[SOLVED] Pc Randomly disconnects on Internet (LAN) and prompts to restart afterwards

[Alberto Bj]

Hi! I have been noticing a problem of my PC. Sometimes the internet / ethernet (LAN) disconnects randomly and cannot be fixed by windows network diagnostics unless the pc is restarted. The Network diagnostics says that the problem could be solved by networking reset hence; restarting the pc. I also checked at the back of the pc and the LAN or RJ 45 lights aren't lit up). I also checked if my wifi is working (my phone didn't get disconnected as well as the other PC that we have that my mother use for work, so definitely not a router problem). I also tried changing LAN ports and it's still the same, I also tried changing the LAN cable itself from a new one and the problem still persists.

Basically everytime it disconnects, windows network diagnostics prompts me to restart the pc in oder to fix it. After windows boots, it always asks me everytime to "allow this pc to be discovered by devcices etc" and then the ethernet starts working again.
I tried several basic fixes such as flushing the DNS cache, netsh winsock. The only thing that I haven't tried is to try to reinstall windows as a whole (clean install). I do not know if this is a hardware problem by the motherboard (ethernet port not working maybe? because my motherboard is about 7 years old now.) (ASUS h81M-D haswell) or a problem with my OS (also tried chekdsk and sfc /scannow).

Is there anyone that could help me identify what the problem is or anyone that has encountered a simillar problem? dunno whats wrong and its always annoying to have my pc restarted everytime it disconnects to the internet.

PC SPECS:
OS: WIn 10
CPU: i5 4570s
Motherboard: ASUS H81M-D
RAM: HyperX Fury DDr3 1866mhz DDR3 8gbx2
SSD: ADATA 120gb
HDD: Seagate 1TB

 

[Ralston18]

"In regards with the primary router, I Still couldn't get access with it, (The youtube guy told me that I need to remove the fibr optic cable first while the router was turned off and try to login in 192.168.1.1 while the router has LOS red light on it."

and

"Just another update, I was able to access our DSL router (secondary) one by typing in 192.168.1.1 while the main router is turned off.

Certainly appears that you may have duplicate router IP's.

I have two general concerns:

1) I do not know your ISP and exactly what and how they have configured their provided modem/router (the fiberhome router) to do or not to do.

I am very sure that once past their device and into the second router the ISP can no longer can influence or otherwise force network options that are solely within the purview of the network administrator.

2) With your Mom needing internet access to do her work it is quite possible that she will lose network/internet connectivity in the process of restoring network/internet connectivity for your computer.

In the meantime @bill001g 's post popped up.

Check and try as he has suggested.

Use the line diagrams etc, (edit or create a new one if necessary) showing all devices and their respective IP addresses.

Make note of WAN and LAN ports being used as well.

Keep track of changes: original configuration, what you changed, and where.

 

[Alberto Bj]

This is a long chain and I think ralston18 mentioned this but not sure what was done.

So from what I see from your last post both router have exactly the same IP address. This will cause you all kinds of strange random issues if you can even get it to work.

What I am unclear about is do you have the the cable that goes from the primary router to the second router in the WAN port of the second router or the LAN port. If you are using the WAN port I am kinda surprised it works at all, routers normally don't work at all when the lan and wan are on the same subnet. In this case change the lan IP on the second router to something like 192.168.0.1.

If you cabled it to the LAN port then you are using the second router as a AP. To run this way change the IP to something like 192.168.1.250. You must also disable the DHCP function in the second router. If you leave it on both the ISP router and the second router will attempt to give out IP addresses and you get very strange problems.

Hmm the 2nd router that we have only has 5 ports and 4 are LAN (in which all Rj45's can plug in), and a DSL one, to be very exact, 3 LAN (1 from main router, 1 to my mom's pc and 1 to mine), 1 IpTV, and the DSL one (unplugged since we now use fiber and use the main router for the internet)

Soo that means now i need to disable DHCP on the secondary router since we don't use it via WAN?.

Ill still try to access that, Yesterday I wasn't sure if the credentials i used for the 2nd router was the admin one, nor am I allowed to edit DHCP or Ip configurations.

 

[bill001g]

Disconnect it from the main router when you are trying to change it. With both devices set to the same IP your pc may not be accessing the same device and it can randomly change while you are using it. Part of the reason duplicate IP are a pain.

Why do you even have the second router. If you need more ethernet ports a simple switch might makes things easier. But changing the IP and turning off the DHCP should let the router function as a switch with wifi radios....ie a AP.

