DELL randomly drops Internet connection yet still talks to router

Ed_Jogg

That would certainly work, but won't help in this case, because there have been instances of the connection being lost while we're using it.

penrhyn

Router statistics?

terryw

I am really sorry that I am unable to help you here. But I have been really frustrated with the same problem for months - same set-up Dell, Virgin and D-Link.

As it happens there has been a change in the household as son has moved into his own flat and I have now got rid of the router and just using a direct feed from the modem. Life is so much more stress-free!

I shall follow the thread in case you do find a cure.

bw

espresso

penrhyn wrote: »

Router statistics?

:doh:

Stay awake at the back old man - it's a cable router!

Ed_Jogg

espresso wrote: »

:doh:

Stay awake at the back old man - it's a cable router!

Indeed!
(Thank you, I was starting to wonder if I was missing something...)

penrhyn

Whoops, taxi for Penrhyn:o

Ed_Jogg

OK. As it failed again this morning (while I was out) I rang Virgin Tech Support on 151.

Very helpful chap. Confirmed they could see the modem, power levels fine, all OK at their end.
He made a number of suggestions to try:

(1) Connect direct to the modem for a while, and see if the failure still happens. If it does, it's definitely the computer; if not, it's either the router or the mechanism needed for the PC to connect via the router.

Obviously, this is of limited help. We moved to cable broadband as we often have three PCs connected, and the most we could get from ADSL was 2Meg bandwidth. It's still worth a try though.

(2) Go to www.virginmedia.com and look for the Digital Home Support, which can provide a free online tune-up.
Closer inspection suggests that you need to download the Digital Home Support Hub, an application which provides a PC Healthcheck, Internet Security check and a link to online chat to the 24/7 tech support.

Closer, closer inspection revealed that they also provide a tech support service (for a fee) to help fix any problems you have -- this is either a monthly subscription (£6 one PC, £10 everything electronic in your house) min 6 months; or one-off fix of either £30 or £60, depending on size of the problem. Solutions include Operating System installation ('big') and PC deep-clean to get it working better -- so I might investigate this if other options don't work out... This Vista PC is really quite clunky, and shouldn't be!)

NB -- To be fair to the support chap, he was pushing the FREE tune-up facility (several times), NOT the paid-for service -- he just mentioned that a paid service was available.

(3) Try fitting a new Ethernet card. Mine is on the motherboard, but he said he had bought a Gigabit card for around a tenner, and they're easy to fix.

When the installation engineer was trying to get it working, he had considerable difficulty making it play ball. He did ask if we knew of a problem with the hardware, but managed to make it work in the end.

(4) Re-check the Ethernet card 'sleep' setting. The installation engineer eventually discovered that the Ethernet card was set to power-off when not in use. As far as I know this sleep mode as been permanently disabled, but it's worth a second look. This was not an issue previously, as we were connected wirelessly to an ADSL modem.


I can't follow these up immediately, as the fine weather and an over-grown lawn are calling me outside...
...but it would be great if other Money Savers can try any of these suggestions and report back. It clearly affects many people.
More later...

Ed_Jogg

Aware that I haven't given an update yet. Sorry for those who are awaiting the answer!

I tried Suggestion 1 (connect direct to Modem) but it didn't help. Connection still lost.

Before going further, I decided I needed to sort out the non-working Windows Updates. (It just stopped working some months ago). By chance I discovered that Microsoft provide support for some features, free-of-charge, and the Windows Update process is one of them. After a comprehensive (and lengthy!) email from an MS tech support guy, and an equally lengthy install process, 47 updates were streaming on to my PC...

So, now I know my Windows is up-to-date, I can proceed with the other ideas.

More later...

the182guy

If the Windows updates doesn't solve I would get hold of another modem and router to see if the problem persists.

aliEnRIK

Have you simply tried tightening all the connections you can? (especially between the modem and the wires coming into the house)