Question Consistent loss of internet connection every 10-20 minutes ?

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ugean

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Jan 19, 2011
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I have run out of things to troubleshoot so I am posting here for help before I throw out this laptop. I have an older laptop that I use regularly that about a month ago has started having internet problems. No other network changes have occurred. It is only impacting this laptop and the other 3 computers and numerous other devices are not having any problems.

The Problem: Every 10-20 minutes the laptop drops the internet connection for 1-2 minutes. This is very annoying when streaming video or doing any file upload/downloads. I can work around it when doing general surfing but it is really becoming a bother.

The interesting thing is that the laptop stays connected to the internal network and can continue to move files across to the other computers on the network. The keyboard on the laptop stopped working several years ago so this laptop lives on a doc station and functions like a desktop. I have tried disconnecting the hardline and running it on wifi and I get the same results. Like I said above no other computer on the network has this problem. My network is Starlink and AT&T with a load balancing router. I have disconnected it from the router and tried running it on each ISP by itself. The problem still exists. I have run many different virus and maleware scans. The system is clean. I have not done a reload of windows. If it comes to that point I think I'll just replace it. I have also updated the drivers which the most recent updates were already done prior and were a couple of years old. I rolled them back anyway and no luck. Same with system updates. I have tried the trick of changing the power management so that the network card doesn't turn off. after several days of searching for an answer I am out of things to try. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

I have a running ping on Google to catch the internet dropping. I couldn't paste as an image but here is the output showing the dropping. At the same time I am pinging another computer in my network and showing that it is connecting all the while. I will say that the ping times on this system are about twice that on any other system in my network.

Reply from 172.217.14.228: bytes=32 time=105ms TTL=120
Reply from 172.217.14.228: bytes=32 time=93ms TTL=120
Reply from 172.217.14.228: bytes=32 time=102ms TTL=120
Reply from 172.217.14.228: bytes=32 time=126ms TTL=120
Reply from 172.217.14.228: bytes=32 time=108ms TTL=120
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Reply from 172.217.14.228: bytes=32 time=98ms TTL=112
Reply from 172.217.14.228: bytes=32 time=86ms TTL=112
PING: transmit failed. General failure.
PING: transmit failed. General failure.
PING: transmit failed. General failure.
Reply from 172.217.14.228: bytes=32 time=112ms TTL=120
Reply from 172.217.14.228: bytes=32 time=107ms TTL=120

Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from : bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
 
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The only real difference between a ping to a machine in your network and one on the internet is that the packet to the internet is actually sent to your router to forward out to the internet.

So you have eliminated many common things.
It won't be very common things like DNS or IPv6 since you are running constant pings to a ipv4 address.
Since it pings to other machines it really can't be your machine
Since other machines work it really can't be the router......it could be something very strange I guess.


What I would try next is leave a ping run to the router IP rather than another machine. Also if you can somehow check it while it broken see if the gateway IP is changing. It all depends if you can somehow get a ipconfig /all command keyed in quick enough.
Next use the ARP -a to see if maybe the mac address mapped to the gateway IP changes.

The only other thing I can think of is somehow the router is losing the ARP entry for your pc and not returning data but the general failure message makes me think it is your pc.

It is good that you can see it with a simple ping commands. Maybe you can use wireshark and try to compare what packets look like when it works and when you get failures. If you can only run the ping commands you should not get huge amounts of data. You should be able to also see things like ARP commands with little traffic.
 
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I was thinking a NIC issue as well but the allowing internal network traffic made me think twice.

I caught the failure and rand the Ipconfig -all and ARP -a while it was failing. Results below.

I was also running the pings on both the load balancing router and the Starlink modem (I physically disconnected AT&T for the test) at the same time. They did not show the outage. I also ran the IPConfig /all but really don't know what I'm looking for with that.

One thing I noticed is that all of the devices are assigned static IP's in the router and three of the devices appear by those IP's but three devices, including this laptop did not. I confirmed this when the internet is working and not working the ARP results are the same. One device that is not showing is a switch (so no worries there), the other is my wife's work laptop which she is using and not experiencing any issues, and last one is this laptop.

