Losing DSL connection on Thinkpad (laptop)

I read through the other five threads that discuss losing connection problems and none seemed to address my situation.

I recently installed DSL and created a LAN with a modem/router. I have three PCs (all running Widows XP) in the network. Two are Wi-Fi connected and the IBM Thinkpad (laptop) is ethernet connected.

The IBM Thinkpad (Model G41) is giving me 'a problem.'

When the Thinkpad is idle for a few hours (never been able to actually time it) it loses the connection.

The little icon in the system tray is still there and if you put the mouse on it it indicates it is connected.

Checking the Control Panel Internet Connection screen says that it is connected and if you 'disconnect' it and then 'connect' it, it acts normally, but (ah...the big but) it really isn't connected (working).

The browser still says it can't find the Internet and the e-mail client still reports an error that it can't find the 'inbox' POP server.

The other two PCs in the LAN never do this.

Turning off the modem/router and then turning it back on doesn't cause a connection and everything above stays the same. Says it's connected but it isn't.

The only thing that I have been able to do to get the connection working again is to re-boot the Thinkpad (laptop).

Because it's a laptop it has energy saving options such as 'hibernate', stand-by and screen saver stuff which are defaults. I have tried to go the Control Panel/Energy Saving options screens and remove the check marks and set the timers to 'never' in the hope that they were causing the problem.

I don't know if I got them all but I do know that turning those energy saving options off didn't do any good. BTW, the Windows XP screen saver still kicks in after a period of inactivity (black screen with Windows icon rolling around).

Can anyone identify what might be causing this strange 'lost connection' problem and maybe some suggestions as to how I might fix it?

Thanks.

 

Thanks plodr. That really sounded (to me) like that setting was causing the problem. I did what you said and that little square was checked. I clicked it 'Off' (no checkmark/tick). Alas, the problem didn't go away.

I checked the Ethernet cable and the little green light next to the port goes off when I remove the cable and comes back on when I connect the cable. I assume this is an indication that the cable is functioning properly.

Also, when I disable and then enable the LAN connection, the modem/router light blinks and as before the Status window indicates 'connected' speed 100 Mb.

Still, neither the browser nor the e-mail client can get to the Internet server. Argh!

 

Some additional clues?

1. I removed the LAN connection completely and slipped a Wireless G USB adapter into one of the USB ports. Windows sensed it immediately and activated the wireless network connection. Worked fine. Went away and within an hour I encountered the same situation as in my original post. All indications were that I was still connected, including flashing lights on the modem/router when I brought up the browser (from minimized) and it tried to access the Internet. Same for the e-mail client that had been closed and I started it up. Neither could connect to the Internet.

So I removed the adapter, re-booted the laptop and plugged in the LAN cable. Windows sensed it immediately and when I started the browser it connected to the Internet within seconds.

2. I closed the browser and went to Control Panel - Network Connections and 'disconnected' the LAN connection. Again I waited about an hour and then 'connected' the LAN connection. Everything looked normal, said it was connected and when it was connecting the lights were flashing on the modem/router. Same result when I started up the browser. Lights flashed, the system tray icon (two little blue screens) blinked AND the browser said it couldn't find the web page. Then I started the e-mail client. It paused for a few seconds and then gave me an error message (no server connection).

I'm trying real hard to not put my foot through the screen.

Any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Tried that at around noon. There were 59 programs running according to the Task List. The same 59 programs (I manually wrote them all down) were running when the 'Internet connection' crapped out.

I'll start working on your other suggestions tomorrow.

Thanks much for hanging in there on this.

 

For the what's it worth department in pursuit of clues as to why this loss of connection problem is occurring -

1. Not using the browser, but just running other applications (spider game in this instance) does not prevent the connection from disappearing after an hour or so. The amount of time is difficult to judge since it NEVER appears to lose it's connection. It's only when you try to access the Internet (with a browser or e-mail client) that you discover that neither one can really connect.

2. Apparently it is unaffected by an occasional connection. I set the e-mail client (in this case Outlook Express) to check for e-mail every 10 minutes and left it running (didn't even minimize it). Came back in about an hour and it was still displayed on the screen (no error messages) and when I clicked on Send/Receive in a few seconds the error message appeared. It couldn't find the Internet. Brought up the browser - same result. Had to re-boot.

3. Tried physically disconnecting the LAN cable and after an hour connected it. Windows sensed it, said it was now working fine, but (...ah the big but) the browser couldn't find the Internet.

