Intermittent Connection problems

Hi guys i have a little problem i could use some help with.
I have windows XP sp2 and i have downloaded the IE7 beta which runs fine most of the time , but sometimes IE wont connect to the internet and shows the page cant be displayed page for all websites, the same goes for Firefox but i can still view my routers configuration page (which says the connection is fine) and non DNS programs like Steam and games will still connect.
I have found a fix for this if it happens once -

Open Internet Explorer, click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.
Click the Connections tab.
Click the first entry in the Dialup and Virtual Private Networks list, and then click Settings.
Select the Automatically detect settings check box, and then click OK.
Repeat the previous two steps for each entry in the Dialup and Virtual Private Networks list.
Click the Lan Settings button in the Connections tab, and repeat steps 4-6. Click OK on the Connections tab.
Close Internet Explorer and restart it.

Unfortunately this doesnt help as Automatically detect settings is already ticked but my problems persists and is very intermittent it can happen 6+ time a day or not at all . At the moment the only way to fix it , is for me to restart windows which is annoying but after the restart my connection is fine untill the next time.

 

are you using a cable, dsl, dialup ?

 

Sorry its DSL

 

I dont i ignored those steps as i have no virtual networks i follow this part -

Click the Lan Settings button in the Connections tab, and repeat steps 4-6. Click OK on the Connections tab.
Close Internet Explorer and restart it.

This seems to be the only thing i can find that comes close to my problem but as i said that is the fix for the first time it happens its not supposed to reoccur but mine does quite frequently and intermittentley.

 

It was set to allow the computer to turn off the card , though i'm not sure this will fix the problem as when i cant connect with ie/firefox i can connect to the steam network and some games.

 

Just had to restart to get the connection back again. I was surfing the Steam users forums then decided to play some Counter Strike Source and when i finished i went to use the net but IE there was no connection so i tried Firefox and got the same result , so i checked Steam and sure enough i can refresh and check the status of 100's of servers with no problems