Solved Network connection dropped every 20 minutes or so

Previously, I was struggling with a "Local Access Only" problem. I deleted my network connection entry and completely recreated it. Instead of selecting "Home", I selected "Work". In addition, I went to the router configuration screen and registered a reserved IP address for my PC (by MAC address). I figured that it would help eliminate any possible loss of address lease. All of that appeared to solve my LAO problem.

However, I'm now having another problem.

About every 20 minutes or so, my PC loses its network connection and then promptly reconnects. I certainly noticed it happening while I was browsing the Internet. A website will suddenly be unresponsive and then I'll see my network connection icon acquire a red "X". Within 20 seconds Vista reconnects. It'll be fine again for about 20 minutes, based on the Dhcp-Client entries in the System log.

What could be causing this? Is there something I could check that might give me a clue? Thanks!

Interesting... some of the attempts to get a new IP address from the DHCP server fails:

Your computer was not able to renew its address from the network (from the DHCP Server) for the Network Card with network address 0016EADDA40A. The following error occurred:
The operation was canceled by the user.. Your computer will continue to try and obtain an address on its own from the network address (DHCP) server.


By the way, my power saving settings have the network card on maximum performance when plugged in (so no issue with the card being powered off).

I had this problem when my ISP installed a new modem and it was fixed when we connected to it and configured it properly. I'm not quite sure what changes were made or if they were modem or ISP-specific. In short, I'm recommending you contact the ISP and see if they can assist you with this problem - they're generally willing to help and have quite often resolved issues that weren't caused by problems with the line over which they had no control but could merely report the problem. In any event, it can't hurt and it may help.

I hope this helps.

Good luck!

Hi Lorien,

The strange thing is that when connected directly to the cable modem, there is no dropping. It's only happening with the wireless connection through my wireless router. I haven't had the chance to try this out with another computer yet, as my workstation's hard drive is being overhauled. That's my next step--to isolate it to either the router or the computer.

What has me wondering if it is Vista, is due to the fact that the same wireless router and cable modem have been working together fine for quite some time. I checked the wireless router log and there's no errors or warnings reported.

If it were a cable modem problem, I'd expect my wireless modem connection to revert to LAO (local access only). I was having that problem before, where I'd be in LAO for annoying stretches before reestablishing Internet access. But I'm completely dropped from the wireless router at this point. It doesn't match the LAO pattern I was having before. The drop happens anywhere from 5-20 minutes, and Vista quickly reconnects right afterward.

My suspicion is that it's either the wireless router or Vista.

Try connecting by ethernet cable to the router and see if you have the same problem. If it goes away like it did when connected directly to the modem, then we've narrowed down the problem to something involving wireless only.

Good luck!

Lorien, I think I've "cured" it and believe I can rule out Vista. I refreshed the WAN IP address of the router and then rebooted it. I've now been able to go for more than an hour without losing a connection. The event viewer system log shows no DHCP calls to obtain an IP address since then. So, let's close this thread.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

Congratulations! Well done!

It was my pleasure. I'm glad if I helped in any way.

I'll request the thread be marked as solved.

Thanks for letting us know how it turned out - we appreciate that.

Good luck and best wishes!