tcp/ip protocol timeout?

[michaeln]

Hi all,

I have an unusual problem (I think). I have cable internet (www.cablesurf.com). My ISP has assigned fixed IP addreses to my PC's. Obviously when I boot the PC I am linked to his service whether I am using it or not at that time.

My problem is that from time to time (and quite frequently) if I am not accessing the internet, when I later try to say open a web page or check my email with outlook express, nothing happens. I will either get the usual message - unable to connect to the site or unable to get mail etc.

When I check my IP address it is still as assigned. My only solution is to got to my network setting and disable the connection and then re-enable it. When this is done I am back up and running again.

The reason I am raising the question is that I have now set up a web server on one PC and it has been inaccessible on occasions due to this problem.

Here are some specifics:

I am running win XP Pro SP2
Agnitum Outpost firewall
I have disabled the Win XP Firewall in networking
Xeneo Web server (however the problem occurs whether it's on or not)


My question is does anyone know if there is a "timeout" situation with this kind of setup. I was thinking that there may be an inactivity time out or something like that.

Anyone have any views?


Thanks.

[Steve R Jones]

Device Mangler->Network adapter->Turn OFF the powersaver feature.

[michaeln]

Thanks Steve. I will give it a try and see. I'll let you know.



Michael

[michaeln]

Sorry - no go. It's an intigrated SIS900 network adapter and it doesn't support power management.

[first_major]

i asssume that your isp preserves bandwidth when it knows that you have been idle for some time, my cable provider dose the same, when ever i dont use internet activity for some time, i have to relog in.
The solution to that is to install a little software that sends a little network packet rvry now and then, this makes you have internet activity all the time. the packet sent by the app is very small and will not consume bandwidth.


first major

[michaeln]

Hi First_major,


I also presumed that, however I have been unable to confirm this as my ISP hasn't returned my calls. My workaround, and it is working to date, is that I wrote a little batch file with two entries, ipconfig /relase followed by ipconfig /renew. I saved it in the windows directory and now I use windows scheduler to run the file every 6 hours. It is working so far.

[first_major]

Great, am happy it worked out with you

[Steve R Jones]

Is the cable modem connected via USB? If so, the USB ports have the same power saver options that should be turned off..

[michaeln]

Nope, cable modem is connected to a switch and my PC's are connected to the switch via 10/100 net cards. I still think that my ISP could be preserving bandwidth by shutting down inactive clients however what I have difficulty with is that I still have an IP address but cannot transmit/receive.

[computer_kid1]

I have exactly the same problem with my NTL. It is when the computer goes into standby that it disconnects and I have to restart the PC or repair the internet connection to restore it. I have tried the power management option to see if that works.

Can someone send or reccommend a program that will send small packets for me?

[michaeln]

Mine works fine for me now.

I am assuming that you run win XP so open notepad and type

ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew

save the the text file as renew.bat

I saved it to the windows directory. Then go to Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Scheduled Tasks and create several tasks say at 6 hour intervals using the same batch file.

This releases and then immediately renews the IP address.

I have been running this for several days now and it works fine.

The reason I need it is that I am hosting www.waterfordbadminton.org using Xeneo web server from 83.220.199.67 and I need to keep it alive at all times.

[computer_kid1]

Wont the internet connection breifly cut out while it is renewing the IP adress?

Mine seems to be fine at the moment.

BTW i am using XP home SP2

[michaeln]

Yes; I will lose a connection for approx 4 seconds. I can live with that. I schedule my .bat file to run at 1am, 7am, 1pm, 7pm, and it works fine now. I am using XP Pro sp2

[computer_kid1]

cheers i will give that a go if my internet still cuts out after changing the power management setting