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
    2010-01-07T10:31:33+00:00

    Well I have used windows right from 3.1 and I got to say there has been worst versions of windows around and despite excluding the problems with the internet connection, it has never crashed more then I can say for other vseriosn of windows, I like windows 7 and I think some blame has to go to the third parties who seem to be making a bals of there drivers etc, the printer problem I overcome with the bog standard windows 7 drivers for Kodak rather the Kodaks own.

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  3. Anonymous
    2010-01-07T22:12:25+00:00

    I do not have "bonjour" in my win 7 pro machine....

    what other trciks do you have - and what on earth is the reason for a nic not being allowed to assign a static ip address out of the box....

    you are really helping apple gain market share you know!!!

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  4. Anonymous
    2010-01-11T02:37:13+00:00

    I find it curious that when so many people are having so many problems with Windows 7 dropping Internet Connections that the solutions offered by MS Tech support are at best incredibly complex and at worst all but impossible for any but an IT Pro to follow. I've read through most of the posts here and not one offers a true solution that the average computer user can actually understand. I thought Vista was supposed to be the OS that was problem prone...I never much liked but I didn't have this probelm with it. How about providing a real solution. Ever since upgrading from Vista to Windows 7 I too have the "default gateway is not available" message at random times while on line in Firefox and Internet Explorer, and always when attempting to play a PC game and access the internet at the same time and also frequently after the computer has been idle for a period of time. I even bought a new DSL modem thinking that my old modem was going. It seems clear to me that it must be a problem within Windows 7 and not the fault of the users.

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