Internet going DOWN, modem or router or what?

[adrianse]

I have internet woes! I lose connection and it takes an act of God to re-establish it. Windows 7 can't fix it when I "Troubleshoot Problems" and just says to restart my modem. I have a copy of Network Magic that is the eval version and it can't fix it either. The only thing that fixes it is unplugging both modem and router and walking away from them. Come back 10 mins later and hope for the best. That usually works.

I'm running Windows 7 Pro 64 bit on a gaming machine. This problem happens on both the on board network adapter as well as the Bigfoot network adapter. I'm using a Motorola Surfboard 6121 as my modem. I'm using a Linksys E4200as my router. Both are up to date with firmware. My internet ISP is Charter and is the highest cable speed they offer. I have some software that scans my system for updates and there is a MB driver update, however, after it installs, the scan still shows it as needing the update even after I restart. I don't know if that's related or not.

Any ideas? Is there any software out there that can fix connections without a full power down of the hardware (something like Network Magic)? I'm just so frustrated. The problems been going on for months, but seems to be more often lately. There isn't much on my system and I can't think of anything I did that would have caused this.

Thanks for your input.

adrianse

[tmathews]

Are all devices on your network losing Internet connectivity or just this one computer? When this happens, can you still get to the configuration pages for the router and modem?

[rjfvillarosa]

Linksys routers are not held in particularly high regard around here any more.
Does your internet connection come back if you reboot just the Linksys?
How old is the Linksys router?

[adrianse]

My confidence has faded in Linksys as well over the last couple of years.
This router is probably a little over a year old and was their best router at that time. (as far as I know)

Can you recommend a brand if we narrow this down to the router?

I have tried rebooting just the router, and just the modem and it doesn't bring the connection back. I do reboot first the modem, wait until it's done, then the router. That seems to work.

When I lose connection, all device, wired and wireless, are down. I'm not sure if I can access the config pages while down, the next time it happens, I'll try.

Thanks

[glc]

The best routers these days are Asus.

To narrow it down to router or modem, you can connect the modem directly to the PC. If you do this, make sure your Windows firewall is working.

You could try updating the router firmware, do a hard reset, and reconfigure it.

It *IS* possible it's a Charter issue.

[K A Hall]

Originally Posted by glc ... It *IS* possible it's a Charter issue.

I was thinking the same thing as I have replaced network items thinking they were the problem only to find out the ISP was having issues.

I would connect one device straight to the cable modem and see if it stays connected and then go from there.

[EzyStvy]

Do the lights on the modem go out when this happens?
If so, does it usually happen late in the day when it's warm outside?