Network Help Needed. . . PLEASE!

I could really use some help. About a week or two ago, I developed a problem I never had before.

I have a pc desktop with a high speed cable modem hardwired (ethernet) to a dual-band Netgear wireless router. It seems like I have no problems at all when it's just items that are used together. However, as soon as my wife tries to make a wireless connection and go online with her tablet, that seems to destroy my router connection and temporarily shuts everything down. If she goes offline, In about 3-4 minutes everything recovers by itself and things are back to normal. In fact, when my daughter comes to visit, she often brings her pc laptop and tries to connect using the same wifi connection -- and, the thing happens.

In one attempt to 'Repair' this 'limited or no connectivity' issue, I saw this message:
Attempting to renew your IP address.

I'm not sure whether or not this has anything to do with anything -- or if this is what normally happens after things shut down. But this whole sequence of up and down events is now happening constantly -- and it's getting very annoying!!

I've had the same exact hardware configuration for at least 5 years or so -- no changes at all -- and no settings either. I've also checked all of my cable connections. As I said, I never had a problem until about a week or two ago, and I'm not sure what's causing it or what to do.

I have very limited knowledge when it comes to this kind of tech stuff -- so I would really appreciate any suggestions as to what might be causing this and/or how to proceed from here to get this resolved

 

What is confusing me is this also happens when your daughter comes over. I had initially thought this might be an IP conflict between your PC and your wife's tablet. But that seems unlikely that would happen with your daughter's notebook too.

If stapp's suggestion does not help, I would suggest a total network reset. Power down AND unplug everything - including the modem, router, switches, connected computers, networked printers, external drives, smart TVs, smart DVD/Blue-ray players, etc.

Cross fingers and plug in the modem and wait for the lights to settle down. Then plug in the router and wait for those lights to settle down. Then your Ethernet connected devices one at a time. Make sure your Ethernet connected computers have solid network/Internet connections. Then the wireless devices.

If you still have the same problem, then I am going to suspect your wireless router is failing.

 

I would just add that I think Bill is saying don't just disconnect the devices from each other turn them off and unplug from your wall power socket and I personally leave everything for at least half an hour before any attempt at reconnection.
I think (from memory) that this is so that everything can lose any charge it might be holding.
Anybody, please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

One minute should be plenty. The concern is some capacitor may hold a charge once power is removed. Engineers and designers know all about these "decay rates". Component manufacturers publish that data with the device data/spec sheets. Device designers choose which capacitors to use with that decay rate in mind.

Since these network devices are designed to be reset by removing power, long decay rates are not desired. So they choose caps with rapid decay rates. They typically even include "bleeder resistors" in the circuits to expedite that decay even further to ensure any stored voltage is quickly discharged. In reality, it only takes a few seconds at most so even one minute is overkill.

Note this is exactly why CMOS devices are used to store user changes to the BIOS in our computers. One of the physical characteristics of CMOS memory devices is they dump any stored data almost instantly (within one or two clock cycles) when the "holding voltage" is removed from the device. This is why moving the CMOS reset jumper for a couple seconds, or removing the CMOS battery for a couple seconds is plenty.

If motherboard designers had wanted the user changes to the BIOS to be hard to reset, they would have used a different device, like a EEPROM, instead of a CMOS device.

 

Thanks for the suggestions so far. I haven't tried any of them yet, but I definitely will.

I guess what continues to puzzle me is that it all seems to be related to the WIRELESS (WI-FI) connections. As I first mentioned, when I'm on alone with a hard-wired connection, I have have no problems. But as soon as a wireless device tries to connect to my router and go online -- that's it -- lights out.

At first I thought maybe it was a problem with my ISP (Cox). Then I thought, as Bill said, maybe my router was failing. But at this point -- who knows? I'll have to run through these suggestions and see what happens.

Thanks for the input so far.

 

It sounds like a problem with DHCP pool, it is probably set too low or it resets for whatever reason. I guess you have already tried resetting the router.

What is your router, do you have the latest firmware? Thinking, that someone might be abusing some vulnerability like KRACK, since 3-4 mins is just too long for the router to recover.

Code:

https://kb.netgear.com/000049498/Security-Advisory-for-WPA-2-Vulnerabilities-PSV-2017-2826-PSV-2017-2836

 

It should be noted that there really is no such thing as a "wireless router". That is a misleading marketing term.

A router has just one wired input and one wired output. It is used to connect (or isolate) two networks.

A so called "wireless router" is really an integrated device that contains 3 totally discrete network devices; the router, a 4-port Ethernet switch, and the WAP (wireless access point). Three discrete devices that just happen to share a circuit board, case and power supply. A "residential gateway" device is another common integrated device that also includes an integrated modem, and sometimes VoIP phone too.

