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Tech Support GAF - Computer Randomly Not Being Able to Connect to the Internet

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Hey, I'm hoping someone would be able to help me with an issue I've been having with my computer/internet. Over the last few days when I'm browsing the internet on my laptop (wireless), randomly it'll all of a sudden be really slow connecting to the next page. The tab will say "Connecting" with the little loading animation, but it can sometimes take 5 or 6 minutes to actually load, when it will all of a sudden just snap back and start working fine. (Though sometimes I need to reboot the router to get the internet going again.) This keeps repeating throughout the day. Sometimes I can go over an hour and everything is fine, and other times it'll be happening every 20 to 30 minutes. I don't know if this means anything, but it seems to happen most often if I've left the internet dormant for a few minutes, then when I try to use it again it's giving me trouble. (Though this isn't always the case.) It doesn't seem to matter which browser I'm using either, and other devices using the wireless seem unaffected. (Though I haven't heavily tested that since my laptop is what I primarily use the internet on.)

I don't think it's a virus or anything, I've ran my scan multiple times and it's come up clean. (I have paid McAfee Anitvirus Plus.) And everything else on my computer seems to be running fine. My laptop is just over a year old and hasn't given me any issues until now.

These are the measures I've taken so far with nothing seeming to fix it.
-Ran virus scan multiple times, always comes up clean
-"Refreshed" my Firefox
-Hard rebooted the wireless router*
-Changed the wireless channel on my router*

*The latter two measures were at the request of my wireless provider who I've called for tech support.

If anyone can offer any suggestions I'd really appreciate it. I hope I don't have to take my computer in to be professionally repaired because that's not something that's in the budget right now, but I need to get this fixed as soon as possible.

Thanks for any help.
 

Vic

Please help me with my bad english
Do you have any other devices connected to the router that has the same issue? Ex: A videogame console, smartphone/tablet, etc.
 
Which OS you're running and the model of your wireless adaptor would help (from device manager if on Windows).
Windows 8.1, the front of the router says Cisco DPC3825. (I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for.)

Do you have any other devices connected to the router that has the same issue? Ex: A videogame console, smartphone/tablet, etc.
I do have other devices, but I haven't noticed anything on them, but since this is a recent problem I haven't really had the opportunity. Most of my internet usage is via my laptop.
 

Mistake

Member
Windows 8.1, the front of the router says Cisco DPC3825. (I'm not sure if that's what you're looking for.)


I do have other devices, but I haven't noticed anything on them, but since this is a recent problem I haven't really had the opportunity. Most of my internet usage is via my laptop.
Actually, I've also been having this problem on 8.1 recently. I thought it was my isp or something, but I haven't seen this issue on my win 7 laptop yet. Strange. Another issue I have on 8.1 is the marker speed when I type. Moving it with the keys is very slow, and so is deleting letters. I put the speed all the way up in the keyboard settings, which fixed it until I put the computer to sleep or did a restart.
 
I had the same trouble, and my solution was to buy an USB wireless adapter.

Later I found out you just need to go into the network adapter configuration and disable the auto-power off setting. Sorry, don't remember the exact steps, but if you google "Windows 8 wireless problem" you will find a couple of videos explaining how to do it.
 

Corpekata

Banned
Next time it happens check your other devices to see if they're using the WiFi fine or not.

Also, do other services on the laptop disconnect when this happens to your browser? Check Steam, Skype, etc to see if they act up too. In the task bar is there a Network connection icon? Does it do anything when this happens?
 
I had the same trouble, and my solution was to buy an USB wireless adapter.

Later I found out you just need to go into the network adapter configuration and disable the auto-power off setting. Sorry, don't remember the exact steps, but if you google "Windows 8 wireless problem" you will find a couple of videos explaining how to do it.
I'll check this out, thanks. (Though Googling "Windows 8 wireless problem" it brings up a plethora of different stuff.)

Next time it happens check your other devices to see if they're using the WiFi fine or not.

Also, do other services on the laptop disconnect when this happens to your browser? Check Steam, Skype, etc to see if they act up too. In the task bar is there a Network connection icon? Does it do anything when this happens?
I don't really have a lot of other services that use online on my laptop, I keep it pretty simple. The icon that displays the connection doesn't change though, at least not that I've noticed.
 

Mistake

Member
Next time it happens check your other devices to see if they're using the WiFi fine or not.

