Windows 7 Loses Internet Connection but not Network Connection.

Paul:

Let me clarify a bit. My responses are in-line.

>>Unfortunately it appears to me that all you have proven is that if you use your computer the way you want to it will continue to crash. Disabling AV and Firewalls is just nuts except in the briefest of tests. Running software which has been tested with W7 should not crash a good system.

My computer is now back to 95% of what it was a week ago when I had the daily connectivity drop and when I began "serious" troubleshooting. The only differences to the system with the problem and currently are the following:

1. A few non-necessary service remain disabled (Acronis, Andrea ADI/SoundMAX, Asus System Control and Google Update). These are all unnecessary services and do not affect my use of the machine. I am pretty sure that I can re-enable the two Acronis services without affecting the system, but since I suspect the Asus software, I shall enable that next. *PUTS FINGERS IN EARS*
2. PC Tools Spyware Doctor (full/paid version) remains uninstalled, for now.

I agree that disabling AV and certain firewalls is ill-advised long term, and AV is again fully in force on the system. As an aside, we never touched the Windows firewall, which is running. Spyware Doctor's firewall is, as it stands now, a casualty of this troubleshooting effort.

>>I hope your tutorial helps some but it won't work for me because I like to run the other software and W7 and IE8 should work with what I have or they should publish the incompatibilities.

I am not sure to what you're referring when you say "the other software." I agree that IE8 should run flawlessly under Windows 7 and prior versions. I will say that things not specifically OS-related can crash IE, not the least of which are plugins, the most notorious of those being toolbars and those plug-ins related to antivirus/anti-spyware applications. I am sure you've seen some of the truckloads of IE troubleshooting articles around the Web. I, myself, changed browsers about three months ago because I couldn't deal with the crashing that I was experiencing, and that was under XP. In my case I was using Maxthon (which uses the IE engine). I switched to Firefox after dismissing that browser for years. No crashes since.

I am not suggesting a browser switch by any means. A person's choice of browser is one of the most far-reaching personalizations they can make to their computing environment. But I'd suggest, if I might, that if you haven't done so already, some IE-specific troubleshooting be done.

>>The only thing I really disagree with is your comment about checking hardware if the fix does not work. Most everyone including myself are running proven systems that worked just fine with other OS and have no hardware issues. This is a pet peeve as it always comes up from places like Microsoft when they don't know how to actually fix the problem.

Forgive me. My suggestion to check hardware was grounded in a misunderstanding on my part. I didn't realize most of the systems involved were established machines with the new OS installed. I thought those reporting the problem were, like me, using new hardware.

>>I'm really sorry as I don't mean this to offend since you have done more than anyone to sleuth this problem, but I'm not going to let Microsoft shut down all my programs to placate me. They should work on some code for W7 and IE8.

Not offended. No worries.

>>By the way I just went to the Marvell Yukon site and installed the latest NIC driver (from January) and it seemed to let me work a little longer. Went almost 4 days before a crash of IE8.

Thanks for the heads-up regarding availability of a new NIC driver. I'll make a mental note to update when things have been stable here for a bit longer. I don't want to make too many changes in too short a time to keep track of.

The reason I opened the case with Microsoft, in truth, was that I was tired of playing around with settings, not having any success with the disconnects, and I was looking for an easy way out. I was also looking for someone to vent (b*tch) to. "Do this, this and this and it'll fix the problem" was what I wanted. I didn't get that. I got a standard way to troubleshoot Windows issues using built-in tools that I already knew existed and knew how to use. If I had coughed up $245 for the incident, I would have been very angry with myself. As it is, I feel I should have put more effort into logically troubleshooting the issue before calling Microsoft.

Jeff

Next update: After connectivity is lost or by Sunday evening, whichever comes first.

Jeff, I certainly appreciate all the work and reportage you have done on this issue.

Your first comments about this thread being confused by several different symptoms is correct and it should remain at those of us who are unable to reach the internet but still have a working NIC. For me it appears to be just IE8 crashes every so often which is par for the course as IE8 has and still has a lot of bugs. For others the NIC may stop working.

Unfortunately it appears to me that all you have proven is that if you use your computer the way you want to it will continue to crash. Disabling AV and Firewalls is just nuts except in the briefest of tests. Running software which has been tested with W7 should not crash a good system.

I hope your tutorial helps some but it won't work for me because I like to run the other software and W7 and IE8 should work with what I have or they should publish the incompatibilities.

The only thing I really disagree with is your comment about checking hardware if the fix does not work. Most everyone including myself are running proven systems that worked just fine with other OS and have no hardware issues. This is a pet peeve as it always comes up from places like Microsoft when they don't know how to actually fix the problem.

I'm really sorry as I don't mean this to offend since you have done more than anyone to sleuth this problem, but I'm not going to let Microsoft shut down all my programs to placate me. They should work on some code for W7 and IE8.

