Strange connectivity problems?

I have an AT&T wireless router hooked up to my Comcast cable modem, and
am accessing it using my Dell Inspiron 600m laptop's Centrino card.
I've never had any problems until last night, and this one is very odd
to me...here are the details:

1. 7:30pm, checked email and surfed Web, no problems
2. 7:45pm, closed lid (system standby) and took unit downstairs
3. 7:50pm, re-opened lid, wireless card found my router but would not
send/receive data (email = "mail server not found," browser "page
cannot be found")
4. Took unit back upstairs thinking I was too far from the router and
it couldn't get a good signal
5. Right next to router, same problem - wireless card connects
automatically to the router, but does not send traffic through modem.
6. Power cycled all 3 devices and reconnected in order cable modem ->
router -> laptop. Problem still present.
7. Called Comcast (ISP) - no issues on their end, checked all culprits
on mine. Connected laptop direct to modem via ethernet cable, internet
connection worked fine.
8. At the time, my router was not encrypted (lazy), so I thought maybe
a hijacker was causing the problem. I went into my router and reset
it, including a 128-bit WEP key.
9. Power cycled everything, wireless connection worked fine.
10. Closed lid of laptop again - 15 minutes later I came back, same
problem - wireless card connects to router, but doesn't send traffic
through the modem.
11. Plugged in ethernet cable direct to modem again, internet
connection works fine.
12. Power cycled all 3 devices again, this time wireless card found
the router and sent traffic through modem just fine.
13. Closed laptop lid again (system standby), opened it later and
experienced the same problem.
14. Power cycled router only, did not fix - still connected to the
router via wireless card but no traffic through modem.

So it seems to be this intermittent loss of connectivity between the
wireless router and the modem, even though they are securely connected
with an ethernet cable, and it seems to only happen after I fire up my
system again after going to "standby" and killing the wireless
connection.

The wireless card -> router connection seems to be fine, and
The modem -> ISP connection seems to be fine.

Any thoughts on what this could be?
At this point I'm entertaining the following notions:
1) short circuit in the ethernet cable from router to modem?
2) wireless router is failing?
3) wireless card is failing?

Thanks for any advice.

jamesmgregg68@gmail.com wrote:
> I have an AT&T wireless router hooked up to my Comcast cable modem, and
> am accessing it using my Dell Inspiron 600m laptop's Centrino card.
> I've never had any problems until last night, and this one is very odd
> to me...here are the details:
>
> 1. 7:30pm, checked email and surfed Web, no problems
> 2. 7:45pm, closed lid (system standby) and took unit downstairs
> 3. 7:50pm, re-opened lid, wireless card found my router but would not
> send/receive data (email = "mail server not found," browser "page
> cannot be found")
> 4. Took unit back upstairs thinking I was too far from the router and
> it couldn't get a good signal
> 5. Right next to router, same problem - wireless card connects
> automatically to the router, but does not send traffic through modem.
> 6. Power cycled all 3 devices and reconnected in order cable modem ->
> router -> laptop. Problem still present.
> 7. Called Comcast (ISP) - no issues on their end, checked all culprits
> on mine. Connected laptop direct to modem via ethernet cable, internet
> connection worked fine.
> 8. At the time, my router was not encrypted (lazy), so I thought maybe
> a hijacker was causing the problem. I went into my router and reset
> it, including a 128-bit WEP key.
> 9. Power cycled everything, wireless connection worked fine.
> 10. Closed lid of laptop again - 15 minutes later I came back, same
> problem - wireless card connects to router, but doesn't send traffic
> through the modem.
> 11. Plugged in ethernet cable direct to modem again, internet
> connection works fine.
> 12. Power cycled all 3 devices again, this time wireless card found
> the router and sent traffic through modem just fine.
> 13. Closed laptop lid again (system standby), opened it later and
> experienced the same problem.
> 14. Power cycled router only, did not fix - still connected to the
> router via wireless card but no traffic through modem.
>
> So it seems to be this intermittent loss of connectivity between the
> wireless router and the modem, even though they are securely connected
> with an ethernet cable, and it seems to only happen after I fire up my
> system again after going to "standby" and killing the wireless
> connection.
>
> The wireless card -> router connection seems to be fine, and
> The modem -> ISP connection seems to be fine.
>
> Any thoughts on what this could be?
> At this point I'm entertaining the following notions:
> 1) short circuit in the ethernet cable from router to modem?
> 2) wireless router is failing?
> 3) wireless card is failing?
>
> Thanks for any advice.
>

I would check to see if there is an upgrade to the router firmware and
if so install the upgrade.

Danny,

> Any thoughts on what this could be?
> At this point I'm entertaining the following notions:
> 1) short circuit in the ethernet cable from router to modem?
> 2) wireless router is failing?
> 3) wireless card is failing?

It's option 3, but probably not a hardware failure. Driver and/or
configuration.

The common element here is going into standby, right? There are lots of
cards and their drivers that have had great trouble with coming out of
standby mode.