Also, do other services on the laptop disconnect when this happens to your browser? Check Steam, Skype, etc to see if they act up too. In the task bar is there a Network connection icon? Does it do anything when this happens?
Nothing happens to my icon, but skype has been acting weird too. Sometimes it will only show people connect through mobile for 2-3 minutes at a time. I'll check the adapter settings tonight like M1 said, but yeah, this problem is new. Some windows update must have changed something
 
Nothing happens to my icon, but skype has been acting weird too. Sometimes it will only show people connect through mobile for 2-3 minutes at a time. I'll check the adapter settings tonight like M1 said, but yeah, this problem is new. Some windows update must have changed something
I actually hope it is some problem with Windows in general and not just my computer. I really don't want to send it somewhere to be fixed.
 
I'll check this out, thanks. (Though Googling "Windows 8 wireless problem" it brings up a plethora of different stuff.)


I don't really have a lot of other services that use online on my laptop, I keep it pretty simple. The that displays the connection doesn't change though, at least not that I've noticed.

Sorry about the vagueness of my solution. I don't really follow up solutions I applied to my PCs (I have to google how to configure my old laptop when installing Linux so the fan doesn't sound like a jet turbine each time), and I'm on that machine right now (safe machine, used mostly for anime, YouTube and paying bills). That's also how I figured out it was Windows and not my router the one with the issue.

I tried googling before posting, but I also got a lot of different solutions. However I manage to find a couple of videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cuvIf-aj70
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ9zznZXT7w

Hope these help.
 
Sorry about the vagueness of my solution. I don't really follow up solutions I applied to my PCs (I have to google how to configure my old laptop when installing Linux so the fan doesn't sound like a jet turbine each time), and I'm on that machine right now (safe machine, used mostly for anime, YouTube and paying bills). That's also how I figured out it was Windows and not my router the one with the issue.

I tried googling before posting, but I also got a lot of different solutions. However I manage to find a couple of videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cuvIf-aj70
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ9zznZXT7w

Hope these help.
Thank you. I appreciate it. I just managed to find out how myself too just now. I've followed the steps and hopefully that will work. Unfortunately due to the nature of this problem it's hard to tell if it made a difference because the internet will work fine for a while and then just conk out. Time will tell I guess.

If anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know. I'll be monitoring this topic still and will definitely post back if the issue is continuing. Thanks.
 

Mistake

Member
Mine is an Intel Duel Band Wireless-AC 3160

I went into the settings and disabled the power save option. So far I haven't had any issues. Hopefully the other minor bugs are fixed with windows 10, like my external HDD randomly disconnecting
 
I went into the settings and disabled the power save option. So far I haven't had any issues. Hopefully the other minor bugs are fixed with windows 10, like my external HDD randomly disconnecting
Same here, so hopefully that was the issue.

Thanks to everyone that has offered advice, I really appreciate it.
 
Could be interference from neighbors, now that schools out kids are using their wireless more. In which case their is nothing you can do.

Where is your router in relation to the rest of the house? If it's in a corner you can try a parabolic dish for you router antennae.
 
Could be interference from neighbors, now that schools out kids are using their wireless more. In which case their is nothing you can do.

Where is your router in relation to the rest of the house? If it's in a corner you can try a parabolic dish for you router antennae.
It's on the bottom shelf of my desk right underneath where I usually use my laptop.

Though more and more I'm thinking it's a problem with Windows/my laptop as opposed to the router. It's only happened once today which is a big improvement, but the fact that it's still happening at all is quite annoying.
 

Vic

Please help me with my bad english
Let's try first and formost the connectivity between your PC to the router.

-Press Win+r, type cmd and press enter in-order to start the command-line interface application.
-Enter the command ipconfig /all so we get the network setting for the PC.
-What we need is the IP address of the default gateway (IP address of the router) as seen below:
dos_windownnrwb.png


-Now we're going to ping (testing reachbility) the router from the PC. The command is ping *Destination IP address*

Example:

ping 192.168.1.1

A successful test will show that, in the ping statistics section, no packets were lost like seen below:

win7ci-cmd-ping-gatewbuqim.png


On the other hand, if the router is unreachable it will also be indicated in the ping statistics section and also every ping reply wont show statistics but rather error messages.

pings3morvh.gif



------------------------

Please show me the result of the commands ipconfig /all and for the ping test toward the router when the issue happens again.
 
Please show me the result of the commands ipconfig /all and for the ping test toward the router when the issue happens again.
If it keeps happening I'll send you that info. Thank you.

As I said, it's only happened once today so perhaps it was just some other little hiccup. It was working fine since last night before then. I guess we'll see.
 

Mistake

Member
I haven't been using my computer enough lately to see if the problem is still there, but if it is I will also send a pm. Thanks
 
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