh.edu
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8169/8110 Family Gigabit
Ethernet NIC
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-50-8D-C4-01-2C
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.69.165.38
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.252
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.69.165.37
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 129.7.137.17
129.7.1.1
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 129.7.1.200
Secondary WINS Server . . . . . . : 129.7.32.200
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Monday, March 31, 2008 6:22:50 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, April 03, 2008 6:22:50 PM

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Linksys Wireless-G PCI Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1C-10-E4-86-CC

C:\Documents and Settings\Joey>

I'll try and do and post what it says when the internet stops working.

Charp · 04-01-2008, 09:37 AM

C:\Documents and Settings\Joey>ping 10.69.165.38

Pinging 10.69.165.38 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 10.69.165.38: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.69.165.38: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.69.165.38: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.69.165.38: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 10.69.165.38:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Joey>ping 10.69.165.37

Pinging 10.69.165.37 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 10.69.165.37: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.69.165.37: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.69.165.37: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.69.165.37: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for 10.69.165.37:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 1ms, Average = 0ms

C:\Documents and Settings\Joey>ping 216.109.112.135

Pinging 216.109.112.135 with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 216.109.112.135:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Joey>ping yahoo.com

Pinging yahoo.com [66.94.234.13] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 66.94.234.13:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\Joey>

This is the ping information once the internet stops working. Though it seems to be exactly the same when the internet is working. Same thing when I turned off windows firewall.

johnwill · 04-02-2008, 06:45 AM

If you can't PING yahoo.com with it working, it's not working. :)

Let's try a stack reset.

TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Windows XP with SP2.

Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt:

Reset TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ip reset reset.log

Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: netsh winsock reset catalog

Reboot the machine.

Charp · 04-02-2008, 11:19 AM

Same result. Also when I use that first command, to reset to the TCP/IP stack should I be seeing a response from the command prompt? It stops for a little while, skips a line then just switches back to the regular prompt.

johnwill · 04-02-2008, 05:52 PM

No, that's correct for the one command, the other asks you to reboot.

Does the IPCONFIG look the same when the connection dies? I'd like to see that if it's different.

It's odd that you can ping the default gateway, but lose all other connectivity. I'm starting to suspect either malware or perhaps a hardware issue with the network adapter.

I'm assuming you've tried a new cable, right?

Charp · 04-02-2008, 11:09 PM

I doubt it's the cable, since this happend when I was using wireless I can try it later though. I also don't think it would be malware, it's a brand new hard drive and I only have the bare minimum, and usually secure programs. I'll run an anti-virus to check though.

Charp · 05-09-2008, 12:26 PM

I took a break from this problem till my classes were over. I didn't need my desktop for work anyway, it's my gaming machine. I just got back and I'm on a wireless connection again. I seem to be having the similar problem from before, but with a twist.

On this wireless connection I still lose the ability to reach websites, but I can still ping them successfully through command prompt. Also, when I found that I noticed that I couldn't reach any websites I noticed that my download was still going in the background (I was downloading a World of Warcraft update which uses a a type of bittorrent), and it wasn't moving terribly slow.

I waited for it to finish, and I was even able to connect again and download yet another update. Could this be a browser problem? It seems to occur with both IE (updated) and Firefox (updated).

Any hints as to whats going on?

Charp · 05-09-2008, 12:59 PM

I just tried downloading a 3rd update and it seems to be having issues getting going. Starts then stops, but for the most part it's stopped. I can still ping yahoo and google, but not every site that I have tried (Like facebook and a few other normally reliable websites).

Update ended up finishing (rather small one) and I can actually log on world of warcraft.

johnwill · 05-10-2008, 06:29 AM

Too many conflicting symptoms here. I'm starting to think malware of some kind...

Charp · 05-11-2008, 11:29 AM

Hmm well it looks like I should always go for the most simple answer first >.<. Feeling kinda stupid, didn't think anything that bad could get on my computer seeing as how I didn't do much with it. All I found was about 130 tracking cookies, but after I got rid of them the problem was fixed. Thanks for the help.

johnwill · 05-11-2008, 12:43 PM

So it's working now? I can't imagine how the tracking cookies were the issue, something else somewhere changed.

