Win8 Networking is Down

I've been having problems lately where my internet connection would go bad after a day or so. I would reset the connecting using the commands

netsh winsock reset catalog netsh int ip reset c:\reset.log

I'd reboot and it would work again. Then I discovered that just rebooting would fix the problem. But the problem started showing up more often. More recently I've found that just disabling and reenabling the WiFi adapter will fix the problem. Finally the problem returns after just seconds. I can check email one time successfully (only if I am quick) then it goes bad again.

I am able to access newsgroups using Thunderbird and the networking trouble shooter finds the connection to be working properly. Email works once in a great while, but mostly doesn't make a connection. FireFox does not even report a problem, it just blinks and keeps the default page up. Chrome will show Google results, but other pages are reported as down. A ping to 8.8.8.8 returns a valid response in 22 ms most of the time, sometimes up to 100 ms.

I've also reset the router and cable modem. Netflix works fine on the Sony box and other users can access the internet.

I am at a loss on how to even proceed troubleshooting this.

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Rick
Reply to
rickman
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I don't have a Win 8 machine handy to point to the exact setting, but somewhere in the properties for your unspecified LAN card are one or more settings involving LAN card power management. There might also be a setting for "allow APM or APCI to control power to the LAN card" or something similar. The exact phrase depends on the LAN card and its associated driver. Disable whatever settings allow the card to go into power save, which leaves the power to the LAN adapter always on. If this is a laptop, you'll burn some more power, but the problem should go away. My guess(tm) is that your LAN card isn't properly recovering from a standby mode. If that works, go shopping for an updated LAN card driver.

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Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

Wired or Wireless? Public or LAN IP on the PC?

Are you certain that there is no malware on the system and that there's nothing in task scheduler which sets to work reinstalling malware unseen after the reboot? A combination of avira boot cd (updated over a wired network) and malwarebytes may be enough to find out

Aha so does it work reliably on a wired connection? I never use or recommend wireless for fixed workstations or printers.

can you always ping google.com ? use ping -t to watch for packet loss.

Do other computers work fine with a wired connection to the router?

Do you mean that netflix is using a wireless connection? Move it to wired if possible.

So it's just your computer and probably a wireless issue? How many other wireless networks can your computer see? Any there any frequently used microwave ovens nearby?

Run a cable and see if that works reliably.

If you have no choice about wireless then try another wireless router. Minimize the distance between your computer and the router. Check for any available firmware updates for the router. Also check that your computer has the latest driver for the wireless interface.

Reply to
John Smith

I'm with you on the LAN hardware having poor recovery from sleep power down mode - although I'd be inclined to check for dodgy drivers first.

A portable that has to run unnecessary things at full power to keep them live because power save standby is dodgy isn't all that appealing.

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Regards, 
Martin Brown
Reply to
Martin Brown

Which is unfortunately a lot more common than it should be.

The device manager's "Update Drivers" doesn't always have the latest - sometimes it's better to go to the manufacturer's download page.

Reply to
Christopher A. Lee

On Mon, 17 Aug 2015 16:18:57 +0100, Martin Brown Gave us:

You turn off the sleep mode for the wired and wireless hardware on your machine, AND in power management.

Reply to
DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno

Good try. My LAN card is an Intel(R) Wireless-N 7260. The power control settings on the wireless range from Maximum Power Savings to Maximum Performance and is already on Maximum Performance.

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Rick
Reply to
rickman

Home network on Comcast via WiFi. I am using a wired connection at the moment and it doesn't seem to be working any better.

Running a virus scan is next, but a full scan takes some time.

Apparently not.

My ping test is on 8.8.8.8 which is the name server for one of the huge sites. The ping is the last thing to go in the set of variable symptoms. Even then it is just very intermittent giving 1 to maybe 5 good pings then 1 to 10 timeouts. Right now the pings are 100% while nothing else seems to work, possibly the newsgroup access.

Problems with other computers are apparent.

The Sony box is like a Roku and is wired. It is working just fine, although it does have to be "reconnected" every day or two. Using the remote the setup has to be redone then it works fine for a couple of days.

The Ethernet cable connection also has a problem.

There is no reason to suspect the router. These symptoms have been happening for some time, but infrequently and at other locations. The problem started happening more often over the last couple of days and since last night is nearly full time. The email squeezes out every once in a while and newsgroup access is intermittent. Web access is very poor with most pages just not loading at all, others loading partly. Resetting the adapter seems to be the thing that makes it work for a few seconds now, but that has been changing as the symptoms worsen.

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Rick
Reply to
rickman

Not bad with only the OS version for data. Is it really necessary to beg you for a better description, such maker, model, hardware version, Win 8 update status, 32/64 bit, RAM installed, etc? When you ask an auto mechanic for help with your car, what's the very first thing he asks?[1] Same here... it's difficult to diagnose and guess(tm) effectively in an data vacuum.

Anyway, try the latest greatest Intel Proset update for the 7260:

18.0.11.0 seems to be the latest for Win 8.1. If that doesn't help, go back a version or two. Or just buy a cheap USB dual band dongle until Intel releases yet another driver update.

