XP reboot hangs w/loss of network cxn.

We have a cable modem and router. Sometimes I'll leave my computer idle for hours, come back, and the network connection is there. Other times, the connection will not be present and I cannot browse. My roommate says this happens to him also on his XP machine.

In the case that it's not, I (soft) reboot the computer and it gets to the splash screen and just hangs (tried waiting up to 5mins); no HD activity. If I push the button to reboot on the CPU case, it will then load to XP fine (<30sec).

I'm just trying to understand why this is happening. Is there a setting in BIOS such as the LAN wake-up item that I can change? I'm using a PCI 10/100 card so I wouldn't think that would solve it. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

Two things you could try.

1. an applet that hits the network every so often. I have Norton set to ping the Norton web site about every 5 minutes which does it for me. There are other apps that will do the same. An internet clock/time synch program set to update your system clock every half hour or every hour should do the same thing.

2. As an alternative to a reboot, try
start~run~cmd and then from the command window
and then ipconfig /renew. If that doesn't do it, ipconfig /release and then ipconfig /renew

 

1. I thought about writing something like this in VB as a last resort, but if Norton already has something available, I'll gladly use that.

2. An even easier solution, I'll definitely try that.

Thanks!

 

Problem still exists
==============

1. Does not solve problem: A network pinger/app is set to every 10 mins
2. Does not solve problem: Can release fine but doesn't renew.

I think I have isolated the problem. The computer will reboot fine in safe mode and safe mode w/net. I have played with msconfig and even that didn't help. The only other thing I have done is boot the computer normally with the ethernet cable unplugged from my HUB, and it works fine. Then I plug the cable in, and I'm on the net.

Is there some way to repair this or diafnose the network files as I really believe XP doesn't like something on the network when it boots and hangs like it does. Our current setup involves a cable modem to a linksys router, and then my cxn goes to a HUB and then to my two PCs.

 

Ah so. Which LinkSys router?

 

That Linksys ring a bell, Newt? So far as I know, Linksys hasn't released any XP drivers.

This driver solves the "Linksys Problem" if the network card is also a Linksys:

Card driver: ftp://210.65.45.84/nic/an985b/AN985B_DRV_205.zip

 

Heh, oops. My bad guys...

the router is a NetGear model RT 314. My other two roomies used this previously on their Win2k boxes fine, they said they didn't have to install any drivers. I poked around the NetGear site, but it doesn't look like there are drivers to be found.

 

The router should be fine, though there is a flash upgrade for it at Netgear. The router is really OS-independent. You might try updating that if you haven't already.

I was more curious about what NIC card you have in the computer and whether that has XP drivers.

 

My question about the router was the fact that PDubs mentioned unplugging a PC from his HUB. Which raises all sorts of questions.

The router/switch you mentioned is a 4 PC port + modem port device with built-in router and DHCP/NAT.

So my questions now are network configuration related.

1. Are you really also using a hub? If so, why?
2. Is the NetGear device doing DHCP for your network? This would mean you were also using NAT and the only "real" IP address would be the one assigned to the router.

And a test for you to do is from the problem PC, see if you have a reliable connection as far as the router if using NAT and to your ISP. This will test your NIC, Hub (yuck) and cable. As follows

ping -t xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (the IP address of the router if using NAT)
- let it run for 200-300 reps.
- look for any timeouts or long response times.
- stop it with a CTRL-C
- do the same all over again but using a packet size twice as large as the default. And then quadruple the default size.

ping -t xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (the IP address of any server at your ISP)
- same as above

 

NIC card is an old OLD Linksys model. I tried downloading the drivers off their site when I redid my computer and I found an equivalent, not an exact match. I have been using this NIC card since '97, so that's prolly the next thing that needs replacing.

1. HUB is used because each of us roomies at the house gets our own feed from the router. I need two of them because I have one going to my personal machine, and sometimes need a second connection when I VPN into work.

2. No DHCP is used.

Thanks for your help guys. I think I'm just going to replace the NIC since my current one is five years old and hope that solves my problem.

 

I had a suspicion about that NIC card. The symptoms seemed familiar, but curable. 

Since Linksys has produced no XP drivers, you may want to try this one, though I am not sure if it will work with one that old. Depends on the model, but if you are considering replacing it anyway, couldn't hurt to try (if you can get through to either of these sites):

AN985B_DRV_205.zip
from
www.admtek.com/download.htm or www.admtek.com.tw/download.htm


Who knows? It may work. NIC's haven't changed much. I pulled an old ethernet card from a 386 that installed itself perfectly on XP.

 

Okay, the computer is ready to be thrown off of my roof now. I had to replace the power supply for an unrelated event and at the same time, I decided to buy a new Linksys NIC card that had the WinXP logo/stamp on the box.

For a few days it was working fine, then this storm rolls through last night and makes my computer reboot. Again, I'm left with the same problem where it hangs on bootup. I shut down and unplugged for five minutes, still did the same thing. Safe mode w/ and w/o networking both boot fine.

So should I just give up and put Win2k on there to see if it behaves the same way? I don't mind doing it because I can back everything up via CD or Zip in safe mode I'm assuming. I'm just so sick of this garbage!!!!!