# Solved: Shutting down wired PC disconnects all wireless connections



## amiga5k (Oct 31, 2012)

So I have this Netgear N900 (WNDR4500) wireless router. I have one PC connected via ethernet cable to the router and 4 wireless devices connected wirelessly. As long as the ethernet-connected PC is turned on, the other wireless connections work fine, but as soon as I shut down that PC, the internet connection is lost (although I can still connect to the router via the wireless laptops - router login page - so I know the router's wifi part is working). Why would my PC need to be on? Does the PC handle any of the internet connection for the router?

I hope I don't need to keep my PC running 24/7 so that the other devices can access the internet!

Thanks in advance
Russell


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

Welcome to TSG! 

It makes no sense, unless the computer has wireless capability and somehow you are using ICS.

Can you please give us the ipconfig information from your laptop for when your computer is turned on and turned off :

*yoinked from ETAF's post*

We would like to see the results from an *ipconfig /all* - post back the results in a reply here.

This should also work for windows 8
Hold the *Windows* key and press *R*, then type *CMD* then press *Enter* to open a command prompt box 
(A new dialogue box - black with white font, will appear on screen ):

In the command prompt window that opens, type the following command:

_Note that there is a space before the /ALL, but there is *NOT* a space after the / in the following command._

* ipconfig /all > network.txt & network.txt *

It will export the results into notepad and then automatically open the notepad and display on your screen.

Now all you need to do is copy and paste those results into a reply here
to do that:
From the notepad menu - choose *Edit* - *Select all* 
all the text will now be highlighted
Next
From the notepad menu - choose *Edit* - *Copy*

Now go back to the forum - goto the reply and then right click in the reply box and *paste* the results. 
The results from the notepad should now appear in the forum reply.
*------------------------------------------------------------------------*


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

Also an ipconfig /all for the ethernet connected PC, please.


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## amiga5k (Oct 31, 2012)

Sorry the late reply: First, I had a problem... the wireless worked perfectly after I shut down the ethernet-connected PC and then I had to get ready for work. But I suspected that it would not be working when I got home from work...and I was right.

Ok, here's the ipconfig for the wireless laptop while the ethernet-connected PC is OFF (wireless internet connection NOT working, but WIFI itself good):

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : HP-RussellLap
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : 
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 38-59-F9-A3-F0-21
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::c8c0:bb29:c240:13fc%14(Preferred) 
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2(Preferred) 
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, October 31, 2012 8:32:44 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, November 01, 2012 8:32:48 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 188242425
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-16-0D-FC-3C-38-59-F9-A3-F0-21
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 10-1F-74-B8-D0-86
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter VirtualBox Host-Only Network:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 08-00-27-00-B4-85
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::b1f2:824d:dd39:917a%17(Preferred) 
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.56.1(Preferred) 
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 470286375
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-16-0D-FC-3C-38-59-F9-A3-F0-21
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{E4B3276F-5FC1-4AD7-9AA1-DD9B7DF87439}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{DD59B001-A195-4AB2-B9A8-7FDFBB57F091}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{F1D51849-2E12-46B8-9C66-31C1F3BCC285}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #3
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

*********************

And here's the ipconfig for the wireless laptop when the ethernet-connected PC is ON (wireless internet working good. Unfortunately, both outputs appear to be identical!):


Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : HP-RussellLap
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : 
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Qualcomm Atheros AR9285 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 38-59-F9-A3-F0-21
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::c8c0:bb29:c240:13fc%14(Preferred) 
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.2(Preferred) 
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, October 31, 2012 9:14:54 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, November 01, 2012 9:14:58 AM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 188242425
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-16-0D-FC-3C-38-59-F9-A3-F0-21
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek PCIe FE Family Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 10-1F-74-B8-D0-86
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter VirtualBox Host-Only Network:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 08-00-27-00-B4-85
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::b1f2:824d:dd39:917a%17(Preferred) 
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.56.1(Preferred) 
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 470286375
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-16-0D-FC-3C-38-59-F9-A3-F0-21
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : fec0:0:0:ffff::1%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::2%1
fec0:0:0:ffff::3%1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{E4B3276F-5FC1-4AD7-9AA1-DD9B7DF87439}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{DD59B001-A195-4AB2-B9A8-7FDFBB57F091}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{F1D51849-2E12-46B8-9C66-31C1F3BCC285}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #3
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

