Can network cards go bad?

15 years ago

I have a Dell Inspiron B130 laptop (cheap but functional). Up until a week or so ago, it was working fine, but now all of a sudden, a few minutes after I start the computer, I lose my internet connection. I can get maybe 3 minutes of internet surfing in, and then boom -- I lose connection, every time.

- the home network in general is working fine. My husband can be logged in to his laptop at the same time, and the internet will be working just fine for him.

- as I stated, this was all working just fine for me up until about a week ago. I have made no changes to my computer that would account for this problem.

- The truly odd thing is that the network display thing in the systray that shows how many bars of connection you have shows that I'm connected. And the wireless connector utility will also tell me that I'm connected. Yet, if I try to use the internet...no joy. I get "pages not found" etc.

This computer is a few years old, and the wireless card seems to be internal (i.e. not something I can just pop out and look at). What do you think the problem could be? Any suggestions on how to resolve the situation?

(and in the amount of time it took me to type all this out, I lost connection, and had to restart. Grr!!!)

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Comments (10)

ravencajun Zone 8b TX
15 years ago
yes they certainly can go bad, they are very inexpensive and easy to replace, I had to replace one on my pc not long ago.
genes
15 years ago
Just on an off chance, try doing a system restore to a date prior to the first occurence. I think Raven was talking about replacing one in a desktop and not a laptop. They are not so easy to do.
Have you done any cleaning lately, ie Temp files, run antispyware programs etc
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Thanks, Raven. I'm sure he's behind on lots of stuff. Early in 2009, I had him change his update settings to notify him of updates, but not automatically download. That was to hold off on sp1 (at a time when I think I read here that folks were having trouble with it - but I didn't follow that topic, so didn't realize sp1 had become a good idea and that sp2 followed). We also set it that way bc. his computer was automatically updating and then rebooting when he was in the middle of doing other things. So this was to allow him to time his own downloads and installations. But he just never thought of it - and I didn't think I needed to keep track for him. I do keep track of his Avast, superantispyware, malwarebyte and spywareblaster. Every now and then when he's done surfing I have him leave out the laptop and go ahead and update and scan. I'll have to keep track of more than that, obviously. I got foxit reader on my ancient laptop in my office and love it. It takes so little room and does what I need quickly. Do you like pdf-xchange viewer more than foxit reader? Or does he need to use firefox to use foxit reader? I installed firefox for him - and set up tabs with the places he likes to go (did that in the summer) - but he hasn't used it. He's a bit resistant to tech changes. He balked when I got Tivo's - although he loves it now. He's a musician - and I got him Protools so he could record the music he wrote. That was over 1 1/2 years ago - and he hasn't learned it yet - he's barely scratched the surface. Last spring he bought an Imac bc. it was better for recording music. And now he's finally setting up his den and equipment. I'm hoping he'll actually learn the software this year. I'll take care of the rest for him so the only learning curve he has is Protools (certainly the most challenging of them all). But I digress. I'll check his other updates and run Secunia - I'm pretty sure I already put that on his computer last year. Thanks. Lynn.
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I do not know about the tivo and if it could be a problem, but it's possible -- I like the fire wall suggestion owbist brought up, esp. if it's ZA. It's hard to trouble shoot intermittent problems like this, I'm starting to think it is not the driver since it is intermittent and you have other factors going on but can't rule it out totally. We can wait for you to post back with the fire wall information that may be the first place to start, See we would want to do one thing at a time to isolate the issue. I know nothing about tivo can they connect to a separate router with out the computers involved in the connection. I would at this point disable the fire wall no matter what one you use thanks owbist an use the windows fire wall that way we can start to rule out items one at a time.. In the mean time I'm going to see if I can find the most current rev level# for the network adapter you use so we have it on hand..
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owbist
15 years ago
Is there any chance you are using the Zonealarm firewall? My wife's computer started becoming very difficult to connect to the net. All setting were good but she needed to reboot frequently and even then there was no guarantee of getting online.

I removed Zonealarm and everything is fine, I feel there was a conflict with one of the later MS updates. Right now she has the MS firewall but I will probably try ther PC Tools free firewall as I have read good comments on that one.
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
15 years ago
oh yep my bad I was talking about my desktop have never done one on a laptop sorry.

do you by any chance have McAfee on your pc? I found many many of my problems I had been having on my pc some to do with connection issues were all remedied when I completely removed McAfee.

OH WAIT hold the phone you said about a week ago would that happen to be right after you got the latest MS updates??? Because that was one of the problems some were having after getting the updates! If it was right after patch Tuesday then I would bet it is one of those updates. Here is the link to the thread about that over on BBR forums.
Loss Of Connection After Installing Windows Updates
Oct MS Updates
this latest batch of updates also had a problem with some versions of zonealarm firewall.

If it did start at that time I think I would do a system restore to a date prior to that and see if that works, then you could go to the windows update page and try getting only the critical updates one at a time to see which one is the culprit and not get that one, once you know the KB number you can just remove that particular one from add remove.

If you need system restore directions just ask it is super simple and reversible.
rivkadr
Original Author
15 years ago
Nope, no zone alarm or McAfee -- just AVG.

I actually had to completely reformat my hard drive and reinstall XP about 3 weeks ago, because I had a virus that I just could not get rid of. So I'm starting from a completely fresh install...downloaded all necessary drivers, etc., so I'm up to date on things in that regard. As I said, the first two weeks were fine, but then within the last week, things have gone to pot (and no, I doubt it's a virus -- I've barely used the computer other than to surf this site!)

I'll try the system restore and see if I have any luck with that -- if that's a no go, though, do you have any other ideas?
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
15 years ago
um did you get the recent windows updates as I had asked?
one of them is causing this type of issue and they were released about a week ago.
rivkadr
Original Author
15 years ago
um, did you read what I wrote, where I said I was going to do you system restore idea?
ravencajun Zone 8b TX
15 years ago
excuse me????? I had asked very politely if you were aware that there were issues with the latest windows updates which came out at the same time you stated your issues started and that those updates caused this type of issue and in YOUR post you did NOT reply to that. YOU then asked for other ideas how exactly are we to reply if we were never given the answer, HENCE my repeat of the asked question. WE don't just ask these questions for the joy of it, we do not have esp, with out help and guidance we have no clue or hope to help further... freely by the way.
genes
15 years ago
Yes, Raven is right and by the way, the system restore was my idea but answer Ravens question first before you do the system restore
rivkadr
Original Author
15 years ago
Sorry if I came off snarky, but starting a sentence with "um" is generally considered bad netiquette (along with the phrasing "as I had asked" just made it sound like you were reprimanding a naughty child or something). I thought you were being snotty with me, so I answered in return.

I've obviously rubbed some folks the wrong way, so I'll move along elsewhere to find my help. Thanks anyway for what help you have given.

Can network cards go bad?

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ravencajun Zone 8b TX

genes

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Can network cards go bad?

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ravencajun Zone 8b TX

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