[SOLVED] Need help with PC dropping connection frequently

[Brian_180]

Hi everyone,

I don't know if this is just a "everyone in the US is at home watching Netflix right now" issue or what but recently I've started streaming some music production tutorials for friends and I lose my connection to the internet A LOT, and it's only my PC. My phone and our internet TV's stay connected and I can't reconnect until I reboot my PC which makes me wonder if this is a DHCP issue. I'm getting a bachelor's in IT but I'm going to a crap college so I don't actually know enough to fix the issue myself yet. It also seems to happen most frequently when the PC in our home office, which is the only one connected via ethernet, turns on.

We have a modem from AT&T which has one wireless point on it and an ancient netgear wifi router connected to that with a regular WAP and a 5g which no longer seems to work (which is a common thing I've heard about this particular Netgear model). I have ordered a mesh system because my late father set this network up in like 2013 and it is nowhere near efficient as I'm sure you can tell. I'm wondering if I should just wait for that to arrive and rewire everything myself or if you guys have any ideas how I could get this working temporarily. My new router supposedly arrives tomorrow so I suppose it's not a major issue but I just like knowing what's wrong.

Sorry if this is convoluted I don't really know where to start with this. Feel free to ask any questions and I will do my best to get you more info.

 

[Ralston18]

You can physically check all cables and connections to ensure all are fully and firmly in place. Inspect any wall jacks.

Swap in other known working ethernet cable(s) where applicable.

Run "ipconfig /all" (without quotes) on both your PC and the office PC. Look for duplicate IP addresses or some misconfiguration.

Take the time to plan out the new network before starting to connect everything up and configuring devices.

Sketch out the existing network as a baseline and reference.

Sketch out the new network as you envision it being.

Think about what you need to do to get from the existing network to the new network.

Hardware, connections, configurations, etc..

Then use the new router's documentation along with other existing device documentation to fill in details such as DHCP IPs, static IPs, SSID, frequency, channels, etc..

Read all documentation carefully and pay attention to notes and fine print.

Plan, verify the plan, then implement working one step, one device at a time.

If you do too much at once and something goes astray it may be difficult to figure out the culprit.

Be careful, be methodical, keep notes.

 

[anotherdrew]

@Brian_180

Who can argue with Ralston's advice?

I would only add that you should familiarize yourself with the "ipconfig" command. As you follow your education in IT, it will be heavily used ... especially is you are doing anything related to networking.

For example, instead of restarting your computer when you loose connection, try:
"ipconfig /release" and then "ipconfig /renew" ... this will update the IP information via DHCP. If this resolves your issue, then it is likely an issue with the DHCP setup. If not, it could be something else (IP stack? driver? defective hardware?).

 

[RainingTacco]

Running any P2P protocol like torrent with too many concurrent connection, can make the router to lose synchronization.

 

[Brian_180]

Thank you both! Very useful info, sorry it took a while to reply I don't get email notifications for some reason.

For example, instead of restarting your computer when you loose connection, try:
"ipconfig /release" and then "ipconfig /renew" ... this will update the IP information via DHCP. If this resolves your issue, then it is likely an issue with the DHCP setup. If not, it could be something else (IP stack? driver? defective hardware?).

Coincidentally I just had a huge test on commands such as ipconfig last week so I definitely see the usefulness now! Release and renew didn't work in my specific situation so I think it is definitely a problem with both my router and NIC (router's issue is that it's kicking me off and NIC issue is that I have to reboot my computer to get it to "turn on" again). I'm using a crappy off-brand NIC that I bought last minute after realizing my mobo didn't have built in wifi (don't know if I mentioned that already) so I intend to replace that ASAP.

Fortunately since posting this, my Orbi kit arrived and it has seemingly solved all of my immediate problems. The network is still a mess but it will take a lot of planning, like Ralston said, to fix it. For one I have to pull all of the ethernet cables up through the walls and floors which I just do not have the excess brain power right now to do, lol.

Thanks again. I learned a lot through this experience and plan to continue perfecting my home network.