Charp · 05-12-2008, 02:02 PM

Ya, I thought it was wierd too, I didn't look into the specifics of what it found. I didn't expect tracking cookies to change anything. I can't remember the order in which I was doing things, I was retrying some of the old ways of fixing network issues (winsock etc.). It may have happend after that, but whatever it was the problem hasn't occurred since.

03-31-2008, 10:06 AM	#1 (permalink)
Charp Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 9 OS: Windows XP	Sudden Internet failure I'm posting this now from my regular computer, but in about 10 minutes I won't be able to open any websites, or do anything online, but nothing seems to say that I'm disconnected. This has happend in two different situations. At home using my family's ethernet, and here on my college campus, connected via ethernet. The wireless is a add on pci linyksys that has been updated. The ethernet device is built in to my ABIT motherboard. Realtek RTL8169/8110 Family Gigabit Ethernet NIC. Both have the same exact issue and both have updated drivers. I've gone into ipconfig and it appears that I'm connected, and I have tried releasing and renewing my ip address. I have also tried running Winsock on my computer. Any thoughts or ideas of what might be the source of the problems? my motherboard itself? I've considered it but I'm a little worried about flashing my bios, I'm unsure of a reliable flash program for this particular motherboard. EDIT: The one at my family's house was wireless not ethernet. Last edited by Charp : 03-31-2008 at 10:10 AM.

03-31-2008, 12:35 PM	#2 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 28,754 OS: XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Re: Sudden Internet failure I can't imagine this being the BIOS, since it obviously worked at some point using the same BIOS. Have you tried both wired and wireless connections? Do both fail? When you've been connected, then can't connect, I'd like to see the following. Try these simple tests. Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt: Type the following commands, one at a time, followed by the Enter key: IPCONFIG PING <computer_IP_address> PING <default_gateway_address> PING 216.109.112.135 PING yahoo.com Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter. Paste the results in a message here. <computer_IP_address> - The IP Address of your computer, obtained from the IPCONFIG command above. <default_gateway_address> - The IP address of the Default Gateway, obtained from the IPCONFIG command above. If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here. Let's see this as well. Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt: Type the following command: IPCONFIG /ALL Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter. Paste the results in a message here. If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

03-31-2008, 04:28 PM	#3 (permalink)
Charp Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 9 OS: Windows XP	Re: Sudden Internet failure Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600] (C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp. C:\Documents and Settings\Joey>ipconfig /all Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : coolbreeze Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : uh.edu Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : uh.edu Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8169/8110 Family Gigabit Ethernet NIC Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-50-8D-C4-01-2C Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.69.165.38 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.252 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 10.69.165.37 DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 10.0.0.1 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 129.7.137.17 129.7.1.1 Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 129.7.1.200 Secondary WINS Server . . . . . . : 129.7.32.200 Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Monday, March 31, 2008 6:22:50 PM Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, April 03, 2008 6:22:50 PM Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Linksys Wireless-G PCI Adapter Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1C-10-E4-86-CC C:\Documents and Settings\Joey> I'll try and do and post what it says when the internet stops working.

04-01-2008, 09:37 AM	#4 (permalink)
Charp Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 9 OS: Windows XP	Re: Sudden Internet failure C:\Documents and Settings\Joey>ping 10.69.165.38 Pinging 10.69.165.38 with 32 bytes of data: Reply from 10.69.165.38: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 10.69.165.38: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 10.69.165.38: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 10.69.165.38: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Ping statistics for 10.69.165.38: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss), Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms C:\Documents and Settings\Joey>ping 10.69.165.37 Pinging 10.69.165.37 with 32 bytes of data: Reply from 10.69.165.37: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 10.69.165.37: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 10.69.165.37: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128 Reply from 10.69.165.37: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128 Ping statistics for 10.69.165.37: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss), Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 1ms, Average = 0ms C:\Documents and Settings\Joey>ping 216.109.112.135 Pinging 216.109.112.135 with 32 bytes of data: Request timed out. Request timed out. Request timed out. Request timed out. Ping statistics for 216.109.112.135: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss), C:\Documents and Settings\Joey>ping yahoo.com Pinging yahoo.com [66.94.234.13] with 32 bytes of data: Request timed out. Request timed out. Request timed out. Request timed out. Ping statistics for 66.94.234.13: Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss), C:\Documents and Settings\Joey> This is the ping information once the internet stops working. Though it seems to be exactly the same when the internet is working. Same thing when I turned off windows firewall.