*****************************************************

And just for good measure, here's the ipconfig on the ethernet-connected PC (Internet connection good):


Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Russell-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : 
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8168C(P)/8111C(P) Family PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC (NDIS 6.20)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 6C-F0-49-08-54-BA
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::858d:57e9:2672:1db6%10(Preferred) 
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.4(Preferred) 
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, October 31, 2012 8:47:49 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, November 01, 2012 8:47:48 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 242020425
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-16-79-BC-DA-6C-F0-49-08-54-BA
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.{BD48CCAB-FE16-4E0F-B85B-631689240711}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Local Area Connection* 9:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : 
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:9d38:953c:b3:32c5:713a:469c(Preferred) 
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::b3:32c5:713a:469c%11(Preferred) 
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

**********************************

There are five lights on the front of the cable modem (Cable, PC, Data, Test & Power). Which lights should I be watching for strange behavior? The Cable light, I assume, is telling me that it is connected to the cable coming out of the wall, PC says that it is connected - physically - to the computer and Data, Test and Power are pretty self explanatory.

Thanks in advance,
Russell


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

It's the router you should be looking at.

As to the issue... when it happens can you access http://google.com/ or http://74.125.227.99/ ?


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## amiga5k (Oct 31, 2012)

Hmm... It's a brand new router and the previous one started doing the same thing (which is why I bought this one). I originally had the cable modem hooked up in another room with the previous router (a Belkin Play N600) and recently moved it to its current location - That's when the problem started (the connection issues were a LOT worse then: The modem was constantly connecting and disconnecting). I had the cable guy come out and he moved the internet line to this room (I didn't know there would be a difference - I thought I could hook up the modem to any of the cable outlets).

Anyway, while he was here everything was fine, although now that I think of it I had the modem connected directly to the PC to eliminate the router as a possible cause. When I put the router back in the mix, that's when it started its present behavior.

Last night I ran a program on the main PC called "Internet Connectivity Monitor" that tries to access the internet continuously (well, every n-seconds) and records whether or not it was successful. Even while on (the other wireless devices and laptops turned off) it showed one disconnection in the first 30 minutes... A system restart on the main PC and the internet was back, as though the modem goes to sleep or is disconnected in some other way.

Speaking of the modem (just to possibly eliminate it as the culprit), I noticed something with the lights on the front of the modem:

```
(o = off; * = blinking; . = on solid)

[SIZE=4]C P D T P
a C a e o
b   t s w
l   a t e
e       r
---------
o . * o .     P[SIZE=4]C Off, internet disconnected
. . * o .     PC Off, internet still connected
[SIZE=4]* . * o .     PC starting up (after internet disconnect)
[SIZE=4]. . * o .     PC On (Login screen - internet available)[/SIZE]
[/SIZE] [/SIZE] [/SIZE]
```
So it seems like something is either putting the modem to sleep/disconnecting (it does this even if it is not idle. That is, even if you're streaming netflix or whatever) or something else?

Does the information above help any? Should I have the cable guy come out again and check the line integrity?

Thanks in advance
Russell


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

The symptoms (computer needs to be connected to router by ethernet for wireless connected computer to get internet access) make no sense. I don't mean that I disbelieve that's happening exactly as you describe; just that even with the ipconfig /all outputs I see nothing that makes any sense.

For one router I would suspect that the router is defective in a strange way. For two, that seems to be too big a coincidence. So I suggest that we go back to basics ...

Make sure you have a good modem connection. Soon after the coax cable enters your residence there should be a good quality two way splitter. One side of that splitter should go directly to the modem. The other side of that splitter can go to other splitter(s) and to everything else. If you had this configuration to begin with you disrupted it when you moved the modem w/o changing the coax cabling.

Make sure you have the latest router firmware. Then reset the router to factory default settings.

Unplug the modem and router and shut down computer(s). Plug in modem. Plug in router. Connect a computer via wireless and see if you have internet access. If not, login to the router (still using the Wi-Fi connection) and check the WAN status (did it get a good IP configuration)? I'm sure you'll be watching the modem and router LEDs also.  By the way, I don't know what the modem LEDs are supposed to be telling us. Have you found a user guide for it?


