Frequent router/network "drops"

[keldorr]

Hi all... I hope this isn't a repetative post... I did a search and found similar posts, but not exactly my problem.

I also hope it's on the right forum.... the issue MIGHT be my router, but I don't really think so...

Anyways... on to the problem...

I've got a Linksys WRT54G v.3 wireless router... I connect my desktop PC to it, *wired* ... and a laptop wirelessly.

All has been fine for a long time, but last week I started having frequent problems.

What happens is, everything will be fine then suddenly I'll lose internet connection. When it drops, it drops for both the wired PC and the wireless laptop.

Curiously, when it drops, I can't even connect to my Routers config (192.168.1.1) ... it's like the router has disappeared... and I have lost ALL connectivity.

When the connection is down, I've tried pinging the router and get 100% loss.

When this happens, I've tried correcting by power cycling the router / cable modem, which is ineffective.

What DOES correct the problem (temporarily) is either restarting the PC *or* going into my device manager and disabling/re-enabling my network card.

Interestingly, the problem seems to mostly occur in specific circumstances:

- either when downloading peer-to-peer, or
- changing router config settings (when I CAN get into the router, if I make a setting change and save it, the result occasionally is a loss of connection, requiring a network card disable/re-enable)


More info for you:

My ISP is Shaw cable.

I've updated the router firmware, trying both Linksys's latest, and the latest HyperWRT (this is the currently loaded firmware). I was on Linksys tech support chat and followed their advice for updating the firmware, so I am confident it was done properly. (FYI they were of no help with the actual problem... I don't think she even really understood the problem I was having and was simply following a script)

The network card I use is actually a built-in device... "Marvell Yukon PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller".

I have a spare router at home (another Linksys, not wireless, the model is BEFSR41 ... ver.2 I believe), and have tried running off that router and the problem still occurs.... so I THINK that eliminates the router as the problem... but I'm not quite sure... I'm not the most knowledgable person with respect to this stuff.

Any suggestions?

[YeOldeStonecat]

Are you running with UPnP services enabled on the router, or no?

Any related errors in event viewer?

When internet does screech to a halt...if you run an IPCONFIG /ALL...correct into show up?

[keldorr]

I am at work at the moment, not at home where the problem is, but will answer as best I can:

UPnP is enabled.

Event viewer errors: sorry, I'm not familiar with this, or how to check it.

'ipconfig /all' : if I remember correctly, yes, the correct info shows up when run after a drop. I can't ping the router at that time, but I think an ipconfig /all did show the correct info still. (I will try this again when at home to confirm)

[keldorr]

Quick update... and I feel like a bit of a fool... one step I completely missed in troubleshooting this was re-installing/updating the network card driver. I did that yesterday and had a torrent running all evening, and overnight, without dropping.

I think that's fixed the problem.