Like many PC users and avid gamers, last week I purchased and installed Windows 7. This new operating system from Microsoft was supposed to have fixed many of the stability problems encountered with Vista.
Within minutes of upgrading my Vista 64-bit version of Windows to Windows 7, I started losing my connection to the Internet approximately 30-60 minutes. For no apparent reason, my computer which was attached to the Internet via a D-Link Gamerlounge router would drop it’s connection while the other computer running Windows XP hooked up to the very same router enjoyed uninterrupted Internet service.
I would get the following message when I hovered over the Internet/Network: the default gateway is not available. Each time I would right click on the connection icon and select the “Troubleshoot Options” it would eventually repair the problem and reconnect to the Internet.
Here’s a possible fix I found for this on the Sevenforums.com forums:
Press the Start Button.
Select the Control Panel.
Under Network and Internet select View Network Status and Tasks.
In the View your Connections section, click on Your Local Area Connection which will bring up a new window.
Click on Properties.
Uncheck the box on the same line as Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6).
Click Ok, then click Close.
Welcome back to uninterrupted connection to the Internet!
-Wolfshead
Update: A few days after posting this article I started getting disconnections again. I noticed that it was during large file downloads. I had purchased an album on iTunes and during the course of the download my internet connection was getting dropped. I have found an additional fix that has seemingly solved the problem. Go to your Device Manager, then go to your network adapter click on properties, then click on configure. You should see an advanced tab now; scroll down till you see the property receive side scaling. Now on the left side you’ll see a value box, make sure it is set to disabled for this property. Hope this helps!
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I don’t understand why IPv6 would cause this, it has it’s own routing information and thus it’s own gateway. Is your router trying to make a 6to4 tunnel or something?
Thanks! My comp did the same thing, really annoying. Hope this works.
Very strange. Had no idea Win7 had this problem. I’m glad I haven’t upgraded yet because if bugs like this are lurking about, it makes me wonder what else there is.
Thanks for the heads up anyway. Gonna bookmark this page in case I ever encounter the problem!
Umm.. I have a better fix for you
How about not UPGRADING and doing a fresh install?
Problem solved, upgrades are for the LOSS
For most people upgrading is the only real practical solution. Why pay extra money for the full version of Windows 7 when you can purchase the upgrade version for cheaper? In these hard economic times people don’t have the money for that extravagance.
At least this is a fix (been working flawlessly for me) that will help a lot of people.
Im having the same issues with the full version of Win7. So it has nothing to do with the upgrade.
I’ve already reinstalled win7 and network drivers and so on, but still having the problem. So i hope this fix will work.
lg deadreaper
Thanks bro, I’ve had similar issues. Getting disconnected for no reason after 1min-30min of internet time.
Was getting your message or a message that windows did not know what the issue was.
After turning off iPv6 I’ve been on for about one hour and it’s still doing pretty well.
-Thanks
At work we’re just now upgrading the place to Vista.
We have to disable IPv6 on all machines in order to allow them full network access.
Just goes to show that Windows 6.1 isn’t really that different than 6.0 after all, doesn’t it? (Seriously, go into your “About” section and you’ll find Win 7 is 6.1 — Vista is 6.0. Win7 is simply a marketing name to try to differentiate it from Vista.)
Okay… it’s MUCH better on the machines I’ve monkeyed around with it on, but to still have that basic problem carrying over. . . . /sigh. I’m still planning on getting a new pc soon and will most definitely have Win7 on it when I do.
Try changing the Power Management settings under Configure in the network properties to stop the computer turning off the connection..
I have done this and my connection doesnt drop at all now…
Weird ass problem, and it’s not from upgrading. I’ve had this issue on 3 different installs of Windows 7.
If I am downloading files, AND decide to watch a video, or even a youtube video at the same time…. Windows 7 drops the gateway and you have to reset the adapter to get it back.
Makes no damned sense. Turning off IP v6 does not fix it. Trying the power management and receive scaling now, but nvidia doesn’t seem to want to turn off receive side scaling.
Disabling Receive Side Scaling (RSS) seems to have helped my situation also.
Same problem with me. I have an Asus P5K SE and it uses intel’s P35 chipset, not nvidia…. It happens mostly when streaming video from pc to PS3 player…. My on board network card is Atheros L1 Gigabit Ethernet
Tryed everything posted, (Ipv6, RSS,…) nothing worked, so I decided to install the network card driver for Windows Vista available in the motherboard’s website.
