Strange connection problem

[johnmac78]

I have a linksys BEFSR41 V3 w/firmware1.04.8 connected to comcast through a modem supplied by comcast.

There are two computers connected to the router. One a Win 98SE machine and the other Win XP Pro.

Initially both computers worked fine and I was able to connect to the internet no problem. Now the XP machine will loose part of its connection after a period of time. Internet explorer will no longer connect nor will Microsoft Outlook mail and a couple of other programs that are sending and receiving local weather information. (This setup originally worked fine for a month or two)When this problem develops, I am still able to ping to Comcast and also use AOL IM and access the win 98 SE.The win 98 SE machine never drops its connection when this happens.
The only solution is to reboot the computer and then it will start working for a few ours before it drops out. I have closed all programs and it still will not work if you come back 3 or 4 hours later.

Win XP 192.168.1.12
Win 98 192 .168.1.20

There is never a problem when you are accesing the internet, it seems to happen when the computer is idle.

Anyone have any thoughts??

Thanks.. John

 

[bcastner]

Good, you avoided a common error of assigning static IPs inside the DHCP scope of the router.

Now,
. On the XP client repair your Winsock service with this freeware utility:

http://members.shaw.ca/techcd/VB_Projects/WinsockFix.zip

. After a reboot, reset your static IP configuration, and:

. Under the network adapter, Configure, disable any power management features; disable 802.1x authentication

. Since you are using static IPs for the clients, look at the router configuration pages and write down the DNS servers from your ISP it discovers. Then make manual entries under TCP/IP Properties for the adapter:

. The static IP address, subnet 255.255.255.0, with a Gateway address the router IP, typically 192.168.1.1

. Enter as the first two or so entries under the DNS tab the ISP DNS servers discovered earlier. Make as the last entry as a DNS server address the router IP (typically, 192.168.1.1)

. Under the WINS tab, click to "Enable Netbios over TCP/IP", disable the use of LMHOSTS, and uncheck to register the DNS entry dynamicly.

Reboot.

I hope you are now done.

 

[johnmac60]

Sorry.. I have tried all of the suggestions above and still no luck. I lost connection sometime during the night.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks.. John

 

[bcastner]

and the Win98SE machine was fine?

It is not a router issue then. You did not specify your NIC card, but I have had much better luck upgrading the NIC adapter drivers from the chipset manufacturer, rather than the OEM reseller.

See if the discussions below include your NIC adapter, and if so, download updated drivers:

http://www.dessent.net/btfaq/#freeze

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/j.buchanan/winmx/faq-restart.html

(It does not matter if your are not using BT or WinMX, the issue is a generic one of drivers for your lan adapter. It is just the P2P folks tend to flush out weak drivers before anyone else.)