Do this, when it's working pull up a CMD prompt and type "ipconfig /all" and
note the information it shows you. Put the laptop into standby, move to the
other location and type ipconfig /all again. See what (if anything) is
different. Then type "ipconfig /release" followed by "ipconfig /renew".
This will release/renew the DHCP networking information. Then use ipconfig
/all to show it again. See what's different.

I'm guessing it has everything to do with your laptop going to sleep and not
reconnecting properly on waking back up.

Thanks for your replies on this, very helpful!
I upgraded the firmware on my router, didn't help.

More information:

It's also not working on my girlfriend's wireless network at her house
35 miles away from my own (just so no one thinks we share a network
LOL)
I'm there now, and I just restarted my laptop and connected. I checked
my email, then walked away for 5 minutes. When I came back, it hadn't
gone into standby yet (I left the lid open on purpose) yet the
connection was dead.
I just restarted AGAIN, and I'm online as we speak (of course, by time
time I finish this message it may be dead again and I'll have to
retry!)

So, now I'm inclined to believe it's:
a) The wireless card's drivers and/or config
b) Firewall or other software, possibly virus

The thing that's leading me more towards B is this:
I recently installed AOL's Active Virus Shield. At roughly the same
time the connection went dead 5 minutes ago, AVS warned me that the
"Busky" virus was detected and did I want to delete it?
This is the first time that AVS has gone off at the same time that my
connection went dead, so perhaps it's not the virus itself, but AVS
acting as a firewall?

Bill, I will try the steps you recommended. Thanks for any further
replies and assistance.
Bill Kearney wrote:
> > Any thoughts on what this could be?
> > At this point I'm entertaining the following notions:
> > 1) short circuit in the ethernet cable from router to modem?
> > 2) wireless router is failing?
> > 3) wireless card is failing?
>
> It's option 3, but probably not a hardware failure. Driver and/or
> configuration.
>
> The common element here is going into standby, right? There are lots of
> cards and their drivers that have had great trouble with coming out of
> standby mode.
>
> Do this, when it's working pull up a CMD prompt and type "ipconfig /all" and
> note the information it shows you. Put the laptop into standby, move to the
> other location and type ipconfig /all again. See what (if anything) is
> different. Then type "ipconfig /release" followed by "ipconfig /renew".
> This will release/renew the DHCP networking information. Then use ipconfig
> /all to show it again. See what's different.
>
> I'm guessing it has everything to do with your laptop going to sleep and not
> reconnecting properly on waking back up.

Just an update on this...

It turned out to be the free AOL Anti-Virus Shield software that was
acting as some sort of firewall.
When I disabled the "always on" feature of AVS, now my wireless works
perfectly all the time, and when I turn on AVS and leave it running, my
connection drops sporadically and requires reboot to work again.

Thanks for all the help!


jamesmgregg68@gmail.com wrote:
> Thanks for your replies on this, very helpful!
> I upgraded the firmware on my router, didn't help.
>
> More information:
>
> It's also not working on my girlfriend's wireless network at her house
> 35 miles away from my own (just so no one thinks we share a network
> LOL)
> I'm there now, and I just restarted my laptop and connected. I checked
> my email, then walked away for 5 minutes. When I came back, it hadn't
> gone into standby yet (I left the lid open on purpose) yet the
> connection was dead.
> I just restarted AGAIN, and I'm online as we speak (of course, by time
> time I finish this message it may be dead again and I'll have to
> retry!)
>
> So, now I'm inclined to believe it's:
> a) The wireless card's drivers and/or config
> b) Firewall or other software, possibly virus
>
> The thing that's leading me more towards B is this:
> I recently installed AOL's Active Virus Shield. At roughly the same
> time the connection went dead 5 minutes ago, AVS warned me that the
> "Busky" virus was detected and did I want to delete it?
> This is the first time that AVS has gone off at the same time that my
> connection went dead, so perhaps it's not the virus itself, but AVS
> acting as a firewall?
>
> Bill, I will try the steps you recommended. Thanks for any further
> replies and assistance.
> Bill Kearney wrote:
> > > Any thoughts on what this could be?
> > > At this point I'm entertaining the following notions:
> > > 1) short circuit in the ethernet cable from router to modem?
> > > 2) wireless router is failing?
> > > 3) wireless card is failing?
> >
> > It's option 3, but probably not a hardware failure. Driver and/or
> > configuration.
> >
> > The common element here is going into standby, right? There are lots of
> > cards and their drivers that have had great trouble with coming out of
> > standby mode.
> >
> > Do this, when it's working pull up a CMD prompt and type "ipconfig /all" and
> > note the information it shows you. Put the laptop into standby, move to the
> > other location and type ipconfig /all again. See what (if anything) is
> > different. Then type "ipconfig /release" followed by "ipconfig /renew".
> > This will release/renew the DHCP networking information. Then use ipconfig
> > /all to show it again. See what's different.
> >
> > I'm guessing it has everything to do with your laptop going to sleep and not
> > reconnecting properly on waking back up.