Weird: internet connection drops LAN stays up.

Hi there and thanks for reading.
My config (part of):
- Desktop PC with LAN connection to router. Router connects to ISP.
- Same desktop has USB wireless connection stick
- the wireless connection is bridged (with XP bridge) to the wired
connection to the router
- My laptop (Dell Latitude D600) also has a wireless adapter, built-in
(Intel Pro)
- 802.11 authentication is disabled for the wireless connections
- Both machines have XP Pro SP2, both drivers of the wireless devices
are the latest (signed)

What happens is:
- when I connect through the wireless connection on my laptop to the
desktop (with the wired connections not connected) at regular intervals
(abt 5-10 minutes) the internet connection drops.
- while the internet connection is down, the LAN connection between the
two remains, because I can still transfer files between them
- I still can ping the desktop but CANNOT ping the router (192.168.0.1)
anymore
- after some minutes the internet connection restores and continues to
work again, and everything can be pinged again
- then it goes down again (after 5-10 minutes) etc

Who can clear my sky, please ????

Thanks a lot !

Kees (the Netherlands)

"Kees" <keesvanengelen@gmail.com> hath wroth:

Nice description. The only thing your missing is the maker and model
number of the router in question. 192.168.0.1 would make it a Dlink
or Netgear.

Was this working before, or is this a newly setup system?

>What happens is:
>- when I connect through the wireless connection on my laptop to the
>desktop (with the wired connections not connected) at regular intervals
>(abt 5-10 minutes) the internet connection drops.

Normally, I would suggest that you have 802.1x authentication enabled
but no RADIUS server. The client re-authenticates every 10 minutes,
fails, and disconnects. However, that was fixed in XP SP2 so that's
improbable. Check the 802.1x settings anyway. If you're using WPA or
WPA2 encryption, 802.1x must be enabled. Incidentally, try running it
without encryption for a while and see if the problem disappears. That
won't solve the problem but might identify the culprit.

Are you SURE you have the latest Intel Proset drives and utilities? I
much prefer to use Proset instead of Windoze Wireless Zero Config.
| http://www.intel.com/network/connect...t_software.htm
That's probably not the problem but a good idea anyway.

>- while the internet connection is down, the LAN connection between the
>two remains, because I can still transfer files between them

By "LAN connection" do you mean the wired ethernet connection? Are
you simultaneously connected via wired and wireless to the same
router? Is the desktop connected via a wired or wireless connection?
If wireless, does the desktop also loose the connection to the router?
Please give some clue as to how things are arranged.

>- I still can ping the desktop but CANNOT ping the router (192.168.0.1)
>anymore

OK, so you don't also have a wired connection. If the "LAN
connection" to the desktop is via wireless only, then the only way
that can happen is that your wireless router is acting weird. Any
chance you have both an infrastructure connection to the access point
and an ad-hoc connection to the desktop in the network setup?

Another possibility is that you have RIP or RIP2 running on the router
or desktop, which might cause the default route to change as the
connection goes up and down. Run:
Start -> Run -> cmd
route print
and look at the line at the bottom for default gateway. See if it (or
anything else) changes when the system goes down.

>- after some minutes the internet connection restores and continues to
>work again, and everything can be pinged again
>- then it goes down again (after 5-10 minutes) etc

Holdit. You said you can't ping the router and now you're using the
internet connection as a test. Stay with pinging 192.168.0.1 coming
and going. Your internet service provider could be going up and down
causing the problem. How long does it take to recover pinging the
router? Never mind the internet for now.

--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

"Kees" <keesvanengelen@gmail.com> hath wroth:

Let's try again.

>My config (part of):
>- Desktop PC with LAN connection to router. Router connects to ISP.

OK. Desktop is wired to the router.

>- Same desktop has USB wireless connection stick

Not ok. Desktop also has a wireless connection to the same router.

>- the wireless connection is bridged (with XP bridge) to the wired
>connection to the router

Why do you go THROUGH the desktop to get to the router?

Do you have a peer to peer connection betweent the laptop and the USB
dongle on the desktop, and then bridged to the ethernet connection to
the router? If so, then when the ethernet connection between the
desktop and the router is lost, you'll have exactly the symptoms you
describe. Same when the desktop goes to sleep and breaks the bridge.

>- My laptop (Dell Latitude D600) also has a wireless adapter, built-in
>(Intel Pro)
>- 802.11 authentication is disabled for the wireless connections
>- Both machines have XP Pro SP2, both drivers of the wireless devices
>are the latest (signed)
--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for reacting.
The connection from the desktop to the router is wired.
So it's a wired router to the desktop.
The make and model is Sitecom DC-202.
And it's anew setup.
WEP is enabled for the wireless connection.
It is certanly NOT the ISP that's going down, this can still be
accessed through the desktop.