 

[white.a.drew]

This is a long chain and I think ralston18 mentioned this but not sure what was done.

So from what I see from your last post both router have exactly the same IP address. This will cause you all kinds of strange random issues if you can even get it to work.

What I am unclear about is do you have the the cable that goes from the primary router to the second router in the WAN port of the second router or the LAN port. If you are using the WAN port I am kinda surprised it works at all, routers normally don't work at all when the lan and wan are on the same subnet. In this case change the lan IP on the second router to something like 192.168.0.1.

If you cabled it to the LAN port then you are using the second router as a AP. To run this way change the IP to something like 192.168.1.250. You must also disable the DHCP function in the second router. If you leave it on both the ISP router and the second router will attempt to give out IP addresses and you get very strange problems.

Generally they have the same subnet and everything well in bridge mode.

 

[Alberto Bj]

Disconnect it from the main router when you are trying to change it. With both devices set to the same IP your pc may not be accessing the same device and it can randomly change while you are using it. Part of the reason duplicate IP are a pain.

Why do you even have the second router. If you need more ethernet ports a simple switch might makes things easier. But changing the IP and turning off the DHCP should let the router function as a switch with wifi radios....ie a AP.

I may not have any administrative access to our second router, I can only view detals but can not edit it.

Our ISP doesn't allow us to use the other 3 LAN ports, they have it default disabled (yeah ik, sounds fishy right) unless we sign a waver that if anything ever happens to the router that they will not fix and or be responsible for it.

 

[bill001g]

Factory reset the second router to get access. You can not have both routers on the same IP address.

 

[Alberto Bj]

Im sorry that this has been a long thread.


I would like to ask, if is it possible that we just buy a new main router and just plug both pc's there? without using the previous 1st and 2nd router?

I'm kinda afraid to configure anything in the 2nd router nor the main one as I might cause more problems rather than fix them. I also don't have the time currently at the moment as myy mom is working everyday and I'm afraid ill also mess up her internet when I try to configure any of the routers and not get it back.

She's also now looking forward to just buying a new one (if it is possible) as stated above because she is also having internet problems during night time, for straight 3 days now (I don't know if this will fix her problem and mine though but yeah).

 

[Ralston18]

Buying a new router is unlikely to help. Actually getting another router could make things worse.

The problem appears to be configuration.

For example, as mentioned by @bill001g two routers using the same IP address - that is a configuration issue.

Instead of a new router, consider a simple un-managed switch with the following physical connections:

ISP === fiber ===> fiberhome hg6245d router [LAN Port] ---Ethernet ---> Switch [LAN port(s)] --- Ethernet---> to your PC and to your Mom's PC.

With all network devices getting an IP address from the fiberhome router.

Using a switch would be a simpler and less expensive solution. And eliminate Router addressing issues.

Also, do you have any other knowledgeable family members, friends, Mom's co-workers (IT folks) available to help?

All in all I recommend that you and your Mom get some direct hands on assistance to help get it all sorted out so she does not lose her network connections and ability to work. Especially if work owned equipment is involved.

There may be additional comments and suggestions.

 

[bill001g]

My guess is no. The device you list takes a fiber optic connection directly. These type of devices tend to not be standard...ie like a cable modem would be. They vary quite a bit between ISP. Then even if you could find one the ISP may prevent you from connecting it to their network. This tends to be even more true if you have telephone service on the box also.

What should work is to buy another router that has a ethernet wan port unlike your current one that has DSL. When you plug into the wan port of a new router you are in effect treating the ISP router as a modem even though it is a router.

Then you would need to check that the lan was not using 192.168.1.x and if it is change it to something like 192.168.0.x.

If your only goal is to get more ethernet ports buy a simple 5 port switch will be much cheaper and easier. There is nothing to configure and you could just plug it into the ISP router and get rid of the second router.

 

[Alberto Bj]

My guess is no. The device you list takes a fiber optic connection directly. These type of devices tend to not be standard...ie like a cable modem would be. They vary quite a bit between ISP. Then even if you could find one the ISP may prevent you from connecting it to their network. This tends to be even more true if you have telephone service on the box also.

What should work is to buy another router that has a ethernet wan port unlike your current one that has DSL. When you plug into the wan port of a new router you are in effect treating the ISP router as a modem even though it is a router.