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## amiga5k (Oct 31, 2012)

To be honest, I'm a little wary of disconnecting anything right now because everything seems to be working fine....for the time being.

I ran the "Internet Connectivity Monitor" (freeware, written in java) all day today, from 9am till now (about 9:30pm) and there were no disconnections all day. That's good news on the one hand (it's working like it should), but bad news on the other (why work correctly now but not yesterday?).

If it happens again, I'm going to try a couple of things. One, I'm going to remove the router and connect the modem directly to the system and let it run for 24 hours with the program above to see if there are any connection issues. If so, then I'll have the cable company come out and check the line thoroughly for quality. If not, I'll re-connect my previous router, a Belkin Play N600 or possibly my mom's Cisco router and see if the problem goes away. If that fixes it, I'll return the Netgear and go from there.

I'll be sure to report back here with my findings and hopefully mark it as "solved"!

Thanks everyone for your advice so far!

Russell


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

What modem do you have?


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## amiga5k (Oct 31, 2012)

The modem is made by Hitachi. The router is a NetGear N900 (WNDR4500)

I hooked up the modem directly to the computer, bypassing the router entirely, and ran the Internet Connectivity Monitor for a few minutes and right away there were several internet disconnects. So I called Brighthouse (well, RoadRunner, my ISP) and they had me run some command line internet checks, such as "tracert www.yahoo.com" and "ping www.yahoo.com" and report the results to them. I think they also checked my connection from their end and said the line needs to be checked. Long story short, I have a tech coming out (again...) to check the line and (hopefully) make this problem go away!

The tech won't be here until Monday, so I won't have much to report until then. And I certainly will report back and hopefully attach a "SOLVED" to this thread so that someone else with a similar problem knows what to try...

Russell


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## Couriant (Mar 26, 2002)

type in command prompt when directly connected *ping google.com -n 100* and notate the packets lost


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## amiga5k (Oct 31, 2012)

Tech support had me type in the 'ping www.yahoo.com' and report the info to them as well as 'tracert www.yahoo.com' and they said the results were not good (Don't remember what they were right now).

Anyway, I have the cable guy coming out again tomorrow (Monday), so I'll report back tomorrow night with the results.

Russell


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## ailioiu (Nov 5, 2012)

Hello everybody, I have the same problem with a DIR-600 router. It appears from time to time.

The wired laptop is running Windows 7, wifi connected devices are a couple of Androids, Nokia and another Windows 7 laptop.

While in this state, the "internet" symbol on the router (the one that shows the status of the internet connection) is blinking, approximately twice per second. The connection is PPoE.

As soon as I start and logon to the wired laptop, all the wifi devices connect.

Any advice would be appreciated, thank you.

Dan


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## amiga5k (Oct 31, 2012)

Ok, so the cable guy came out and did some testing. It appears that the ethernet port on my wired PC was causing the problem somehow (It's built into the motherboard). Just to cover all the bases, though, he redid the exterior wiring and changed the modem for a new one. He thinks it's the PC because when he connected the line directly from the modem to his Panasonic Toughbook and ran his speed test software the connection was fast and continuous. Same goes for my laptop (the ethernet port on the side). But when he ran the software on the PC it was a different story.

Router is working great and fast now.

So, long story short, I'll either get a USB LAN adapter for the PC or a USB wireless adapter, bypassing the built-in port.

Or, I may just take this opportunity to upgrade my motherboard to something less than 5 years old...

If something else comes up, I'll come back here and seek your wealth of knowledge.

Thanks!
Russell


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## ailioiu (Nov 5, 2012)

I did some research on the Internet and found some opinions saying that disabling homegroup in Windows 7 might help. 
I did this and I keep my fingers crossed. 
Of course, in order to disable Homegroup, I had to start the win7 computer, action that allowed all the wifi devices to connect. There was no disconnection upon shutting down the wired laptop but, as I said, the problem used to show erratically so I don't know if it is a result of the Homegroup disabling.

All the best.
Dan


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

You're welcome, Russell.


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