Had to re-boot to get it working again. I'm thinking about 'booting' it out the door and getting a new machine.

 

I can probably schedule the time (I'm retired) but I don't know what you mean when you say

As for completely removing the DSL setup and start configuring from scratch, I don't think I ever really did that. I configured the modem/router using this laptop, but I had an AT&T support person on the phone that stepped me through the configuration process of the modem/router. Not sure I want to go through that again.

Also, the other PCs on the LAN (Wi-Fi connected) work fine and if they ever lose the connection, they re-connect automatically.

If you're saying I should delete the Network Connection on the laptop then I believe Window's detects the LAN or Wi-Fi signal and the Network Wizard steps me through the 'configuration' process. I wouldn't have a problem with that.

The latest 'experiment' I tried was re-booting the laptop and not starting the browser or the e-mail client. I let it just sit for over two hours. Then I started the browser and it worked fine. That was at 8:45 tonight. It's still working and I'm going to check it again at 9:45.

 

Working (only using browser) at 9:45. Will try it again in 30 minutes.

 

Still working at 10:15.

Past my curfew.

Will start again in morning.

Thanks for your help.

 

I began to suspect that Outlook Express 6 might be causing the problem and thought I download the latest release and install it. Microsoft wouldn't let me as I had upgraded to Internet Explorer 7 (at their insistence when it was released) and O.E. 6 can't be installed when you have I.E. 7. Is that a Catch 22?

Anyway, so I just stopped using it and started using Thunderbird, which is what I use on my other PCs on the LAN.

The ThinkPad (laptop) stills 'loses' the connect (as described in my OP) sometime between 2 and 3 hours after using either the e-mail client or browser (Firefox).

I'm thinking about paying myself $25/hour for the time I'm working on this problem and very soon I'll have enough to buy a new laptop.

 

Secret, does the laptop have any 'energy savings' settings in the BIOS? I remember working on a friends IBM [lenovo?] T40 and think it had some settings in its BIOS. They could over-ride the settings within XP...
tom

 

Thanks thomas0. That sounds like a possible lead. Problem - Don't know how to check, much less change (if that's possible) any settings in the BIOS.

 

Look in the owners manual.... Ha. Go to the Mfg web site and see if your model has available documentation.
Here:

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-57360.html

tom

 

I was told to press F1 (on boot-up) to get to the BIOS screen. Also was told to Switch off WOL (wake-on-Lan). That it might be the problem.

I've done that and now it's wait (2-3 hours) and see if that fixes the problem.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

Problem remains. Switching off WOL did not effect it.

Does anyone know of a program (freeware) that can log events while the ThinkPad is in an idle state?

I thought I might see if something (a program starting or stopping) was happening during this idle period that would cause this 'connection' problem.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Hi there

I have been looking on forums for this specific problem with the notebook loosing internet connection, especially on wireless. Have to reboot and before rebooting the connections tray must be ended - comes with "not responding" error. The interesting fact is that I also have a Lenovo Thinkpad, model R500. I think we should investigate the Lenovo aspect as I have now seen that similar errors also come from Lenovo's. If anyone else experience the same problem, please let me know whether you also have a Lenovo.

 

That's not good news (for me). ThinkPad and many of the Lenovo laptops are manufactured by IBM.

I may have to seek out another brand of laptop for a replacement.

 

Hi Secretcodebreaker

I'm sure they'll have a logical explanation or maybe some solution for the problem. I will follow up with my contacts and post on the site if I came across a quick solution.

 

Discovered the cause of the problem (I think).

I got another ThinkPad (Model T42) and it ran like a champ all the time I was converting. Then today I finally got around to installing a firewall program. One that I have been using on all the PCs in the LAN since I switched to DSL. P C Tools Firewall Plus.

The 'problem' re-appeared! As soon as I removed that program the problem went away. Didn't even have to re-boot.

I don't know if the 'problem' is specific to this particular firewall program or if it's a general condition. It isn't a problem for the other PCs in the LAN, only for the ThinkPad.

 

Thanks for the update, Codebreaker! It does make sense, right now I'm battling to get my ADSL working again as Telkom managed to botch it up BIG TIME! Will provide feedback if and when I managed to test it. What is the general feeling around Microsoft Essentials? Heard that Norton Anti-Virus is still the best to use, it has found 2 x viruses that MS Essentials and AVG managed to overlook..?

 

If you do get another laptop get an hp pavilion laptop their good.