Then you would need to check that the lan was not using 192.168.1.x and if it is change it to something like 192.168.0.x.

If your only goal is to get more ethernet ports buy a simple 5 port switch will be much cheaper and easier. There is nothing to configure and you could just plug it into the ISP router and get rid of the second router.

Buying a new router is unlikely to help. Actually getting another router could make things worse.

The problem appears to be configuration.

For example, as mentioned by @bill001g two routers using the same IP address - that is a configuration issue.

Instead of a new router, consider a simple un-managed switch with the following physical connections:

ISP === fiber ===> fiberhome hg6245d router [LAN Port] ---Ethernet ---> Switch [LAN port(s)] --- Ethernet---> to your PC and to your Mom's PC.

With all network devices getting an IP address from the fiberhome router.

Using a switch would be a simpler and less expensive solution. And eliminate Router addressing issues.

Also, do you have any other knowledgeable family members, friends, Mom's co-workers (IT folks) available to help?

All in all I recommend that you and your Mom get some direct hands on assistance to help get it all sorted out so she does not lose her network connections and ability to work. Especially if work owned equipment is involved.

There may be additional comments and suggestions.

Thank you for all your recommendations.


Stating that buying a new router might even cause / complicate problems

Would it be best then to just try activating the two (2) lan ports of the router (fiberhome) so that we just connect to it both directly and not use the 2nd router at all? My mom also has been having internet problems the past 3 days (though that could be an entirely unrelated problem towards mine) but we requested to activate the two other LAN ports of the main fberhome to see if that will fix both of our issue's.

In regards with the main router's configuration, I still havent tried if I will have admin access rights into it nor I could even have access to it (right now) unless I just factory reset it so that all the ip configurations would all just be DHCP and my pc not just being 192.168.11 but just DHCP from the main router instead. Would that also be alright? (Though idk if resetting / factory resetting the router will turn all the settings to default).

A quick update: My pc lost internet earlier today round 12:00 AM. This time, it prompted me to restart before it got fixed. The past two (2) days that it happened, it just went back after 2-3 seconds without prompting me to restart.

 

[bill001g]

If you just need more ethernet ports buy a 5 port switch they are under $15.

https://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Gigabit-Ethernet-Unmanaged-1000Mbps/dp/B00KFD0SMC/

if you need only 100mbps you can get switches under $10.

 

[Ralston18]

In your Post #12 I noted that the router's lease time was configured for 24 hours. However, I was not sure (and I am still not sure) which router that may have been.

And you noted the "going down" time problem once before in Post #10

Plus one problem or another seemed to be a "24 hour" cycle.

Technically the lease time should not make a difference. Overall, I use 7 days but other's can and do configure the lease time differently.

With multiple devices (routers) involved who knows (at least for me) what is going on there. Set that time issue aside for the moment.,

My suggestion is get a simple switch as has been recommended by @bill001g and myself.

Plug the switch into the fiberhome router - either port should work. (Doubt that the ISP would restrict usage to just one port if that is possible. Would make the ISP's work much more difficult.)

Then plug your PC and your Mom's PC into the switch.

Determine if either PC connects to the network and the internet.

If either PC succeeds then run "ipconfig /all" on that PC and post the results.

And if running "ipconfig /all" cannot be done on your Mom's computer then she needs to contact her company's technical support for assistance.

Very sure that other company employees using their own home networks have the ability to configure the wired network adapter (or a wireless network adapter) as necessary to connect to their respective home router and network.

 

[Alberto Bj]

In your Post #12 I noted that the router's lease time was configured for 24 hours. However, I was not sure (and I am still not sure) which router that may have been.

And you noted the "going down" time problem once before in Post #10

Plus one problem or another seemed to be a "24 hour" cycle.

Technically the lease time should not make a difference. Overall, I use 7 days but other's can and do configure the lease time differently.

With multiple devices (routers) involved who knows (at least for me) what is going on there. Set that time issue aside for the moment.,

My suggestion is get a simple switch as has been recommended by @bill001g and myself.

Plug the switch into the fiberhome router - either port should work. (Doubt that the ISP would restrict usage to just one port if that is possible. Would make the ISP's work much more difficult.)

Then plug your PC and your Mom's PC into the switch.

Determine if either PC connects to the network and the internet.

If either PC succeeds then run "ipconfig /all" on that PC and post the results.

And if running "ipconfig /all" cannot be done on your Mom's computer then she needs to contact her company's technical support for assistance.