The static IP shows in the IPConfig and the physical address in the IPConfig does not show in the ARP.

Before failure
Interface: 192.168.2.xxx --- 0x5
Internet Address Physical Address Type
192.168.2.xxx 14-eb-b6-2c-92-35 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx 6c-5a-b0-b4-bd-e9 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx 34-48-ed-b6-2e-74 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx 94-de-80-78-a0-b4 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff static
224.0.0.xxx 01-00-5e-00-00-02 static
224.0.0.xxx 01-00-5e-00-00-16 static
224.0.0.xxx 01-00-5e-00-00-fb static
224.0.0.xxx 01-00-5e-00-00-fc static
239.255.255.xxx 01-00-5e-7f-ff-fa static
255.255.255.xxx ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff static

Interface: 100.64.100.xxx --- 0xd
Internet Address Physical Address Type
100.64.100.xxx dynamic
224.0.0.xxx static
224.0.0.xxx static
224.0.0.xxx static
239.255.255.xxx static
255.255.255.xxx static


During failure

Interface: 192.168.2.xxx --- 0x5
Internet Address Physical Address Type
192.168.2.xxx 14-eb-b6-2c-92-35 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx 6c-5a-b0-b4-bd-e9 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx 34-48-ed-b6-2e-74 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx 94-de-80-78-a0-b4 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff static
224.0.0.xxx 01-00-5e-00-00-02 static
224.0.0.xxx 01-00-5e-00-00-16 static
224.0.0.xxx 01-00-5e-00-00-fb static
224.0.0.xxx 01-00-5e-00-00-fc static
239.255.255.xxx 01-00-5e-7f-ff-fa static
255.255.255.xxx ff-ff-ff-ff-ff-ff static

Interface: 100.64.100.6 --- 0xd
Internet Address Physical Address Type
100.64.100.xxx dynamic
224.0.0.xxx static
224.0.0.xxx static
224.0.0.xxx static
239.255.255.xxx static
255.255.255.xxx static
 
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Since you mentioned static IP, why not just put a static IP on this laptop? It could be that it has difficulty when it try to renew its DHCP IP address (probably every 10-20 minutes?

A lot of time a NIC starts failing is its capability of renewing its dhcp ip address.
 
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Ethernet adapter Ethernet 6:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell GigabitEthernet (this is the doc station on the laptop)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 9C-EB-E8-XX-XX-XX
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.X.XX(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, February 2, 2024 9:12:24 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, March 16, 2160 5:43:04 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.X.X
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.X.X
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.X.X
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled
 
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It just dawned on me that the hardline runs into the doc station which runs USBC to the laptop. And the problem persists when I use wifi through the laptop. That would mean it can't be the NIC could it?
 
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It seems you have 2 different interfaces. You have a 192.168.x.x. network and a 100.64.x.x.

If you do ROUTE PRINT is there a single 0.0.0.0 entry or are there 2. Windows can get confused at times where there are 2 default networks. You want only 1 interfance to have the default network.
 
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ugean said:
Ethernet adapter Ethernet 6:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell GigabitEthernet (this is the doc station on the laptop)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 9C-EB-E8-XX-XX-XX
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.X.XX(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, February 2, 2024 9:12:24 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, March 16, 2160 5:43:04 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.X.X
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.X.X
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.X.X
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled
Click to expand...

You are using DHCP, and the release time is weird. Expired on 2160? Something is wrong here. Did you set wrong lease time on the router?

Even if you preserved an IP address for the laptop, your are still using DHCP, you have to set the static IP on the PC itself.

By the way, you can show complete internal IP address , no one can touch it.
 
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How do I do a ROUTE PRINT?

How do I set the static IP on the PC itself?

I figured as much but I'm no expert and figured if I posted it there would be someway for it to be used against me.
 
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https://support.sasktel.com/app/ans...5/~/setting-up-static-ip-in-windows-10-and-11

IP 192.168.2.x )x can be 2-254 as long as it does not conflict with other device/pc/router
gateway 192.168.2.1 I guess, if that is what your router's IP
dns can be any public dns IP 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4 (Google) or 1.0.0.1, 1.1.1.1 (cloudflare), etc.

