I've given up. I've pinged and ponged and looked and rebooted and researched and jotted and even tried drinking it into submission, and I am so sick of my computer I could scream.

I'm calling my friend.

It won't do any good. It'll behave perfectly while he/she's there. ;)

Heh...probably. Guess we'll have to drink while we wait for it to eff up.

None of those suggestions were solutions. Those were how you get facts and numbers that mean nothing to you and that result in useful answers from others. Currently nobody can help because the necessary details are still missing.

I know.

I wrote a bunch of stuff down, but it's at home.

I saw that the lease expires like every hour?

It showed the same thing on IPCONFIG/ALL when it was working and when it wasn't, as far as the 192 whatever thingy.

My OS is Windows XP...pentium 4 something 2.66 and something 512...

When I tried to type my IP address in the address bar, nothing happened. I can't remember if I was able to get online or not when I tried that.

That's all I can remember.

First, leases typically expire in 1440 minutes. That would be defined in the router. Leases expiring every hour could be the symptom of failure. How do you know if and when a lease expires?

Once a computer has an IP address, it remains even if the router has gone defective. IPCONFIG /ALL will remain unchanged even when failure occurs. But the information is important for first locating the failure. IPCONFIG /ALL fixes nothing and typically does not change when failures occur. After reading data from IPCONFIG /ALL, then try IPCONFIG /RENEW. Then see what changes in IPCONFIG /ALL.

If the router's DHCP server can lease a new address, then it will do so only when IPCONFIG /RENEW is executed.

BTW, another address - the MAC address. It will read something like 00:aa:bb:cc:dd:ee where lower case letters represent digits. Important is that number remains consistent and is never all zeroes.

When a computer is working, the information for PING or TRACERT to the router's IP address and to cellar.org can later be compared to when computer is not accessing the internet. Difference is informative.

Previously posted was how to copy that information from the Command Prompt window and then paste it in Notepad (to record it) or to a Cellar post. No reason to remember anything when cut and pasting is so easy.

When accessing a web page that does not respond, then Windows puts up a message about diagnosing the connection. When internet access fails, click on that diagnostic to learn what has failed. Of course, it will mean nothing to you - now. But that message is critical to anyone who might provided assistance and show you how easy network problems are broken down.

Don't type your own IP address in the title bar. Enter the IP address of the router. You don't want to talk to a server inside your computer. You want to talk to the server inside that router.

Since your computer has no server, then entering your IP address gets no reply from a non-existent server.

For example, if your IP address is 192.168.a.bbb, (a and b are digits), then the address of that router is 192.168.a.1 . Enter that address both when the system is working and later when the system is not working.

Important is information from a router's status page. Also, if you can find the DHCP server, all computers that have leased IP addresses are listed - including yours.

BTW, this is why I always install at least one hardwired Ethernet port to a router. When failures occur, a hardwired port almost always still works to find and fix problems.

Not listed is who made the computer. Better computers have comprehensive hardware diagnostic specifically for problems such as yours. Executing that diagnostic only on the wireless card can (but is not likely to) provide further useful facts.

Sometimes Windows also has a wireless diagnostics from the wireless card manufacturer (ie Broadcom). Again performed both when the system is working and when failure occurs.

Don't try to fix anything. First is to define which has failed - computer or router. An example of breaking problems down into parts. Too many want instant fixes. But the easy fix starts by using simple tests (such as above) to first learn which side has failed.

Again, you may not know that the error has been identified. Even significant timing changes in PING may be a seriously critical piece of information - that would mean nothing to you - yet. Doing this stuff is how complex computers become less complex than a kitty cat - and don't make you bleed blood or money.

S123, wait. Nobody has actually troubleshooted your problem. You said it "stops acting like it's even connected". What is it doing when that happens? You're in a browser and the page stops loading? It can't find any web pages?

Does it come back by itself or do you have to reboot at that point? Does a reboot always fix it right away?

A reboot is not a guarantee that it will work when I reboot. I've rebooted sometimes more than once hoping it will log into my homesite (
CNN.com) When I got home from work I rebooted 6 times. Yeah...frustrated.

It never fails when I'm in Toontown and I wondered it that is because it is constantly sending data bak and forth.
It seemed like it go worse as time went on, yet tonight it has not booted me out since I logged in at eight o' clock and something

When it won't "connect" i get that screen where you can choose to do a diagnosics....I have a copy saved ...would it help?

It's always on wireless when this happens?

All I have is wireless... installation dude wouldn't run a cable to my comp.

Can you run your own cable? What's the box that they put in, does it have a manufacturer/model #?

By "box" do you mean that little light up thingy with an antenna? :)

It hasn't messed up since yesterday...knock on wood. It's like aliens took it over for a while and are now gone.

Yes, if that's the only box they seem to have installed.

Netgear CG814WG