Very sure that other company employees using their own home networks have the ability to configure the wired network adapter (or a wireless network adapter) as necessary to connect to their respective home router and network.

Mmm we currently have no access to a switch.

In regards with my mom's pc, I have tried even going into the control panel or right clicking the internet options and i wasnt able to access it. The other employees also say, the pc has to be turned over to the office in order for the person assigned to the pc to unlock it (yeah physically) unlock it. How can I say this? because before, they sent a faulty pc with the date and time not correctly configured (so we couldnt make the PC work with the internet) and the IT personel in the company wasnt able to re-configurate it via internet/online and we had to return the pc phyiscally and replace my mom with a new PC with the correct time and date instead. Yep. even the time and date cannot be configured by us.

 

[Ralston18]

Getting quite boxed in it seems......

All I can think of at this moment is to find a way to have an IT/support person from your Mom's work access her computer. Directly or remotely.

The objective being to obtain the results of "ipconfig /all", "arp -a", and "tracert" from her computer.

That information reveals the configuration settings needed for her computer to 1) connect to the home network and2) subsequently connect to the internet.

Next step would be to match your computer's configuration settings to be the same.

Not sure what else to suggest.

 

[Alberto Bj]

Getting quite boxed in it seems......

All I can think of at this moment is to find a way to have an IT/support person from your Mom's work access her computer. Directly or remotely.

The objective being to obtain the results of "ipconfig /all", "arp -a", and "tracert" from her computer.

That information reveals the configuration settings needed for her computer to 1) connect to the home network and2) subsequently connect to the internet.

Next step would be to match your computer's configuration settings to be the same.

Not sure what else to suggest.

Hi! our ISP just unlocked our other 2 LAN ports and It is now working currently.


My IP configuration was new and was no longer 192.168.1.11

This was the results (for my pc)

https://imgur.com/jalaZtA

View: https://imgur.com/jalaZtA

https://imgur.com/hWSqEN1

View: https://imgur.com/hWSqEN1


I will observe if it still disconnects me every 24 hours


I have also tried to open command prompt from her pc to try ipconfig /all. It seems that, it is also disabled by her administrator.

From what I understand, her pc is using virtualization (from what i see) because theres two different UI's when she opens her PC, first UI opens up with very few to no icons on the desktop (i don't know what OS it was but im not familiar with its UI the taskbar was white and not Windows), and then she is prompted to login and then when she enters, the UI becomes windows 10 and the Icons that she use for work is all saved there.

 

[Ralston18]

Not sure about the "ipconfig" images - are those the same images from Post #12?

Noted the "was"...

The ISP router is likely 192.168.1.1 (Subnet 255.255.255.0) and per your computer's current "ipconfig" the router has simply assigned another available IPv4 address other than 192.168.1.11. That address is likely to change from time to time.

What IPv4 address is now assigned? Using DHCP means that some other IPv4 address would be expected.

If your Mom's computer is configured to likewise request a IPv4 address from the ISP router and being provided a functional network/internet address then all should be well.

Current physical network connections being:

ISP === fiber ===> fiberhome hg6245d router [LAN Port 1] --- Ethernet---> to your PC and [LAN Port 2] to your Mom's PC. Actual port number is somewhat moot.

No other device (wired or wireless) along that path - correct?

If all is working then just leave things alone.

And if your computer continues the 24 hour disconnects - then I believe that admin access to the ISP router will be needed in order to address that problem.

 

[Alberto Bj]

Not sure about the "ipconfig" images - are those the same images from Post #12?

Noted the "was"...

The ISP router is likely 192.168.1.1 (Subnet 255.255.255.0) and per your computer's current "ipconfig" the router has simply assigned another available IPv4 address other than 192.168.1.11. That address is likely to change from time to time.

What IPv4 address is now assigned? Using DHCP means that some other IPv4 address would be expected.

If your Mom's computer is configured to likewise request a IPv4 address from the ISP router and being provided a functional network/internet address then all should be well.

Current physical network connections being:

ISP === fiber ===> fiberhome hg6245d router [LAN Port 1] --- Ethernet---> to your PC and [LAN Port 2] to your Mom's PC. Actual port number is somewhat moot.

No other device (wired or wireless) along that path - correct?

If all is working then just leave things alone.

And if your computer continues the 24 hour disconnects - then I believe that admin access to the ISP router will be needed in order to address that problem.