==

Don't think your problem has any thing to do with arp.

But as @bill001g suggested, you shouldn't have 2 adapters having 2 different default gateways

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/t...connectivity-issues-multiple-default-gateways
 
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I don't quite understand what to put in to the default gateway on the static routing. I tried a few things and it completely disengaged from the internet. Then after a minute the wifi kicked on and it connected through that.
 
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Why do you have so many adapters on the laptop? All of them on dhcp?

192.168.2.xxx 14-eb-b6-2c-92-35 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx 6c-5a-b0-b4-bd-e9 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx 34-48-ed-b6-2e-74 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx 94-de-80-78-a0-b4 dynamic

And can you draw a diagram of your networking?

Starlink, AT&T (fiber), dual wan load balancing router & laptop connections. And Starlink router, AT&T router and dual wan load balancing router's LAN IP addresses.
 
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How do I attach a file on this forum? I'll draw it out but don't know how to attach it. As for the number of adapters on the laptop I'm not sure. There is the NIC in the laptop, the doc station, a switch that has this laptop, my work laptop (no issues there) and a router that I use just for wifi on this end of the house. Then it goes from that switch to the ER60 load balancing router that is right now only fed by the Starlink modem. Oh and I use ExpressVPN on this laptop.

And the problem still occurs if I use the Wifi directly off of the Starlink modem.
 
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View: https://help.imgur.com/hc/en-us/articles/115003264766-FAQ-for-Forum-Users​

upload the drawing to imgur.com, no account required
read the BBCode part, copy the code and paste in the forum to show the photo/image

ER60? Is it ER605 from TP-Link? default ip seems to be 192.168.0.1

Connected to Starlink modem? I think it's a router and its default LAN IP is 192.168.100.1?

and what's AT&T's router IP? (192.168.2.1 ?)
 
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Sorry yes it is the ER605. That was a typo. Whatever I did with that static IP really messed it up. I lost all internet but had internal network. I even reverted the changes, rebooted and still couldn't connect. Then after about an hour it connected on the wifi connection.

I should also explain that both the Acer and HP are connected to their own Dell doc stations. That is where the hardlines actually connect to.

https://imgur.com/vAJcZgS
View: https://imgur.com/vAJcZgS


Hopefully that link works to the image
 
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Wiring looks fine. Did you set static IP successfully?

Have you found what is causing that extra lease time (over 100 year)? Is there a rogue dhcp server?
https://www.google.com/search?q=rogue+dhcp+server+detection+tool

And what dock station?
https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/docks-and-stands/ar/5441

You have to disable all and leave only one adapter (wired, wifi, expressvpn, usb ) enabled to trouble shoot one by one. Go to Control Panel, Networking and Sharing Center, right click on adapter to disable a particular NIC. Make sure only one is active when you are testing.
 
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Another question is that are you using bit torrent to download / upload files? Torrent can sometime cause modem/router to reboot after a while. But that's my experience years, years ago. Did the interrupt only happen while torrenting?
 
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192.168.2.xxx 14-eb-b6-2c-92-35 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx 6c-5a-b0-b4-bd-e9 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx 34-48-ed-b6-2e-74 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx 94-de-80-78-a0-b4 dynamic

according to OUI/Vendor search, bolted digits are vendor id, so
the first 2 are TP-Link
3rd is Dell
4th is Gigabyte

You should disable 3 of the 4 active adapters at a time, test only one active adapter individually to try to figure out which one is causing problem

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFI8OXx43Fs
 
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lantis3 said:
192.168.2.xxx 14-eb-b6-2c-92-35 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx 6c-5a-b0-b4-bd-e9 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx 34-48-ed-b6-2e-74 dynamic
192.168.2.xxx 94-de-80-78-a0-b4 dynamic

according to OUI/Vendor search, bolted digits are vendor id, so
the first 2 are TP-Link
3rd is Dell
4th is Gigabyte

You should disable 3 of the 4 active adapters to try to figure out which one is causing problem
Click to expand...
If that is the output from arp -a it also shows all the devices you have talked to on your lan. You will always see the router but you can see switches and other pc on your lan network also.
 
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