Windows 7 Loses Internet Connection but not Network Connection.

Anonymous

Here is some basic information:

My Machine:

Custom built Intel Pentium D Machine 3.06Ghz, 4GB Ram, 3.0TB storage.

Intel PRO/1000 PM Network Adapter. On-Board

Windows 7 Ultimate. (All updates applied)

All Hardware has up to date drivers all around.

Environment:

Connected to a Windows Small Business Server 2003. (Wired)

The Server has been patched for Windows Vista Integration and ran Windows Vista for over a year without issue. I have read that to use Windows 7 you need to have all of the Vista Patches applied to the SBS 2003 server. I have done this.

My Router:

Linksys WRT54GSV4 with Firmware 1.06.3 (Up to date)

My Problem:

It seems my internet goes down whenever it feels like. I do not lose network connectivity. In other words I could be streaming an audio file or movie file from my server when I lose the internet. It just goes away. IT seems this is more during long downloads then anything, but has been rearing its ugly head more when just browsing. My only solution is to go into the network adapters and disable it, then re-enable it, and then I regain internet connectivity for an undetermined amount of time. Could be 5 minutes, could be 5 hours. It’s never the same thing twice.

I can see what it does more when downloading a larger file. I use a download manager so I can see the status of each file being downloaded. (This is from many locations so it’s not just one location that’s causing this problem. It all over the board) While downloading, I can see the download speed fluctuate a little and then eventually goes to zero. I can stop and then restart the download. It will go full speed for about 30 seconds and then drop back down to zero. Once I go in and disable and re-enable the network adapter, and I can run full speed once again without an issue for a undertermined amount of time.

All the while this is going on; I do NOT lose connectivity to my server which I basically use as a file server and domain controller. Once I lose my internet connection, I’ll click on a connection to the server and bring up an audio file or video file and it’s just fine. I can stream it from the server while I still can’t browse or download anything.

This tells me that the connection itself it OK, but there is something IN the connection that connects me to the internet that is faulty. IT kind of scares me since this could be a MAJOR flaw in an important part of Windows 7.

Have other machines on the network. One Laptop that has Windows 7 (Same thing happens with it), another Laptop with Windows Vista (Never Happens), and Desktop with Windows Vista (Never Happens) and a Laptop with Windows XP (Never Happens). So the ONLY machines that are having this problem are the ones with Windows 7.

What I have done:

Tried using another brand of Network Adapter. Same thing. No change.

Reinstalled both Windows 7 machines. From a clean install with no other software or AV software or ANYTHING, same thing. The exact same thing happens from a clean install to a fully loaded system.

Tried using Generic Drivers, the exact drivers, Windows 7 drivers. – No Change

Disabled all IPV6 in the network card. – No Change.

Rebuild the IPSTACK in case it was corrupted. – No Change

Turned off IP HELPER Service – No Change

I have turned off the Power Saving Features of my Network Card so it can not be turned off. - No Change.

Turned off “Receive Side Scaling” in network Adapter – No Change.

Turned off “Remote Differential Compression” – No Change.

As you can see, I have tried almost everything that has been suggested to fix this problem.

I even reinstalled Windows Vista on this machine to make sure it’s not my machine. Once Vista is on, it works flawlessly. Once I put Windows 7 back on the system, I am back to dropping the internet over and over and over again. Same thing with my laptop that is a much newer system. Intel Core Due and so on...

So in my mind, this is most defiantly a Windows 7 bug that needs to be fixed.

Does anyone have any other suggestions as to what to try to fix this problem? This is extremely annoying in that I can’t even use this machine for any reliable internet usage. Be it browsing, e-mail or downloading. Like I said earlier, I’m shocked to see that such a basic function of Windows 7 seems to have a MAJOR bug in it and that all past versions NEVER had this problem.

I look forward to hearing from you to see if I can come up with SOMETHING to fix this problem.

Thanks for your help!

Tom.

"The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." Scotty - Star Trek

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Hello all,

To avoid confusion and to help with troubleshooting we ask that you create your own thread in the appropriate forums below. Please be sure to supply all the previous troubleshooting done and details of the issue you are facing.

Windows 7

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w7network/threads

Windows Vista

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vistanetworking/threads

Windows XP

http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/xpnetwork/threads

Thanks,

Keith

Microsoft Answers Support Engineer

Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Hi,

I was mentioning Windows update optional patch in Windows 7 list called "Intel - Network - Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection", but I think it won't be relevant for you first because you are running 2003 and secondly because I SOLVED MY PROBLEM in another way...

