Look Who it Was Random video

Networking Issues (Resolved)

3,485 views · Published 27 April 2016 · 15:02 · Indexed 10 November 2026

Channel: jaykay18 · 2016 · Howto & Style

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Originally recorded March 19, 2016.

I had one HELL of a networking issue.  Randomly, any machine in the house running Windows XP would suddenly lose it's Internet connection.  The ethernet card would stay connected, Windows would report it was still connected, but no traffic over the Internet was coming through.  Strangely enough, any INTERNAL network traffic (between machines, copying files, etc.) worked fine, even during these Internet outages.

Dropping down to a command line and issuing a IPCONFIG /RELEASE followed by an IPCONFIG /RENEW gave me the exact same IP address as before, but the Internet would now work.  How long was random, it could be anywhere from an hour, to only a few minutes, to only a few seconds.  Anytime I release and renewed the IP (and always got the same one) the Internet worked again.

Again, this happened among all the Windows XP computers.  Oddly enough, any machines running Windows 7 or 10 did not experience the issue!  As the problem got worse, wireless devices like tablets started to get affected.  To correct that was simply a waiting game.

No amount of rebooting the cable modem and/or router made any difference.  I brainstormed with a lot of people, and everyone thought of everything I already tried.

I tried a new router, same problem.  I tried a new cable modem, same problem.  Replacing the cable modem came with its own new problem, which will be addressed in the next video.  

So now I not only had my first problem, but a new one to boot.

To fix this problem will require breaking the network down and doing 24-hour tests.  I decided to break the network down into segments first.  The first segment to disconnect was the network switch in the living room tethered off of this one.  No change.

Would you believe an access point caused the whole issue?  I still can't.

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