Intermittently loosing internet connection... on cable?

[astull]

Here is my setup...
cable internet access, running first (all ethernet) to a dlink 4 port router (dhcp enabled), then from the router to two windows XP home PC's. Very simple.
Here is the problem...
on both PC's at startup and intermittently during internet browsing, when i try to navigate to a new page, internet explorer will pop up a message saying i am "offline", all i have to do is press try again, and it will work for a while. This seems to happen when i walk away from the pc for 5 or 10 minutes and come back and try to navigate to a new page. It gets annoying quick!
Here is what i have tried...
i have turned off any setting on the NIC card or on the computer itself that has to do with powering down a piece of equipment. i have tried upping the IP leases from 1 hour to 1 day. i have tried going through the XP home network setup every way possible, as well as going through the IE connection setup every way possible. Still Nothing! I have also tried only turning one PC on, and i get the same results.

Im not sure what exactly caused this problem but here are some of the configuration changes that happened around the time the problem started.... I added the second DELL XP system to the network. Before it was a windows ME system and everything worked just fine. I also recently shared some files so that both XP systems could copy files back and forth.

any help is appreciated
Aaron

 

[Comtech]

Have you checked the router config?
Have you reset the router?


Cheers,
Jim

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

 

[astull]

i have checked the router config and everything looks ok, i havent reset it, but that is probably my next step. i think i'll try that next time i get a chance to play with it.

i never have any "problems" accessing the net, because pressing try again always works... very strange

 

[Comtech]

It could be the router firewall. It's getting a flood, and might think it's a DdoS attack...I get this on certain sites that have lots of graphics.
I managed to fix it by putting that site in the "Trusted Zone", and setting the router to allow traffic on that IP.

Cheers,
Jim

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

 

[Jontmke]

Check to see that power management is not enabled on the nic card. Turn that off, it could be that windows is powering the nic down, and it takes to clicks to fire it up.


JON

 

[astull]

i have already turned off the power management (on both PC's) to the NIC thinking that was it... but it wasn't. i dont think any power management settings are causing the problem since this problem also happens when the PC is just powered up.

i'll try resetting the router when i get a chance, and i'll let you know what happens

thanks to all

 

[astull]

i reset the router and updated the firmware the other night, and there have been no problems since then.

thanks for the help!
Aaron