It seems to have worked.
So don´t trust Windows 7 driver for your network. Try the manufacture’s website.
Good post
I’m currently trying many of the techniques listed and ill let you know how i get on
Hasn’t worked for me, been into configure for network adaptor but there is no scaling in there
hi,i have a simillar problem……i will download and upload movies,games and softwares to the net during my
free time.but i have a problem with my new pc with windows 7.i will leave my computer idle while
doing a download for 3 to 4 hours…but after i check it i find that my broadband connection
disconnects but windows 7 shows that it is still connected.i try to disconnect it so
that i can connect it once again but it does not work.i have to restart in order to continue my downloading.i resently changed
my monitor power options to turn off in 1 minute.please help me with my problem
To dinesh…
I have the same problem you are seeing. Windows thinks i’m still connected, but I’m not. Can’t even connect to my router over http when it happens. Reboot solves problem, but only for a few hours. Always seems to happen while I’m away from the computer. All other devices on my network stay connected.
I didn’t have the rss in my list so I just disabled all ipv6 entries and it seems to have worked. I will let you know if anything happens. Was thinking about goin back to XP, I did that with Vista
Good news/bad news I got an update from windows this morning for my netwark adapter but it still doesn’t work. I read that if you disable all power saving settings would work but it ddn’t. The attempts I made yesterday didn’t fix it either. Think maybe if you change the 7 on the end of the name to XP is starting to make sence. Seems to me that this problem would be a priority for microsoft to get it fixed.
Has any of you tried uninstalling their network adapter and restarting and let windows pick up the adapter againI tried that and so far seems to be ok I did leave the bat file in the start menu. I will report back in a couple hours
I have W7 32 bit on an HP S3120N connected to D-Link my router by wireless (and then cable modem). So I found my solution to this intermittent and random dropping of the internet (never my home network) on a forum for the same problem at the start of this thread. I deinstalled PC Tools Spyware Doctor (I have Norton 360 also installed). I know it seems weird and a lot of people do not have that programme but still get the same internet loss. But I’m thinking it’s linked to how anti virus and spyware programmes are interface with the W7 OS. It wasn’t enough just to disable SpyWare Docter. I had to actually remove it as the guy said he had done. But the internet has stayed solid for over a week now irrespective of how much downloading I do. Hope this helps.
I just read on another site somewhere to disable the Power Option on your Internet Adapter. Go to Device Manager, click on Network Adapters. Then right click and hit properties, then hit the Power Management – Then unclick the top box and hit OK
same like ”Bret” wrote….
i use to lose connection after some time, while i’m away from pc…while i’m using it is ok…only reboot solves the problem…i hope this will work…thnxx dude!!
i had the same issue and i found out i had filled a static ip adress in the Alternative Configuration tab of my ipv4 connection property of the local connection. i reset it to Automatic and for the last 30 minutes, the internet has not disconnected. i am keeping my fingers crossed.
perhaps some of u had done the same with their ip4 configuration.
hope this helps.
Does anyone feel it is an issue between the conhesiveness of Microsoft 7 and the brand of wireless router? I had heard that more folks had an issue with it happening with a Linksys wireless router…and wasn’t sure if I should change brands to see if that was the problem. I had already disabled the IPv6, and it didn’t fix it. I’m going to try disabling the scaling you suggest to see if that will address the problem.
So once again nvidia’s attempt at technology fails. lol Disabling receive side scaling fixes the issue for nforce folks. (And note if you rollback the driver with rss enabled, it will remain enabled for the previous driver even though it doesn’t have the setting in the list!)
UPDATE:
While fiddling around with everything possible to resolve this issue, I found that my BELKIN N1 router’s DHCP Lease Time was set to 1/2 hour! This coincided with the loss of internet connection on my Laptop 9Win 7 Ultimate). I suspected that the loss was occurring at regular intervals but could not figure out why!
Last night I reset the router to a 2-weeks lease time and since then (10 hours aleady) I have not lost the connection once! Seems Win 7 may have a problem refreshing(or polling) the DHCP or the IP address automatically!
I hope this is the end of my delema and I hope this is helpful to others.
Bless u all.
use this instead http://support.microsoft.com/fixit