I just removed Symantec Endpoint Security (SEP11 MR4 MP2) and all my problems disappeared.. Magic, no?

For those of you who have the same piece of software installed, try to remove it. I chose to install AVIRA (Free at http://www.free-av.com/) eventhough I believe that SEP is a better product.

Cheers and good luck if your are in a different case.

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194 additional answers

Anonymous

2010-01-11T23:04:22+00:00

i'm having the same issue on my Asus Striker Extreme, my LAN keeps saying no internet connection and a yellow triangle over the network icon in the tray

the only way i can get my internet access back is to disable/enable my network adaptor

c'mon Microsoft where is the fix for this, i bought Windows 7 Ultimate to use, not as a test toy
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Anonymous

2010-01-11T11:22:56+00:00

Jeff, thanks once again for the detailed explanation. I am set up similar to you but I stopped using AVG free a month ago because it was so problematic (really slowed things down). Am now using Microsoft's own Microsoft Security Essentials. Firewall is the free version of PC Tools. I also run CS4. With this combination my machine runs everything very fast.

I'm glad you are trying all the fixes as I am not that brave plus I still think Microsoft should fix the problem so we can use our computers like they were meant to be used without major surgery. I read the changes you made and my sense is that you will eventually be back at the same place. All the things I have done have just increased the time between problems - not solved the problem. Even if you find the ultimate culprit it may be a program you need to run.

I will await the results of your efforts as you are carrying the flag for all of us.
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Anonymous

2010-01-11T01:14:43+00:00

Paul:

I switched to Firefox (from Maxthon) about three months ago and from the start, I've been using Firefox on this system almost exclusively. The problem we're having, at least in my case, does not appear to be IE related.

After working though this issue for three weeks and posting here and elsewhere, I opened a case with Microsoft Professional Services Friday evening.

An engineer and I took a number of steps, minor and major, and I will say that since the system was rebooted around 10PM Friday, it's remained stable (and connected!). Prior to today, connectivity was always lost within, say, 26 hours since startup.

Minor steps included:

Changing the binding order of network services. Moving Adobe's service downward and moving Windows networking first.

Major steps included:

Using MSCONFIG to disable all applications set to auto-start at system start/logon.

Using MSCONFIG to disable every non-Microsoft service running on the machine.

Removing both antivirus and anti-spyware applications. I was running the free version of AVG and the paid version of PC Tools Spyware doctor.

Windows 7 has a new tool call MSDT, the Microsoft Support Diagnostic Tool. The engineer asked me to run it and submit its findings for analysis.

Last night after about a day of uptime with no connectivity issues, I launched AIM.

At 10:30 this morning, still without any issues, I re-enabled the service for Backblaze, my online backup solution, and launched that app.

I will post more as time goes by, and after troubleshooting continues with Microsoft on Monday.

I'll say that without AV and anti-spyware running this machine is as fast as it was the hour it was built. There are no pauses, no mysterious 20-second lockups, etc.

The fact that a 3.4GHz 8 apparent-core (4 real cores with hyperthreading) machine can be slowed to such an extent by antivirus and anti-spyware software that any gains in speed over the previous generation of machine during interactive use are negated, is a testament to how far we have to go in engineering software that doesn't compromise the usability of the machine it's running on.

Examples:

Run Paint Shop Pro 9 with AV/Anti-spyware running: 9 second load time

Without AV/AS: 3 second load time

Run Photoshop CS4 x64 with AV/AS: 13 second load time

Without AV/AS: 5 second load time

Open Outlook 2007 (with Exchange server support) with: 5 seconds

Without: 2 seconds

When I can afford it, I will be looking at perimeter protection for IDS, and AV. I like the Juniper SRX240, but the device is about $2300. If installing it would allow me to remove AV on all my clients, it might be worth the cost in the increased response of each system. It might even extend the life of a couple of aging laptops.

Oh, one caveat about dealing with Microsoft and their commitment to supporting Windows 7 Ultimate:

Microsoft Windows Support was happy to create an incident and to provide me with free assistance under the Windows 7 warranty, which they activated concurrently with my call. However, once I mentioned that the machine was joined to a domain, they insisted on transferring the call to Professional Services and having them open a new case. Apparently, Windows 7 Support is qualified to resolve issues with printers, cable modems, dual displays and unplugged keyboards, but once you're using the connectivity built into the Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate SKUs, it's over their head, and free support turns into $245-per-incident support, unless you're covered in some fashion.

I subscribed to TechNet Direct a few months ago, and that included two free incidents. Well worth the cost of the TechNet subscription.

Jeff
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