Yes. the physical connection is correct.

I will observe if it still disconnects

Umm no no. these are new images. I just thought that my preferred was now 192.168.1 instead of 192.168.11 but it seemed the same with the image that i uploaded earlier.

Sorry for the confusing illustration. I just thought the preferred ip address being ".11" all the time instead of being ".1" or ".x" was the problem right? If it was set to DHCP it should always be changing right? because the preferred ip address now is 192.168.1.5

https://imgur.com/uwknHku

View: https://imgur.com/uwknHku
(means it changed). Before, when I check my ipconfig it always seemed to be .11 or is that irrelevant?

 

[Ralston18]

In a DHCP environment any device requesting an IP address from the router will be provided with the next available IP address.

How the router determines what that "next" assigned DHCP IP address will be most certainly can and will vary. Especially in larger networks. Most routers have a default range of values set aside for DHCP use. Router administrators can change the range and also save/reserve certain IP addresses for static use. Static meaning that the address is permanently given to one network device. (There are rules and requirements for doing so.)

The main concept being that the end user/computer is not burdened with asking for a specific IP address. The router simply provides (within some rules and address ranges) an IP address that is available. In other words not being used by some other device. Duplicated IP addresses can wreak network havoc.

You computer's IPv4 address may stay at 192.168.1.5 or change again. One reason for the earlier problems may well have been that multiple routers where being asked to provide addresses. That certainly will cause confusion and problems.

[Sidenote: The use of "(Preferred)" is terminology. I have always thought that "(Assigned)" would be clearer.]

Overall rule being that only one network router is configured to provide DHCP IP addresses: one IP address per device.

It now appears that the Fiberhome router (192.168.1.1) is now handling the IPv4 address requests.

FYI:

DHCP IP addresses

Link is very new (March 22, 2022) and easily read. However, you can find other, similar explanations for additional insight, diagrams, and details.

PS: Note the paragraph regarding lease time. Normally lease time is something you should not need to be concerned about unless there is some definite problem attributed to lease time.

And if there is a proven lease time issue then whoever has full admin rights to the Fiberhome router will be needed to fix the problem(s).

 

[Alberto Bj]

In a DHCP environment any device requesting an IP address from the router will be provided with the next available IP address.

How the router determines what that "next" assigned DHCP IP address will be most certainly can and will vary. Especially in larger networks. Most routers have a default range of values set aside for DHCP use. Router administrators can change the range and also save/reserve certain IP addresses for static use. Static meaning that the address is permanently given to one network device. (There are rules and requirements for doing so.)

The main concept being that the end user/computer is not burdened with asking for a specific IP address. The router simply provides (within some rules and address ranges) an IP address that is available. In other words not being used by some other device. Duplicated IP addresses can wreak network havoc.

You computer's IPv4 address may stay at 192.168.1.5 or change again. One reason for the earlier problems may well have been that multiple routers where being asked to provide addresses. That certainly will cause confusion and problems.

[Sidenote: The use of "(Preferred)" is terminology. I have always thought that "(Assigned)" would be clearer.]

Overall rule being that only one network router is configured to provide DHCP IP addresses: one IP address per device.

It now appears that the Fiberhome router (192.168.1.1) is now handling the IPv4 address requests.

FYI:

DHCP IP addresses

Link is very new (March 22, 2022) and easily read. However, you can find other, similar explanations for additional insight, diagrams, and details.

PS: Note the paragraph regarding lease time. Normally lease time is something you should not need to be concerned about unless there is some definite problem attributed to lease time.

And if there is a proven lease time issue then whoever has full admin rights to the Fiberhome router will be needed to fix the problem(s).

Noted. Will update you if i notice the internet going down / having abnormal behaviours, So far none, my pc hasn;t been disconnected ever since i connected to the LAN port of the fiberhome router. Although I was away for a while (usualy at 12:00 am it happens) so i wasn't sure if it happened beyond my watch but I will watch it still and observe.

 

[Alberto Bj]

As of writing this post. 12:05 AM in our current time. I still haven't experienced any disconnection from my PC since I connected it to our main router.
I couldn't observe further until 1 AM since I have morning class tomorrow but I will continue to observe. If I notice another disconnection I'll just start a new thread


I would like to close this thread now but uhm I dunno where I should click. If anyone would like to close the thread for me and mark the best answer to who told me the 2nd router was the problem as the solution. Thankyou for everyone that tried to help me.