04-02-2008, 06:45 AM	#5 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 28,754 OS: XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Re: Sudden Internet failure If you can't PING yahoo.com with it working, it's not working. :) Let's try a stack reset. TCP/IP stack repair options for use with Windows XP with SP2. Start, Run, CMD to open a command prompt: Reset TCP/IP stack to installation defaults. netsh int ip reset reset.log Reset WINSOCK entries to installation defaults: netsh winsock reset catalog Reboot the machine. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

04-02-2008, 11:19 AM	#6 (permalink)
Charp Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 9 OS: Windows XP	Re: Sudden Internet failure Same result. Also when I use that first command, to reset to the TCP/IP stack should I be seeing a response from the command prompt? It stops for a little while, skips a line then just switches back to the regular prompt.

04-02-2008, 05:52 PM	#7 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 28,754 OS: XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Re: Sudden Internet failure No, that's correct for the one command, the other asks you to reboot. Does the IPCONFIG look the same when the connection dies? I'd like to see that if it's different. It's odd that you can ping the default gateway, but lose all other connectivity. I'm starting to suspect either malware or perhaps a hardware issue with the network adapter. I'm assuming you've tried a new cable, right? __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

04-02-2008, 11:09 PM	#8 (permalink)
Charp Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 9 OS: Windows XP	Re: Sudden Internet failure I doubt it's the cable, since this happend when I was using wireless I can try it later though. I also don't think it would be malware, it's a brand new hard drive and I only have the bare minimum, and usually secure programs. I'll run an anti-virus to check though.

05-09-2008, 12:26 PM	#9 (permalink)
Charp Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 9 OS: Windows XP	Re: Sudden Internet failure I took a break from this problem till my classes were over. I didn't need my desktop for work anyway, it's my gaming machine. I just got back and I'm on a wireless connection again. I seem to be having the similar problem from before, but with a twist. On this wireless connection I still lose the ability to reach websites, but I can still ping them successfully through command prompt. Also, when I found that I noticed that I couldn't reach any websites I noticed that my download was still going in the background (I was downloading a World of Warcraft update which uses a a type of bittorrent), and it wasn't moving terribly slow. I waited for it to finish, and I was even able to connect again and download yet another update. Could this be a browser problem? It seems to occur with both IE (updated) and Firefox (updated). Any hints as to whats going on? Last edited by Charp : 05-09-2008 at 12:56 PM.

05-09-2008, 12:59 PM	#10 (permalink)
Charp Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 9 OS: Windows XP	Re: Sudden Internet failure I just tried downloading a 3rd update and it seems to be having issues getting going. Starts then stops, but for the most part it's stopped. I can still ping yahoo and google, but not every site that I have tried (Like facebook and a few other normally reliable websites). Update ended up finishing (rather small one) and I can actually log on world of warcraft. Last edited by Charp : 05-09-2008 at 01:04 PM.

05-10-2008, 06:29 AM	#11 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 28,754 OS: XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Re: Sudden Internet failure Too many conflicting symptoms here. I'm starting to think malware of some kind... __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

05-11-2008, 11:29 AM	#12 (permalink)
Charp Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 9 OS: Windows XP	Re: Sudden Internet failure Hmm well it looks like I should always go for the most simple answer first >.<. Feeling kinda stupid, didn't think anything that bad could get on my computer seeing as how I didn't do much with it. All I found was about 130 tracking cookies, but after I got rid of them the problem was fixed. Thanks for the help.

05-11-2008, 12:43 PM	#13 (permalink)
johnwill Manager, Networking Forums Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S.E. Pennsylvania, US Posts: 28,754 OS: XP-Pro, Vista, Linux Blog Entries: 1	Re: Sudden Internet failure So it's working now? I can't imagine how the tracking cookies were the issue, something else somewhere changed. __________________ If TSF has helped you, Tell us about it! or Donate to help keep the site up! Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience

05-12-2008, 02:02 PM	#14 (permalink)
Charp Registered User Join Date: Mar 2008 Posts: 9 OS: Windows XP	Re: Sudden Internet failure Ya, I thought it was wierd too, I didn't look into the specifics of what it found. I didn't expect tracking cookies to change anything. I can't remember the order in which I was doing things, I was retrying some of the old ways of fixing network issues (winsock etc.). It may have happend after that, but whatever it was the problem hasn't occurred since.