Internet on laptop very inconsistent.

just Scott · 5 Mar 2008 at 08:58

Hey guys,

I have a HP Compaq 6720s laptop and I'm having a bit of trouble getting the internet to stay connected. Basically what is happening is every so often the internet will just stop responding. Firefox will try to connect to the site for about 2 minutes before actually loading it. When it loads though, it's just as fast as it should be - it's not like the internet is just going really slow.

This also doesn't happen on my sister's Mac or the main computer, just this laptop. The ethernet port stopped working (won't recognise any cables) so I bought a cheap USB Ethernet adapter, but the same problem persisted when the ethernet port was working so I don't think that's the problem. I have Be Broadband, if it matters.

Anyone have any idea what the problem might be?

Thanks

bledd · 5 Mar 2008 at 10:23

tried upgrading the wireless card drivers?

this usually fixes issues on client's machines when i do it.

just Scott · 5 Mar 2008 at 11:03

bledd. said:
tried upgrading the wireless card drivers?

this usually fixes issues on client's machines when i do it.

I have the latest ones.

I don't use the wireless at all (Be Box doesn't support it

) so should I just turn it off? I've got the wireless network disabled in the control panel, is that sufficient for disabling it?

Sorry I should've mentioned I was using wired.

just Scott · 5 Mar 2008 at 19:20

Any other ideas? This is really annoying.

tbz_ck · 6 Mar 2008 at 07:46

Have you checked that the DNS settings are correct for your provider?

You could also try OpenDNS servers for resolution of domain names.

It sounds to me like a DNS resolution issue to be honest.

Post if you don't know how to do that and I'll give instructions. Let us know your OS too.

just Scott · 6 Mar 2008 at 15:39

tbz_ck said:
Have you checked that the DNS settings are correct for your provider?

You could also try OpenDNS servers for resolution of domain names.

It sounds to me like a DNS resolution issue to be honest.

Post if you don't know how to do that and I'll give instructions. Let us know your OS too.

Hi mate.

I think my DNS settings are correct. I'm using the DNS address Be gave me over the phone when I first got Be.

Not sure what OpenDNS is, can you explain please?

Thanks for your help.

edit: just went to the OpenDNS site. Seems easy enough, I've changed my DNS via the control panel. I'll see if it helps.

edit: so far so good. Internet has been perfect since using OpenDNS. I think that may have fixed it.

Thanks a lot tbk_ck.

edit again: just as I say that, the internet starts playing up again. How typical. The "connecting" stage is a lot shorter now though which is good. It only tries to connect for about 20 seconds before actually loading the page now.

just Scott · 6 Mar 2008 at 15:46

Edit: double post, ignore sorry.

tbz_ck · 6 Mar 2008 at 16:17

H2F Scott said:
Hi mate.

I think my DNS settings are correct. I'm using the DNS address Be gave me over the phone when I first got Be.

Not sure what OpenDNS is, can you explain please?

Thanks for your help.

edit: just went to the OpenDNS site. Seems easy enough, I've changed my DNS via the control panel. I'll see if it helps.

edit: so far so good. Internet has been perfect since using OpenDNS. I think that may have fixed it.

Thanks a lot tbk_ck.

edit again: just as I say that, the internet starts playing up again. How typical. The "connecting" stage is a lot shorter now though which is good. It only tries to connect for about 20 seconds before actually loading the page now.

Get a command prompt up (as administrator if in Vista) and type this command:

ipconfig /flushdns

If there is a dodgy DNS entry in your local cache that will clear it out.

It still sounds like a classic "DNS resolution" type issue to me. I'm not sure what the BE Modem/Router is or even if it is configurable, but it may be worth checking what DNS entries are in its config.

Ideally you should set the DNS entries within the router manually (If you don't want your router to use the DNS settings BE hands out via DHCP) and then set your PC to use the local router address as its DNS server address (Again it will do so automatically if your router is set up as a DHCP server). To manually edit settings in both router and PC is a drastic to be honest.

I think you need to experiment to see what works best for you. I'd try in this order:

1) Try setting the router DNS first to DHCP together with the PC set to DHCP.
2) If thats no good, try OpenDNS addresses in router and DHCP on PC.
3) If thats no good, try OpenDNS addresses both on router and PC.

Hope you see what I mean !!

just Scott · 6 Mar 2008 at 16:35

tbz_ck said:
Get a command prompt up (as administrator if in Vista) and type this command:

ipconfig /flushdns

If there is a dodgy DNS entry in your local cache that will clear it out.

It still sounds like a classic "DNS resolution" type issue to me. I'm not sure what the BE Modem/Router is or even if it is configurable, but it may be worth checking what DNS entries are in its config.

Ideally you should set the DNS entries within the router manually (If you don't want your router to use the DNS settings BE hands out via DHCP) and then set your PC to use the local router address as its DNS server address (Again it will do so automatically if your router is set up as a DHCP server). To manually edit settings in both router and PC is a drastic to be honest.

I think you need to experiment to see what works best for you. I'd try in this order:

1) Try setting the router DNS first to DHCP together with the PC set to DHCP.
2) If thats no good, try OpenDNS addresses in router and DHCP on PC.
3) If thats no good, try OpenDNS addresses both on router and PC.

Hope you see what I mean !!

I'm on XP, sorry forgot to mention that. The Be router is a Speedtouch 780WL.

I can't find any settings to change in the settings though. Be's router is really crap to be honest - they don't give you any settings to change.

I see what you mean though. I'm using your 2nd options now (because I can't find any DNS settings in my router for number 3) and it's helping but it's not 100%. I think I can live with it like this though.

Thanks

tbz_ck · 7 Mar 2008 at 08:45

Glad to be of service