So it is entirely possible your WAP is the problem, and is causing problems with your router.

The problem with such integrated devices is if one device within fails, you have to replace the whole thing.

 

You need to manually set up on the router other wireless devices that will be accessing it. This is usually done by accessing the router's GUI interface via a browser connection using the router's setup code/password. Also, I always recommend this is done as a "guest" connection for added security. Alternatively, the wife and daughter can do the same from their device but they need the router's setup code/password.

Was this activity performed prior to either trying to access your wireless router?

 

Not sure this was ever done. However, I can certainly check the router settings, but I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to do once I open the router's GUI. In other words, how do I actually set up other wireless devices?

 

Sure. But didn't OP say that both his wife's and daughter's devices connected OK? It's just that his Ethernet connection died, right?

Maybe that indicates that something is broken about how the router and WAP interact. But hopefully, maybe just wedged configurations.

 

Not exactly sure what WAP is or why it might be causing the problem, but just to clarify. . .

My ethernet connection seems to work just fine as long as that's all that being used. However, both my wife and daughter connect to my hard-wired system wirelessly (wi-fi). And it seems as soon as they try doing that, that's when my router goes offline and then re-boots again.

 

No. Unless I missed it.

The "WAP" (sometimes just "AP"), is the network "wireless access point". It allows your wireless devices to connect to your network. In the olden days, the WAP was a separate network device that typically connected by Ethernet cable to one of the Ethernet ports on a separate router (or switch). In your case, your WAP is integrated into the same box as your router (thus a "wireless router).

Think of home audio equipment. The stereo or A/V "receiver" is really an integrated device that includes the preamplifier, amplifier and AM/FM tuner in one box. Three separate components that just happen to share a case/chassis, main circuit board, and power supply. Same with your wireless router. Three separate components (router, 4-port Ethernet switch, and WAP) stuffed into one box.

Just to clarify, when your wife and daughter connect, EVERYTHING goes down, including the connection for your wife and daughter, right? And then the system seems to restart and all is good. Is that correct?

 

Assuming your router's wireless connections are setup properly, no one can connect to that router without first accessing it to setup their wireless device on it. To do so, they need to know the password or setup code for the router. Did you give that data to both your wife and daughter?

You can access the router through your desktop/notebook browser. You then enter:

http://192.168.1.xxx where; xxx corresponds to the last 3 digits of the router's IP address.

The router's GUI should open and you can inspect what connections on currently set up on the router.

 

I would definitely try Bill_Bright's procedure in post #3. If that fails, I would do a full 30/30/30 reset. Then, if there is a firmware update available (check the exact model on the manufacturer's website) I would apply it.

 

The thing about firmware is it does not typically suddenly go bad when it worked fine before. However, there have been a lot of router firmware updates for all routers that address some important security issues. So I would update it anyway.

 

OK, I misread. He said:

I took that to mean that she had been online aka connected. But from OP's other comments, I guess that she and their daughter were just trying to connect.

 

Read this over: https://kb.netgear.com/24830/Configuring-Access-Control-on-Nighthawk-Wi-Fi-Router . Before doing so, make sure it applies to your router make/model. Note the following:

Make sure "Allow all new devices to connect" is selected.

On possibility is the NetGear router is interpreting the notebook connection attempts as a DoS attack and is just shutting down the entire router as a defensive measure.

 

And I can see how you did so to be sure, I asked for clarification. We're still waiting on that.

 

Sorry it's taken me so long to get back -- got side-tracked a little

Yes, Bill, that is correct. Once the system restarts, all is good until one of them tries to logon again via wi-fi.

 

Have you done the suggestions in post #2 and #3 yet?

 

Yes, I have, Bill -- didn't correct the problem. It seems to get more confusing as time goes on. Most of the time, if my wife uses her android tablet in the same room as the router, everything is OK -- but problems seem to occur from some other room in the house. And, as I mentioned before, when I'm on alone with a hard-wired modem/router connection everything is OK for me.

I'm still not at all sure what the real problem is, but because it seems to be 'wireless' related only, I'm wonder if it could be a failing router Seems like some problem in trying to make a wi-fi connection -- especially from a little more distant location.

 

Oops. . . a retraction, Bill. My wife was just in the same room with me using her tablet and the router went down. So I guess proximity is not a factor after all.

 

Came across a posting on the NetGear forum where the poster was having somewhat similar issues: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Ni...s-10-desktop-keeps-disconnecting/td-p/1552190 . A firmware update fixed the issue. So I would do that first and see if it resolves the problem.

 

I appreciate the suggestion, but I don't believe a firmware update is available. My router is several years old and I think I'm using the most current version -- but I'll check again.