Cheers

Kees


Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> "Kees" <keesvanengelen@gmail.com> hath wroth:
>
> Nice description. The only thing your missing is the maker and model
> number of the router in question. 192.168.0.1 would make it a Dlink
> or Netgear.
>
> Was this working before, or is this a newly setup system?
>
> >What happens is:
> >- when I connect through the wireless connection on my laptop to the
> >desktop (with the wired connections not connected) at regular intervals
> >(abt 5-10 minutes) the internet connection drops.
>
> Normally, I would suggest that you have 802.1x authentication enabled
> but no RADIUS server. The client re-authenticates every 10 minutes,
> fails, and disconnects. However, that was fixed in XP SP2 so that's
> improbable. Check the 802.1x settings anyway. If you're using WPA or
> WPA2 encryption, 802.1x must be enabled. Incidentally, try running it
> without encryption for a while and see if the problem disappears. That
> won't solve the problem but might identify the culprit.
>
> Are you SURE you have the latest Intel Proset drives and utilities? I
> much prefer to use Proset instead of Windoze Wireless Zero Config.
> | http://www.intel.com/network/connect...t_software.htm
> That's probably not the problem but a good idea anyway.
>
> >- while the internet connection is down, the LAN connection between the
> >two remains, because I can still transfer files between them
>
> By "LAN connection" do you mean the wired ethernet connection? Are
> you simultaneously connected via wired and wireless to the same
> router? Is the desktop connected via a wired or wireless connection?
> If wireless, does the desktop also loose the connection to the router?
> Please give some clue as to how things are arranged.
>
> >- I still can ping the desktop but CANNOT ping the router (192.168.0.1)
> >anymore
>
> OK, so you don't also have a wired connection. If the "LAN
> connection" to the desktop is via wireless only, then the only way
> that can happen is that your wireless router is acting weird. Any
> chance you have both an infrastructure connection to the access point
> and an ad-hoc connection to the desktop in the network setup?
>
> Another possibility is that you have RIP or RIP2 running on the router
> or desktop, which might cause the default route to change as the
> connection goes up and down. Run:
> Start -> Run -> cmd
> route print
> and look at the line at the bottom for default gateway. See if it (or
> anything else) changes when the system goes down.
>
> >- after some minutes the internet connection restores and continues to
> >work again, and everything can be pinged again
> >- then it goes down again (after 5-10 minutes) etc
>
> Holdit. You said you can't ping the router and now you're using the
> internet connection as a test. Stay with pinging 192.168.0.1 coming
> and going. Your internet service provider could be going up and down
> causing the problem. How long does it take to recover pinging the
> router? Never mind the internet for now.
>
> --
> Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
> Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

Hi Jeff!

I understand what you describe.
But when the wireless is replaced by a wired connection, so the laptop
is connected through wire with the desktop, and that is also bridged,
it works OK.
So all that I want to use is the laptop with the internet wireless,
instead of wired wo the desktop what I use when the laptop is "docked".

Then the connections stay up, with wireless only the internet goes
down.

So what's the differenced, that's the question :-))

Cheerio

Kees



Jeff Liebermann wrote:
> "Kees" <keesvanengelen@gmail.com> hath wroth:
>
> Let's try again.
>
> >My config (part of):
> >- Desktop PC with LAN connection to router. Router connects to ISP.
>
> OK. Desktop is wired to the router.
>
> >- Same desktop has USB wireless connection stick
>
> Not ok. Desktop also has a wireless connection to the same router.
>
> >- the wireless connection is bridged (with XP bridge) to the wired
> >connection to the router
>
> Why do you go THROUGH the desktop to get to the router?
>
> Do you have a peer to peer connection betweent the laptop and the USB
> dongle on the desktop, and then bridged to the ethernet connection to
> the router? If so, then when the ethernet connection between the
> desktop and the router is lost, you'll have exactly the symptoms you
> describe. Same when the desktop goes to sleep and breaks the bridge.
>
> >- My laptop (Dell Latitude D600) also has a wireless adapter, built-in
> >(Intel Pro)
> >- 802.11 authentication is disabled for the wireless connections
> >- Both machines have XP Pro SP2, both drivers of the wireless devices
> >are the latest (signed)
> --
> Jeff Liebermann jeffl@comix.santa-cruz.ca.us
> 150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
> Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
> Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558