Windows 7 and loss of Internet connection

Anonymous
2009-10-30T23:58:23+00:00

In our home office we have a desktop system running Windows 7 as well as an iMac.  Both are connected to Apple's Time Capsule, which serves as a router as well as a backup hard drive for the iMac. (our Internet connection is cable-Internet, by the way.)

Ever since upgrading from Windows Vista to Windows 7, the Windows 7 desktop is encountering frequent Internet connection errors.  It generally loses the Internet connection several times per day.

Today is the worst manifestation we have seen thus far (since upgrading to Windows 7 last week).  We generally only have an Internet connection for about 2-3 minutes, then it is lost and must be repaired.

We go into Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Troubleshoot Problems > Internet Connections

We allow Windows 7 to automatically diagnose and repair the problem.

Each and every time it goes through the steps of diagnosing and repairing, it ends up "resetting the local area connection adapter."

At the end of the process -- after everything has been repaired -- we get the following report:

"Default gateway is not available - fixed."

What steps do we need to take to permanently solve this problem?

By the way, the iMac is NOT experiencing any Internet connection problems whatsoever.

Thanks in advance!

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Internet and connectivity

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Anonymous
2009-11-09T19:53:05+00:00

I don't know what you are using to assign addresses, so I am assuming it is a router of some sort. You will need to go to the manufacturers site, look at the manual and find out how to limit the DHCP address scope. I changed mine to limit the assigning of DHCP addresses to 192.168.1.200 through 192.168.1.250. Your router may use the 10. subnet, so your addresses may be different, depends on the router manufacturer, or if you use a DHCP server, the scope set with the DHCP server. That gives me 50 IP addresses for any guests that may want to use wired or wireless connections, and should be more than enough. This allows me to assign 192.168.1.1 through 192.168.1.199 to a device and not have to worry about the DHCP server trying to use one that is assigned permanently to a device (Printer, switch, PC, Server, Virtual Server, etc).

Once you have that setup in your router, you will now need to assign a static ip to your PC. This is all done from the network adapter.

From the start menu:

Control Panel

Network and Internet

Network and Sharing Center

On the right hand pane of Network and Sharing Center

Change adapter settings

Double Click your network adapter

Select the "Details" radio button

Write down the following lines:

Connection Specific DNS (May or may not exist, depends on provider)

IPv4 Subnet

IPv4 Default Gateway

IPv4 DNS Servers

Once you have written those down, you can close that box.

You should be back at the "Local Area Connection Status" box.

Choose the "Properties" radio button.

Select the "Internet Protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4)", which will be in a blue box when selected. 

Now select the "Properties" radio button

The "Internet Protocol version 4 (TCP/IPv4) Properties" box should have popped up. If so:

Select the following:

"Use the following IP address"

In the IP address box, enter an IP address. Example: 192.168.1.20

Press the tab, the subnet should fill in automatically, if not, enter the value from "IPv4 Subnet" you wrote down from the above step. Examp,e: 255.255.255.0

In the dafult gateway, enter the value from the steps above. Example: 192.168.1.254

Now to move on to the next 2 boxes, DNS Servers. You may have only 1 DNS server entry from the DNS entry you wrote down from above.

Enter the DNS servers you notes above.

If there was "Connection Specific DNS" entry or entries, do the following (If not skip the "Connection Specific DNS" sections:

Select the "Advanced" radio button.

The "Additional TCP/IP Settings" windows should open

Select the "DNS" tab

If there is more than 1 "Connection Specific DNS" entry, do the following:

Select the "Append DNS suffixes (in order):"

Select "Add..."

In the "Domain suffix", enter the first Connection Specific DNS entry.

Select the "Add" radio button.

Add all the DNS Specific suffixes you wrote down. You can only enter one at a time.

When finished sleect the "OK" radio button

If you only have 1 entry in "Connection Specific DNS":

In the box labeled "DNS suffix for this connection", type in the entry you noted above for the "Connection Specific DNS".

When finished sleect the "OK" radio button

Check the "validate settings upon exit" box.

Select the "OK" radio button.

Select the "Close" radio button

You should see the 'Windows Network Diagnostics" open, and check for any problems. Hopefully all is well and it states "Troubleshooting could not identify the problem", and choose "Close the Troubleshooter".

Close any additional boxes or pop-ups that are open, and check and make sure allis connecting. If not, go back and verify any steps. the most common are the IP addresses and gateways.

Good luck. Post back if it resolves the issue.

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  1. Anonymous
    2009-11-02T18:45:45+00:00

    I have an observation that may be of some help, but I could also use some feedback on a solution. When I develop these sporadic Internet connection issues and look at the Network Connections, either Windows 7, or some other program, has created a second "Public" connection. This connection does not appear to be active, but prevents either Firefox or IE8 from accessing the network properly. Windows Defender and AV-CLS scans say there is no malware on my machine, so I'm assuming this may be some "update" software installed by one of the Windows programs I'm using. Has anyone else observed this, and if so, so you know what is causing it? If I delete the Network connection and then re-enable it, the problem goes away.

    Thanks for any advice you may have.

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  2. Anonymous
    2009-11-02T18:18:38+00:00

    i have same issue but not running on IMac.  Getting Local Area Connection "Doesn't have valid IP configuration"  And "the default gateway is not available"   Its resets my adapters as well only to come back not fixed.  Also I did power cycle to modem and still to no avail.

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  3. Anonymous
    2009-11-02T15:29:34+00:00

    had similar issues with my win 7 machine, for some reason the ethernet drivers are highly cpu dependant and whenever the cpu cycles are high they'll disconnect some people report running with default windows ethernet drivers works to fix the issue. the only workaround i've found is to run both ethernet cablesand bridge the connection.


    kourgath

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  4. Anonymous
    2009-10-31T20:25:34+00:00

    Hi highland99, I have few steps that might help. · It might be an issue with the router. Check see if there is any upgraded firmware available for your model. · Disable Firewall · Also check the manufacturers website for updated NIC drivers, You can download the drivers from the following link: http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/apple/firmware\_hardware/ if this does not work, place the computer in safe mode with networking and check if the problem persists To get into safe mode, please follow these steps: 1. Restart your computer and start pressing the F8 key on your keyboard. On a computer that is configured for booting to multiple operating systems, you can press the F8 key when the Boot Menu appears. 2. Select safe mode option when the Windows Advanced Options menu appears, and then press ENTER. If the problem does not occur, place the computer in clean boot and check for conflicting software. For more information, please click on the following link: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/331796 Swati K- Microsoft Support Engineer Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think

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