Net stops working after 10-20 minutes even after format & reinstall

[AzureSky]

After changing houses, I decided to take a new cable connection for my PC, but it's been giving me several problems. I have had two ethernet cards (or LAN cards) in my PC; one, the Intel Pro Connections card, is the one I always used with the old cable connection in my previous home and which never gave me any problems, and the other is a Surecom ethernet card which I had never actually used before (since there wasn't a need to). After getting the new connection, the new ISP plugged in the cable (into the Intel card) and entered in the settings; immediately afterwards a "Limited or no connectivity" error came up... then it became normal again. However, even though the connection was sending requests, not a single one (or byte) was received and browsers or applications that used the internet could not connect at all, even though the driver was working fine and the connection had been appearing as "connected".

They then told me they'd send someone over the following morning, and while I was waiting, I noticed certain strange things with the connection such as the cable disconnecting and connecting by itself (even though nothing was working). After the ISP's guy came, he tried the same things but without any success. He then went over to the ethernet card's driver settings and changed the "Link Duplex" mode from "auto mode" (the default option, which I'd always seen working perfectly with my previous connection) to "10 Full Mode". After this, the net somehow worked, however the ISP guy claimed the ethernet cable was an old one and that it be changed to a new one. However, after I changed it to a completely brand new cable, it still did not connect, not on "auto mode" and "10 Full Mode" either. They changed the cable to a third one and the effects were still exactly the same. Then they connected the cable into different ethernet cards, but resulting in the same exact effects. They then connected it to the Surecom card and the effects were still the same, but they only got it working under "10 Full Mode".

This still left the connection in disarray, and while under this process the net worked initially for a few days, there were several strange issues such as an "IP conflict" error popping up occasionally and the connection appearing as disconnected after a reboot or a long time with the computer shut down - but then coming back again by itself or while tweaking the duplex settings.

I then formatted C and re-installed Windows XP. The net worked perfectly after the installation and under the default settings with "auto mode" - but amazingly it stopped working after 10-20 minutes for no reason whatsoever. I have formatted C and reinstalled XP again, and it's the exact same result, with the net working fine for the first 10-20 minutes and then does not work afterwards. I have also noticed that when I unplug the ethernet cable and plug the cable back in, the connection comes as "disconnected" and there is no light, then it re-connects a few minutes later by itself but still the same effects; it merely sends requests and does not receive any.

There is simply no explanation that I can come up with. Could someone please help me out?

[AzureSky]

I just tried it with a different ISP (again formatting and re-installing in the process) and again, even after it is connected, it only sent bytes but has not received any so far. This ISP has stated there might be a problem with the ethernet cable and/or its wiring, but have been unable to isolate the exact issue so far. They have said however that there is nothing wrong with the ethernet card or the PC itself. I'm really troubled by this issue so far; I haven't been able to use net all day and it looks like it will continue for much longer. :(

[johnwill]

Please supply the following info, exact make and models of the equipment please.

Name of your ISP (Internet Service Provider).
Make and exact model of the broadband modem.
Make and exact model and hardware version of the router (if a separate unit).
Model numbers can usually be obtained from the label on the device.
Connection type, wired or wireless.
If wireless, encryption used, (none, WEP, WPA, or WPA2)
Version and patch level of Windows on all affected machines, i.e. XP (Home or Pro), SP1-SP2-SP3, Vista (Home, Business, Ultimate), etc.
The Internet Browser in use, IE, Firefox, Opera, etc.




Please give an exact description of your problem symptoms, including the exact text of any error messages.

• If you're using a wireless connection, have you tried a direct connection with a cable to see if that changes the symptoms?
• For wireless issues, have you disabled all encryption on the router to see if you can connect that way?
• Have you connected directly to the broadband modem to see if this is a router or modem/ISP issue?
• If there are other computers on the same network, are they experiencing the same issue, or do they function normally?

On any affected computer, I'd also like to see this:

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD (COMMAND for W98/WME) to open a command prompt:

Type the following commands on separate lines, following each one with the Enter key:

PING 206.190.60.37

PING yahoo.com

NBTSTAT -n

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.