IE connection problem (WXP-Home)

[johnnycope]

This one is baffling me- Running XP with all updates. When the computer is idle for more than a couple of hours it will not allow IE 6 (or FireFox) to connect to the Internet. I get the basic unable to connect or server not found -check your settings etc.... Didn't have this problem until 2 weeks ago when I installed a wireless router (Net gear) to run a laptop- The computers are not linked and there is no network that I am aware of.

Rebooting fixes the problem but it comes back and.....sometimes if I try to open IE and it fails I'll try opening FireFox and it will fail. I'll close them both and try to reopen and it works.

All the while this is going on Internet express is connected and runs fine-Cable modem connection

This is only with the desk top pc- and occurs with or without the laptop being used or even on.

Any ideas/ suggestions are appreciated

[tom_keefer]

Re-read the router setup instructions and then carefully double check your configuration settings for both machines.

<font color=purple>Tom</font color=purple>


XP Pro SP2 - Intel D925XCV - P4 2.8 GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, HTT, socket 775 - WD 36GB SATA - WD 250GB USB2 HD - 2GB Crucial DDR2 PC2-4200 - Plextor 716A - XFX GeForce 6800 Xtreme, 256MB - Samsung 19" LCD -

[shift35]

Johhnycope,

I was just curious if you ever got this problem corrected. I am having the EXACT same problem and it began when I bought a second desktop and hooked it up to a wireless network. The second desktop runs perfect all the time but my main desktop with the direct connection to the internet and the router will stop responding if it is idle. I am using a qwest actiontec DSL Modem with wireless gateway built in. I have come to the conclusion it is something within my computer because all the modem connections work fine.

just recently I have run into another problem. If I click a link on a web page which opens a new window, Internet Explorer freezes and stops responding.

Does anyone have any comments on either of these issues?

thank you

[johnnycope]

Not fixed yet- I'm in a running email dialog with NETGEAR over this. I'm not convinced that they have any idea whats happening. Their new fix is to disable my firewall-zone alarm- and use the one that is built into the Router. That won't happen until they explain why my mail program and all other programs that use the connection work while IE won't. If it's the firewall most everything should stop. So we try something then wait overnight to see if it works then we try something else.

Have you tried opening IE and closing it then double clicking IE- sometimes that works for me

[shift35]

ya I have found some different ways around the problem such as rebooting, and most of the time I am able to just keep typing in different URL's and eventually one will kick in and it will start working again. I am sure its a problem with the IE program because I can go into the command prompt and ping another site and it send and receives the packets just fine. I have reinstalled windows XP but that didnt help any. well keep me updated on your progress please. This gets very annoying.

Do you have any ideas on the other problem? I don't understand why IE quits responding on a link that opens a new window.

Thanks

[johnnycope]

Today's netgear solution is to re-install IE and turn off all pop up blockers etc...Nice try-

Today I'm turning off the router's firewall to see if that makes a difference.

[shift35]

I have reinstalled IE several times it doesnt seem to make a difference. The firewall might though. Let me know.

[johnnycope]

So I may be getting closer but I'm still at a loss. Last night I shut down everything that would connect by itself overnight-PC was on but no outbound or inbound programs running.

This AM nothing would connect and I had to reboot. So it seems that somethng is shuting down the gateway/port/router after a period of inactivity and won't let that program connect. Am I closer or just still confused?

[shift35]

That is what I have found. I have gone through every setting of my gateway/router and have even turned the firewall comlpetely off and still nothing. I think you are right on it getting shut down after a period of inactivity but I can not find any such setting. I don't know about you but a lot of the times when it has quit responding to my regularly visited sites I can type in a random site that I very rarely vist (i.e. www.usu.edu) and it will pull it up a lot of the time. Are you running wireless? I am curious to hook up my second desktop through hardwire and turn off the wireless AP and see if that makes any difference.

[johnnycope]

The problem is on a wired connection to the router. The laptop (wireless) runs fine. It doesn't matter if the wireless/laptop is running or not.

[johnnycope]

Maybe-just maybe I found it--today I found that if I shut zone alarm off when trying to connect everything worked fine and once I connected I turned Zone Alarm back on and IE stopped working.

So that lead me to checking out zone alarm settings and I found that my LAN was not in the trusted zone- I've made the change and it seems to be working for now. We'll see it it works after a long period of inactivity

[johnnycope]

IT WORKS-it was a setting in Zone Alarm-changed that and all is well-for today

[shift35]

Great!! where did you find that setting?

[johnnycope]

Sorry for the delay- I just saw this

In Zone alarm click the tab on the left for Firewall- look at the setting for your router under zone- it probably says Internet- change that to trusted and you should be all set.