FF and IE loose internet connection if left idle

A few of months ago I upgraded to broadband and a wireless home network but from the start I've been having some problems with internet connectivity through FF and IE if my pc is left idle for more than say around an hour. I've read similar threads in this forum on the same topic and tried googling it but I can't seem to find any soultions apart from turning off my firewall which I'm not wanting to do.

The problem is if I leave the pc idle for more than roughly an hour (sometimes much less) neither Firefox or Internet Explorer are able to find the server. The strange thing is I usually leave mIRC running for hours at a time and it never has this problem. If I have to go away from the pc for any amount of time what I tend to do is leave Firefox open on my router configuration/connection status page which automatically refreshes every 30 seconds. I also leave Thunderbird running as it looks for new emails every 3 min or so. This seems to prevent me having to reboot the pc every time I want to surf the net after leaving it idle for a short time. This seems to work in the short term but after a few hours the connection appears to slow and pages don't fully load so I'm eventually forced to reboot (mIRC is always fine).

I've lived with this for a while now but I'd really like to be able to leave the pc on for more than 12hours without a reboot. It's most annoying if I'm using mIRC and want to surf at the same time. mIRC will be fine but I'll get a cannot find server message if I open up Firefox. A reboot is then needed but that means shutting down mIRC and restarting which is a total pain if you need to reconnect to a few channels etc, very annoying!.

I connect to my router (BT Voyager 2100) through a BT Voyager 1040 pci card over a secure connection. The signal is always 'excellent' since the router is in the same room (I don't think the wirless connection is the problem though as I've tried plugging the router diectly into the back of the pc using a network crossover cable but still get the same problem). My pc isn't that old, P4 Dell dimension from 2003 running XP SP2 and fully upto date. No recent spyware/viruses issues. I run Ad-aware, Spybot, Spyware Blaster, AVG Free, and Zone Alarm all of which are kept upto date and run at least once a week. Firefox is default browser and Thunderbird is default email. I can give more information if needed.

So there you go thats my problem! (thanks for reading all of that!, hope it made sense!). Any help or suggestions are more than welcome!.

 

It could be a problem with XP's wireless "Zero Configuration Utility". There's quite a few folks who've had similar problems and it's somehow related to it trying to connect to what it sees as "other available networks" and not properly reconnecting when it discovers that the original signal is better.

The only solution I've seen is to take control away from the XP program and use the program/drivers native to the wireless NIC in your PC. (On my wireless connected computers right clicking on the menu tray icon offers this option).

 

Hi thank you for your reply. I don't think what you suggested is the problem in my case as the wireless card I have is run by seperate software that it came with. I don't think XP has anything to do with it (I could be wrong). If I go to my wireless connection icon in the tray and right click-> select 'View Available Wireless Connections' it tells me windows cannot configure this connection (this is while I'm connected and not have any issues btw). So I'm pretty sure it uses its own software to run. The other thing I dont understand is why mIRC is never affected?.

 

Ok, it sounds like you are already using the native drivers.

If I'm understanding you correctly you lose browser connectivity at the same time as mirc is still good?

I was thinking that it may be the fact that programs like mIRC keep the connection active with contant pings while browsers are static. (Your router config page is "inside" your local network so it isn't pinging the ip).

They operate on different ports so maybe if you found a web page that did automatic updates every minute or so? (Something like a weather or news feed).

If you're on a Pppoe connection with your ISP there are also programs out there which keep the connection alive, or separate routers with settings to keep Pppoe alive which you would plug into your modem/router after spoofing your NIC addy into it.

Does that make sense to you?

 

That pretty much made sense to me but you kind of lost me on the last part. I'm not too knowledgeable with it comes to how networks work. I did have a look at my router config page to see if I could find out what type of connection I have with my ISP and under PVC Name is says pppoa_0_38 so im guessing this is the connection you were talking about?.

Thats correct. At the moment I have just woken up and the pc has been on all night with mIRC running along with Firefox and Thunderbird. At the moment Firefox seems to be running ok although pages are taking a while longer to load and I should really reboot to get it back to normal. Usually it will run a little slower for a short time before it completely looses connection.

I was thinking about your suggestion to finding a news/weather site that updates every minute or so. I already have the Forcastfox plugin for Firefox so maybe if I adjust the refresh rate on that it might help?.

You mentioned programs/moden/routers that keep Pppoe connections alive, can you explain a little more?. Or even point me in the right direction where I can read up on this stuff.

Thanks for your help!.

 

PPPoe is a connection protocol ISPs use which is designed to provide "on demand" service rather than "always on". In a nutshell it turns off the connection after a period of no activity. This allows the ISP to save on the full bandwidth they have to put in place to service "X" # of clients in a given area.

I'm familiar with standard PPPoe which has a progam which requires you to "dial" into the connection whenever you want to use internet (or after it times out).

PPPoa looks like it's designed to do this function from inside the router but it sounds like your router isn't doing a good job of that.

This program looks like it should do the trick http://downloadsnew.pcpro.co.uk/Internet/DisconnectionStoppers/staylive-2000.html

Please keep in mind that I've never used it so I can't vouch for it. (run virus scan on it!!!! ).

I'd hold off on the router thingy until you exhaust all other options.

 

Ok thanks for the help!. I'm going to give Stay Live a shot and see if that helps. The page you linked to has an older version on it so just incase anyone else is having similar problems here is the newer version http://www.gregorybraun.com/StayLive.html

I'll close Firefox and mIRC and leave Stay Live running over night to see if I can still connect in the morning without a reboot.

 

Let us know how you make out......

 

I was just wondering...
Have you looked at your router's settings more? PPPoE(most DSL) connections have "disconnect when idle for xxx min" on a lot of the routers. Also, my old dlink router had an option "reconnect forever" where you can select and avoid this problem... I have don't have the experience with your model, so I will try to look for manuals on line

 

I tried that and the only thing I could find was a supposed "help file" which only showed me "unable to connect" browser pages....

A really good resource for all things broadband & networking is www.broadbandreports.com .

They've got forums which are broken down into either specific hardware or ISPs, as well as tools and guides for getting the most out of your broadband connection.

 

Ok, so I left the pc on over night with nothing but Stay Live running and it seems to have done the trick! . Firefox didn't seem to have any bother finding a connection and neither did Thunderbird. Internet Explorer on the other hand took a few attempts but eventually found my home page and after a slow start seems to be working properly. The only thing I'm curious to know now is why my page file usage increased from 210mb to 280mb over night while the computer was idle??. Not really a problem but I just wonder why this might have happend?.

I tried what you suggested pari22 and the only option in my routers settings that seem similar to this are in the connection setup area. You get 3 options for 'Session established by', 1-Always On, 2-Dial on Demand Disconnect if no activity for X minutes, 3-Manually Connect Disconnect if no activity for X minutes. Mine is set up for option 1 'always on'.

Thank you for all the help and suggestions!. Hopefully thats it sorted now and I can leave my pc on for as long as I need to without a reboot to go online!.

 

Glad to hear that did the trick.

Not sure what to say about the page file though.