I found this mess on the 7260, which should give you a clue as to what users think of the device. While the problems mentioned don't match yours, they're in the same general area.

[1] Year, make, and model.
--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

This is how weird the problem is. I was barely able to use Nesgrouops a little while ago and now my browsers are working.

I would be happy to offer more info, but much of what you are asking I'm not sure how to find. The laptop is a Lenovo Z710. 64 Win 8, not sure of update status. If the auto mechanic wants my SN, he tells me where to find it ;)

The WiFi has been working fairly well for nearly two years. I would see a problem once or twice a month that I mostly blamed on the WISP. Something has changed lately.

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Rick
Reply to
rickman

That isn't a good sign. Suspect the protocol stack is being compromised somehow. Wifi and wired network hardware are usually distinct.

It would be a very good idea. Don't do internet banking on it! Running it overnight is the easy way out.

Bad :(

Try forcing a 10M wired connection and see if it is reliable at that much lower speed.

At a guess exponential backoff timeouts with dropped packets is implicated.

Are you sure your router itself hasn't been hacked or is in desperate need of a hard reboot. They can get a bit odd after a month or two of continuous running.

I found disabling MickeySoft UPnP PlugnPlay protocol on the router made streaming a lot more reliable. I am at a loss to explain why this should be so. A networking guru told me to try it after I got my internet streaming device and had "unknown error" glitches on it.

This was only for video/audio streaming but it changed the MTBF for timeout glitches from a few seconds to hours.

That is a bad sign. Check the router by swapping in a known good one or connecting your suspect PC to another known good router elsewhere.

From your description there is every reason to suspect the router. You have said that other PCs are affected and your reboot frequency is an order of magnitude worse than I would tolerate. Once a month is too often!

I worry you have something nasty like malware in the woodshed peeking at the incoming and outgoing packets and not doing it very well.

Check the Windows update log for any TCP/IP or ethernet related "fixes" recently since you have been seeing problems.

That particular Intel chipset doesn't have a stellar reputation.

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Regards, 
Martin Brown
Reply to
Martin Brown

On Mon, 17 Aug 2015 14:04:43 -0400, rickman Gave us:

Now, in the power management setting you must turn off the machine's capacity to sleep those hooks when it decides you are 'idle'.

Reply to
DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno

If pings really are fine but nothing else works then I'd start with

formatting link
Have the machine on a wired network so it can get updates.

I'd then use malwarebytes with the system active.

Also run a chkdsk and sfc /scannow and its successor, I'd have to google the details.

If malware has been on the system then tweaking.com might help but it's hard for anyone here to do much other than stab in the dark.

It's true that an auto mechanic will tell you where to find something but if you're unable to fix your car yourself then taking it to a mechanic may be the best option.

The mechanic might have to come to your home to check the modem/router setup.

Reply to
John Smith

Sounds like a virus. Check the resource monitor and look at the networking pane. See if there is srvchost process using a lot of bandwidth. Had something similar not too long ago. The thing was contacting hosts left and right, don't know how I got it, It was on a rarely used computer.

Cheers

Reply to
Martin Riddle

Sorry, typo. The other computers have no problems that I can tell.

The problem has been seen on other routers, it just got worse here. I have used this router in the past with few issues as well. Right now it is back to going south in hours and is fixed by disabling and re-enabling the wi-fi adapter. For a while nothing was really fixing it for more than a few seconds if at all.

I am back to working... barely. I will run the virus scan overnight.

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Rick
Reply to
rickman

Yeah, I had a svchost on my last computer once. But I don't see any sign of it in the process list using bandwidth. I'll look again next time the networking goes south. 3, 2, 1...

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Rick
Reply to
rickman

The behavior you describe fits perfectly with failing electrolytic capacitors in the router. Power supply issues often cause intermittent and hard to diagnose problems. But the real reason for the issues may of course be something completely different.

Reply to
John Smith

This may not be possible, but....

I keep a couple of older Linksys routers loaded with DD-WRT around. One of them actually works on DHCP ( on the other, you have to use a fixed IP address on the computer ).

This will tell you if the problem is only with the WiFi path or also with the copper path.

There will be pain as you must provide power to the router.

Second:

It might be worth burning a Knoppix Live DVD and booting that to see if the problem persists using the onboard WiFi hardware but with a different O/S.

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Les Cargill
Reply to
Les Cargill

That might be hard to get useful info from. Right now the existing computer seems to be working 100%. It's been good for better part of a day now. This is frustrating.

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Rick
Reply to
rickman

On Tue, 18 Aug 2015 09:19:33 -0400, rickman Gave us:

It would absolutely yield useful info.

You boot up the live DVD and get the network up. IF it STAYS UP, then your problem is a Windows setting. If it ALSO shuts off without being told to do so, you have a hardware level issue.

Pretty damned straightforward to me. You must have an extremely poor diagnostic logic section in your brain.

We used to call it "common sense", but that covers a broader realm. But it is typical too that if you cannot perform diagnostics well, you lack common sense in other areas as well.

Reply to
DecadentLinuxUserNumeroUno

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