Internet Explorer

[dfrav]

HELP me PLEASE. I am stumped. I am having trouble getting Internet Explorer to stay connected to the internet. First let me explain the situation. I have a DSL line connected at 1Mps. It comes into a D-Link router, branching off to a PC, AirPort for Mac, and my PC. Both the first PC and AirPort stay connected at all times. My PC for some reason only stays connected for a couple of hours. The only way that I can reconnect is to restart my machine. In some rare cases I play with the connection icon in Network Connections long enough (disabling, enabling, and repairing, etc...), and one out of ten I might get my connection back. The twist is this. I have ICQ and ZoneAlarm running as well and they always stay connected. It is only IExplorer that losses connection. (status bar reads finding site www.msn.com or detecting proxy settings), then shows up with the cannot find server message. I also have a Sony Vaio laptop that I tried on the same connection and that does the exact same thing. All systems are running Win XP Pro. Is there some kind of settings that I need to change on my IExplorer. I was told by some one that my cable could be under rated and they suggested CAT 5e. I will be forever indebted to whoever could help me. I feel it is bad for the hardware to restart every 3-4 hours just to reconnect to the internet. Thank you for reading this whole thing I know its long, but I wanted to give you as much to work with as possible.

[Mickwish]

Hey, welcome to TechIMO, dfrav!!

Well, first things first: is it hardware or software related? Easist way to check the cable is to swap it to the PC that works fine. Use the same router port and different cable and see if the PC that is normally fine plays up. If it does, get a new Cat5E rated cable. Simple.

Then check to see if a different router port also causes problems. If it doesn't do anything bad on the other PC on it's usual port, but plays up on the one your PC is normally on, then your router needs fixing or replacing. Ports can go bad sometimes.

If cable / port work fine with the other PC, might be software settings on your PC. Another thing that can cause weird connection issues are viruses and trojans, so do a good, thorough virus scan (online one at www.symantec.com or something is fine).

Hope these ideas help to check out what it might / might not be. Let us know how it goes!!

Cheers
Mick

Originally posted by dfrav
. . . detecting proxy settings), . . .

Does your AirPort act as a proxy server? If not, by default IE is setup to "Automatically detect settings" which I have found can screw up over time if connected to a router.

Under 'Internet Options', click on 'Connections' tab, then 'LAN Settings' button. Uncheck the box that says "Automatically detect settings". You shouldn't need to reboot, but it won't hurt if you do, I would.

[dfrav]

I tried all the swapping connections and everything else but still no good. I even got a new cat 5e cable. All the other computers work fine except for my pc and my laptop. I am pretty sure that it is software related. like i Said before I have ICQ and ZoneAlarm both running and they stay connected. I even let all of my programs access the internet to see if it was ZoneAlarm that was cutting off the connection, not it. the weird thing is that I have a good connection for a couple of hours and then it goes bad. Restarting fixes it every time. Is there some kind of timer in the setting of IExplorer that would do that? could it be the way that I set up the connection when I ran Xp for the first time? if so, how should I set up?

[The Real Bingo]

Has your IE been doing that for a while? Maybe a system restore would do the trick.

[dfrav]

It has never worked properly from the first day that I started the computer.

[AzKidd69]

is the automatic internet lock in ZoneAlarm being set?? might want to try removing the firewall completely temporarily and see if that fixes it. if that is the case try a different firewall such as sygate personal firewall ( http://soho.sygate.com/buy/download_buy.htm ) last download button free fopr personal use

[dfrav]

I am pretty sure it is not the ZoneAlarm. I tried shutting it off completely and still no change.

[lost-and-found]

on the router, you have DHCP enabled I presume, what happens when you go to Start -> RUn -> winipcfg when the PC "seems" disconnected?

Under your TCP/IP settings do you have "obtain IP automatically" selected?

[dfrav]

Obtain IP automaticlly is selected. DHCP is enabled. I will have to try the winipcfg when I get home I am at work right now. I will let you know.