By the way I just went to the Marvell Yukon site and installed the latest NIC driver (from January) and it seemed to let me work a little longer. Went almost 4 days before a crash of IE8.

Not an update, but general thoughts and comments...

After perusing this and another similar thread for the last three weeks or so, I am convinced that people are logging a number of different and, to some extent, unrelated issues.

One person mentioned a yellow triangle over the network status icon in the tray/notification area. This is NOT a symptom of the issue that's affecting either the original thread posters (to my knowledge) or me.

One person mentioned DNS server timeouts along with his inability to do name resolution. Again, this does not appear to be a symptom of the issue as originally described.

As easy as it is to point the finger at a new operating system release it's perhaps not "fair" to do so. There are a myriad of drivers and services, from many sources, running on our machines, that interact with the base operating system. It's likely that not all of this code is as mature and well tested as it should be.

Working with a Microsoft Engineer, in less than an hour, just doing simple things, I was able to get the system to a point where it's been completely stable. Tonight makes a week during which the connectivity issue has not returned.

My suggestions are as follows:

To those who have contributed to this thread and similar threads elsewhere, please re-read the symptoms of the issue as it was originally logged. If your symptoms are different or you have additional symptoms, rethink the likelihood that you're experiencing the exact same issue. Start troubleshooting the issue on your own rather than waiting here for a solution that may never arrive.

To those who are positive that they are experiencing the issue as originally described, there is an easy method with which you can troubleshoot the problem and, possibly, eliminate or, better, help to identify its cause.

Start by disabling power management for your network adapter. Microsoft senselessly made this harder to reach in Vista and Windows 7 then in prior versions of Windows. Go to Control Panel --> Network and Internet --> Network Connections. On the Networking property page for each adapter, click the Configure button. Then on the Power Management tab make sure the checkbox labeled Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power is unchecked. Click OK.

Next, with the old MSCONFIG utility. On the Service tab, select the checkbox labeled Hide all Microsoft services. Microsoft is certain that it is not any of the base services in the OS that are causing this issue. Whether you believe them or not, it's a good assumption with which to start. Now uncheck all the non-Microsoft services listed.

If you have the inkling look through the descriptions of the services you're about to disable. Google any you'd like more information about. Don't be surprised if you find some that are so totally unnecessary, wasteful or even invasive, that you would never have installed them had you been asked.

Now, on the MSCONFIG Startup tab, uncheck ALL of the applications listed. You'll be re-enabling them, a few at a time, pretty quickly. Click the OK button and reboot your computer.

The Microsoft engineer I worked with also had me uninstall all antivirus and anti-spyware software at this time. If you do decide to do so as well, surf carefully.

Once your system has rebooted and you're logged on, you may be amazed to find that it mostly functions the way it did with all those additional services active. It'll probably run a bit faster too. Feel free to manually load whichever of the auto-start applications you disabled earlier so that you can accomplish your usual tasks.

Run your system in this mode for a day or two, or however long you think necessary to confirm that the connectivity issue you were experiencing no longer occurs.

If the issue does recur, you will need to continue troubleshooting elsewhere. I'd suggest looking at faulty hardware, faulty assembly, overheating or a bad power supply.

If the issue does not recur, using MSCONFIG, re-enable whichever non-Microsoft service or services (not too many - just one or two to start) you feel are most important for the ultimate and complete functionality of your system. You probably won't need to reboot if you proceed as follows: In MSCONFIG on the Services tab, check the service you wish to re-enable. Click OK. Choose NOT to reboot the system.

Go to Computer Management (Right-click Computer and choose Manage or run compmgmt.msc), expand Services and Applications (you can also get there by running services.msc), then Services. Find the service or services you just re-enabled using MSCONFIG and start them.

Run your system again for a time long enough to ensure that your connectivity issue does not recur. When ready, repeat the above steps, using MSCONFIG to re-enable another service or two.

At this point, you may not have had to reboot your system since you originally disabled all your non-Microsoft services and auto-start apps.

You will eventually begin to start rebooting your system again, if you haven't already, for things like updates and program installs. As you get back to occasional reboots, using MSCONFIG, re-enable your former auto-start applications, a few at a time, until, assuming the original connectivity issue doesn't manifest itself, all your auto-start apps have been restored.

Logically, you should be able to re-enable services and apps until one of them triggers the issue.

For me, I am at the point where all my necessary non-Microsoft services have been re-enabled, as have all my auto-start apps. I've also reinstalled my AV software (but not my anti-spyware software). Notably still disabled are the System Control service and any applications and utilities provided by my motherboard maker.

Using this process, I have also identified the source of suspected but unproven hangs of 20-30 seconds in Firefox and Mail. These hangs, present from the day the system was built, ceased when antivirus software was removed from the system and returned once AV was re-installed.

I'd be happy to answer any questions or provide assistance where I can.

Jeff