PC`s Wont automatically reconnect to Internet.

Countcussy

Countcussy

Countcussy

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Office at work. 7 pc`s, all windows 10. Dell Machines.
Gigabit Lan, all connected to a Netgear Prosafe 24 port switch.
Internet is BT Business Fibre, BT Hub Router (Home Hub?) connected to the switch.

Occasionally, and it seems to happen more than it should, we will come in after the weekend, and even though the internet is working, each PC reports no internet.
You get the globe icon indicating no internet is available. Yet Wi-Fi devices like staff phones etc, all have working WiFi as soon as they walk through the door.
Re-starting the PC`s solves the problem, but its getting quite frustrating. Especially if I have tried to do some weekend work from home.
I assumed a power issue, so I purchased a decent UPS unit, and the logs indicate my PC has not shut down due to loss of power since having the UPS (Around 3 weeks), yet this morning we had to re-start every PC.
Any reason why a PC would not auto-reconnect? Anything I can look for? Presuming this maybe router related?

As a simple test, I have just unplugged the LAN cable from my machine, left it a few minutes and then plugged it back in, windows performs as you would expect, restoring the connection very quickly.

Any Ideas? I am stumped.
 
Countcussy said:
Office at work. 7 pc`s, all windows 10. Dell Machines.
Gigabit Lan, all connected to a Netgear Prosafe 24 port switch.
Internet is BT Business Fibre, BT Hub Router (Home Hub?) connected to the switch.

Occasionally, and it seems to happen more than it should, we will come in after the weekend, and even though the internet is working, each PC reports no internet.
You get the globe icon indicating no internet is available. Yet Wi-Fi devices like staff phones etc, all have working WiFi as soon as they walk through the door.
Re-starting the PC`s solves the problem, but its getting quite frustrating. Especially if I have tried to do some weekend work from home.
I assumed a power issue, so I purchased a decent UPS unit, and the logs indicate my PC has not shut down due to loss of power since having the UPS (Around 3 weeks), yet this morning we had to re-start every PC.
Any reason why a PC would not auto-reconnect? Anything I can look for? Presuming this maybe router related?

As a simple test, I have just unplugged the LAN cable from my machine, left it a few minutes and then plugged it back in, windows performs as you would expect, restoring the connection very quickly.

Any Ideas? I am stumped.
Click to expand...
When it’s in the not working state. Can you ping out to say 8.8.8.8 or www.google.com ? Can you ping the gateway? When you do ipconfig do you get an ip address?
 
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Thanks for helping. I thought switch initially, but the office network still functions fine, including access to shared folders and a Synology Nas.
Will try the ping next time it happens.
Just thought of something else that may help. All our phones are Voip, connected to the same switch, and they work fine, even during this issue.
As for DHCP, educate me. What do I need to check?
I'm not an idiot, pc wise, but the finer arts of networking is something I have never really dealt with.
 
Countcussy said:
Thanks for helping. I thought switch initially, but the office network still functions fine, including access to shared folders and a Synology Nas.
Will try the ping next time it happens.
Just thought of something else that may help. All our phones are Voip, connected to the same switch, and they work fine, even during this issue.
As for DHCP, educate me. What do I need to check?
I'm not an idiot, pc wise, but the finer arts of networking is something I have never really dealt with.
Click to expand...

Open up a command prompt on the pc.

Enter the command IPconfig

This will list the PC's IP address (and a load of other stuff). Unless the BT router has been fiddled with the address will start 192.168.x.x and the subnet 255.255.255.0

If the computer is showing an address starting 169 then you've got a DHCP issue. The computer has basically had to make up its own IP because no one has given it one.
 
K.C. Leblanc said:
Open up a command prompt on the pc.

Enter the command IPconfig

This will list the PC's IP address (and a load of other stuff). Unless the BT router has been fiddled with the address will start 192.168.x.x and the subnet 255.255.255.0

If the computer is showing an address starting 169 then you've got a DHCP issue. The computer has basically had to make up its own IP because no one has given it one.
Click to expand...
All details are correct. IP starts with 192, and the subnet is as stated.
I need to do these things the next time it falls over.
 
Countcussy said:
All details are correct. IP starts with 192, and the subnet is as stated.
I need to do these things the next time it falls over.
Click to expand...
When it happens, check they have a valid IP, subnet, and default gateway. If they have, ping the default gateway (which would be the BT hub) and see if you get a reply. Then try 1.1.1.1 (Cloudflare DNS).

If both work, make a note of the DNS server settings, and then try pinging cloudflare.com and see if that works. If IP works, and name doesn't, you know it's a DNS issue somehow.
 
It doesn't get to the root of the problem but scheduling a reboot in the wee small hours of Monday morning might be a work around.

What model is the switch, is it also practical to plug some clients directly into the router to see if this makes a difference.

I've had a issue like this in the dim and distant past and infuriatingly I can't remember what the exact problem was.
 
If I reboot the pc manually at any point, I never get this issue. It always happens overnight or a weekend, which led me to believe a local power issue, but now having the UPS, that does not seem to make sense.
Something clearly happened over the bank holiday weekend, but what is a mystery. Maybe it's broadband/router related. But even then, my phones do not register without Internet, and they worked fine.
Next time it happens, I will prevent the staff from logging in, until I have done some tests.
It's really strange.
Really appreciate the help
 
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Power saving on the nic maybe getting stuck in powered down mode turn the power saving off on the nic.
Dells support page on power saving nic
System idle power save in the advanced ethenet settings tab for the nic should be turned off if its listed and look at various sleep mode and power saving settings they may even be something in the bios settings for the nic (bios up to date?)
 
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