Problem with XP Connection in XP

I seem to have a problem with XP where my PC will suddenly stop allowing new connections. It will be like, I come to my PC and I can't go on any websites, but existing downloads will still go, but not get any new sources. I am behind a router on an ethernet connection. The problem resolves after a restart, but this is not very practical for me.

Has anybody here ever experienced a similar solution?

 

Anyone?

 

*waits*

 

Does nobody have a solution?

 

Can you still ping out to sites? Can you release renew IP without restarting?

Just a random thought. Is there computer going into a standby or hibernate? If so you can try turning that off.

 

I can ping my router but not websites, and I have tried restarting my router to renew my IP without success

 

FYI: Many routers, firewalls, and web servers are configured to drop ICMP traffic and won't respond to a ping.

 

I can normally ping google, but when this happens, i can't

 

What model router is it?

 

This may sound daft, but, I have 3com router which was working fine and then started to disconnect for no reason. I contacted 3com support(who incidentally are great - freephone and they phone you back when it suits you) and they tried loads and then said "are you running IE7"?

Then it clicked, problem started after update to that. So installed Firefox and now no problems, touch wood.

Try rolling back to IE6 or installing Firefox.

 

#1 - It's a BT Voyager 2100
#2 - I have tried IE 6/7 and firefox, and I know it isnt the browser because, I also cannot connect to anybody on My torrent software, or my email client.

 

This may be considered "grasping at straws" also, but I had two other thoughts:

1. Are you running ZoneAlarm on the workstation? I've seen that do strange things to prevent connectivity in the past...

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316414

2. Do you encounter the same problem in Safe Mode with Network Support? I've seen instances where something tries to connect to the Internet, before the connection to the router is up, and it screws up connectivity from there on out. For example: Is your AV trying to check for updates automatically at startup? Is Adobe Acrobat Reader trying to get updates automatically at startup? Etc. If you can get out to the Internet while in Safe Mode with Network Support enabled, then the problem is most likely software related.

 

#1- Yes I'm running ZoneAlarm, but I was having these problems before that, just less frequently.

#2 - Since this can take between 30 mins and 3 days to break, I don't think testing in safe mode is a viable option. But yes, my AVG searches for updates at start-up