About a month ago we finally had our LAN wired up and connected. Previously, our XP Pro SP3 machine had been the only one connected to our Netgear ADSL DG834 Firewall router, which iss connected to our BT Broadband connection. The only thing that has changed is that three other patch cables are now coming out of the router, into the new LAN patch board whence the cables run to other rooms. In one of the other rooms my son is running Vista connected to his local network point.
However. Since the wiring was connected the home computer (XP Pro) has a very annoying habit of occasionally losing its connection to the Internet. You click on a link, or open a browser, and the "Dial-up Connection" dialog pops up. However, pressing "Connect" doesn't actually connect, just says "Unable to establish a connection".
At this point I can open a command window and successfully "ping" an external site - e.g. "ping bbc.co.uk". Also, the status of the "Local Area Connection" states that it is connected.
The only way to reconnect is either to log out and log back into Windows, or to right-click on the Local Area Connection icon in the system tray and select "Repair". Once that operation is completed, opening a browser window now causes the "Web page unavailable while offline" dialog to show. HOWEVER, if I now press "Connect" the web page connects successfully.
This fault is intermittent and unpredictable. I've tried swapping over the cables and it makes no difference. My son, on his machine elsewhere on the LAN, has no such problem. If it makes any difference our network card is a Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast.
Anyone any thoughts?
Thanks
Edward