Problem with Internet Connection

Hello all. During the last 4 days and out of nowhere, without me installing any new programs, my pc started having trouble connecting, or rather STAYING connected to the internet. I use windows xp,sp3 and I am on a adsl line which is shared with a second pc. The rooter is on the other pc and both pc's are connected with 2 network cards and an ethernet cable. I also use AVG 8.0 and Sygate Personal Firewall 5.6 The problem is that although when I first start the pc, it is online, after 5-6 minutes suddenly the connection is terminated. Nothing works, not Firefox, not Msn, nothing. On the other pc, everything works fine without a problem. I run the "troubleshoot" on msn and it said "your default gateway appears to be offline". I have no idea if that helps or not. Now, when I go to Network Connections and if I click "repair", the pc comes back online but again only for 5-6 minutes again. And after I use this "solution" 5-6 times, it stops working at all. If I try to "disable" the "local area connection" the pc just freezes and I have to restart. Basically,not everything freezes but the window with the network connections, along with everything that has to do with internet connection, freezes. So, again, I do a restart and everything from the beginning. Online for 5-6 minutes,offline,repair,6-7 times,nothing works,restart. I tried shutting off msn,avg and the firewall, all at once or one at a time,same problem. I replaced the ethernet cable with a new one (stupid solution??), same problem. I tried creating a new local area connection, nothing changed. Could it just be a problem with my network card and not a software problem? Any ideas/solutions are very welcome. If you need any additional information that I didn't think of, just tell me. Thanks in advance!

Hi Baator, Have you already got this resolved? If not, it is possible that restrictions (stay alive time limits) are set in your Router. Are you able to connect directly to your ADSL modem with the problem PC and continue with uninterupted connection to the internet? With knowledge of model of your Router and then investigation of your Router Settings, it may be possible to discover what is set to kick the problem pc off. Or, You may be better to uninstall your Router, reset it to factory default and set it up freshly. If you still need to pursue this, please provide the additional information asked above. Best Regards

there will be an option in router settings to set the idle time to stay connected to internet. Please edit those values.

Edit: drvoip, Your constructive help replies are appreciated.

I have edited your signature, leaving the information but disabling the "live link" feature so that it is no longer a "clickable" link to commercial advertisement. – Please leave it that way.
Doug

Hey Baator

could you explain this setup please.

I use windows xp,sp3 and I am on a adsl line which is shared with a second pc.
The rooter is on the other pc and both pc's are connected with 2 network cards and an ethernet cable.

Basically you want each PC to be connected to the Router with a single Ethernet cable. There should NOT be
a cable connecting the two PCs together. If that is what you are describing, great ! If not, then you'll want to fix that.

I replaced the ethernet cable with a new one (stupid solution??),

no but cable defects rarely are intermittant. When they stop working, it is usually for good.

Could it just be a problem with my network card and not a software problem?

yes, it very well could be. You might try installing the NIC from the other PC.

A Virus can also do that.

Also torrents can cause it. SP3 resets the limit of outbound half-open TCP connections to 10. So if you use torrents, and altered the SP2 setting for that with a registry 'fix', then SP3 will have put it back, and you'll need to do another 'fix'.

Tallon41