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
    2010-01-06T23:43:45+00:00

    This is the worse release of Windows I have the unfortunate luck of dealing with. I think I've had it and cannot waste any more time with this and other problems that Windows 7 is causing me. I started backing up and will change back to Vista (it is definetely better than Win 7) sometime this weekend. I think Apple should discuss this problem on their advertisement and then maybe Microsoft would do something about it. Excuse me but I have to curse Windows 7 "#!!@$ *&^%##!!$" Bill Gates wake up and go back to work or Microsoft will sink. wvilla

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  2. Anonymous
    2010-01-06T13:30:15+00:00

    Same problem here with all drivers and firmware totally up to date. Worked fine with Vista (although I hated Vista). Hope Microsoft gets their act together because this is all over the all the computer forums and will lose them a lot of business unless corrected. Right now I would not recommend W7 because of this issue. I am reallllllyyyy getting tired of the Microsoft insiders blaming it on anything but changes that were made in W7. Too many people have been sent on fools errands updating firmware and drivers that don't change a thing.

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-01-06T11:53:02+00:00

    I did not have Bonjour on when my problem started I did resolve my problem by a reinstall and then I installed the latest Kodak printer software/drivers and all ____ broke loose, I lost net again and landed up with bonjour on my pc along with all my other updated graphic drivers etc being uninstalled.

    I got in touch with Kodak and they where useless.

    I had by the way installed a wirless card after the first net loss and I did find also that the latest updated drivers for this which are also like the Kodak software suppposed to be for windows 7 did not work I had to use the old drivers per windows 7 to get it back working.

    I think we have a problem not only with Microsoft but with other vendors not being very good at windows 7 drivers being windows 7 drivers that work.

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-01-06T07:31:24+00:00

    Am I the only one waiting for the class action lawsuit from this one? The big M at least owe's us an admission to the situation....

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