Network problem

Greetings, I'm confused. we have two computers and an adsl through phone line internet connection. My wife's computer connects and remains connected flawlessly. Mine sometimes won't connect, and if it does connect, it stops being connected after a little while. I say "stops being connected" instead of "drops the connection" because it claims to be connected, (skype says 'online' and popup bubble from taskbar says adsl is connected). Here are the and conditions: Computer in question: Dell Inspiron 5100. XP home (still holding onto SP1 (is it safe to use SP2 now? all my friends computers were destroyed by it) Pentium 4 2.53 GHz 384 RAM 27 GB HD 1. 400 MB/s adsl connection through phone line 2. 2 computers in the household, both Dell inspirons, both otherwise functioning as normally as computers do. 3. Both computers have all the settings in internet connections the same EXCEPT: Mine (the one with the problem) has a network bridge for the LAN but the adsl isn't on the bridge anyway. 4. My computer (the one with the problem) seems to have a loose cable port. If you jiggle the cable or the computer, you often drop the connection. HOWEVER: The adsl sometimes just fades out even if the LAN connection has not been jiggled loose. (here it might be useful to point out that we used to use our office's connection, which appears as LAN in the network connections. Now our home net recognizes the LAN if the modem is connected to the computer and adsl gets connected through that. But both of our computers are in that boat, so I'm not sure that is the problem. At any rate, this is why I brought up the diference between "stops being connected" and Dros the connection." My computer drops connections because of a hardware problem, but even when it doesn't do that I lose the adsl. So, I guess my question is: can my LAN dropping problem be the cause? Is a loose connection possibly the cause here? It just seems to me that the LAN would not appear connected if that were the cause for the adsl not being connected. or is there any possibility of something else. So if anyone has any ideas… I don;t think i can blame my ISP here since my wife's computer connects so well. Steps I have taken: 1. Tried to identify something I was dong that caused the connection to be lost: failed 2. Did my computer maintenace plus dell daignostics which has thus far fixed every other inexplicable problem the maching has given me. I am alright for as far as a PhD in political theory goes, but I still solve all of my computer problems by logging on to tomcyote. So please let me know if there is more sytem info or whatever I can provide. Thanks in advance… Michael

Hi wavel, I have an older Dell Inspiron that I acquired as a result of a friend dropping it. It was their work travel laptop. They took it to a Dell certified shop which declared it a total insurance loss. Dell gave them a brand new machine and didn't ask for the old one back. Lucky me. I was offered the ole' "If you can make it work you can use it offer." Turns out the drop didn't do that much damage, and the primary problem was that they didn't do much malwae maintenance. I cleaned out the infections (huge) and now have a functioning laptop. Except…….. It has a similar "loose ethernet socket". I have to be careful with how I plug in the ethernet cable, and careful not to move the laptop when connected to the internet. Otherwise, it works just fine. For a while the "problem" was maddening, but if I have a dropped connection the "telltale" is that the "orange light" that eminates from the ethernet plug turns off. I then "jiggle" the plug and am back in business. "Jiggling the plug" is not a very satisfying solution, but it does the trick, and the price was right. I have not looked into the price for a replacement socket, but imagine that a replacement can be installed. Maybe reading your similar problem will prompt me to investigate the possible replacement. When you have the "stops being connected" problem, is the ethernet cable plug/socket illuminated? If not, move the plug until the illumination returns and see if the connection is restored. An alternative might to to connect via wireless, but I have not explored that option since I don't have a wireless network. If I discover the availability and price of a replacement part I'll post the information back here in this thread. If you discover the same please post your information. Best Regards I'm running XP Pro with SP2 and all the Microsoft updates with no problem. In fact, I highly recommend that you do the same. And while you're at it……. Get some more RAM!

Thanks Very much Dough. The orange light is still on when I lose my connection. Thats what is strange. when I get the cable in just right it will stay connected, but at certain point all downloading and web browsing grinds to halt even though everything else indicates that there is aconnection. It's as if my computer just got tired of sending and receiving packets. oh well, what are ya gonna do… Thanks again for replying Wavel

First line of repair is often "uninstall and re-install". It might be worth walking it through, dumping all the network configurations and installing again, unless of course, you've already done that a bzillion times already. I'd dump the "bridge". I'd dump all other LAN/Network configurations and go with the installation CD's for your Laptops Network Interface Card (NIC). It might help to refresh you Router configuration. Doing a "cold reset", by turning off/disconnecting power to the Router, then power up and use the "paper-clip" routine to Reset the Router configuration prior to Re-installing the Router configuration may help. Best Regards

Have you scanned for Malware? Do an online scan at Panda, TrendMicro and Ewido. It may not be "dropping the connection" when it "grinds to a halt". Instead, some auto-updater or malware may be hogging all the bandwidth and giving the appearance of no functionality for your intentional programs to access the Net.