Maximum PC

Hi. I have a wireless network with a PC (wireless) and an Xbox (wired) connected to it. I can play Xbox and have very little problems. A little lag or cant connect to friends right away but it seems to stay connected to the internet all the time. The PC connects when it boots up and all will be well for a while. Then I just loose internet. The Xbox will still be fine and online but the PC wont be. It says its connected to my network but there is no internet. I disconnect from the network and reconnect and still nothing. The only thing that will fix it is if I shut down the PC and unplug the wireless router for about 15 seconds then plug in the router and wait 15 seconds and turn on PC. Then boom, internet.

I have a cable modem and the cable light is solid during all of this and I can play games online on the Xbox but the PC just seems to randomly lose internet. Not sure if its a network problem, a bad wireless card, or something screwy with Windows 7. I am a newb at Windows 7. Just made the jump from XP so any advice on how to diagnose and fix this would be appreciated.

The simple and quick thing to do would be to attach the PC to the router with ethernet to test it out. If that is not a doable option, I would say try changing the channel on your wireless router, it is possible that the channel you are using is congested. If that doesn't work, see if you can borrow another wireless card or router. I have seen older routers start to drop wireless connections just before they up and die all together.

In system tray, click on the "Internet icon" and choose "Open Network and Sharing Center". Click on Local Area Connections and choose Diagnose next time you loose your connection and see what the program comes up with.

One other thing to do is update the firmware on the router. That usually solves a lot of problems, but be sure you have the correct firmware for your router or you will brick it.

Nasty

I have run the Windows 7 diagnostic check on the network page and had it check internet connectivity. It came back and said that the Broadband Modem was having issues connecting to the internet. I went and turned on the Xbox and it didn't connect either (plugged into wireless router ). I then unplugged the Xbox cable and plugged it in directly to the cable modem and it connected no problem. I put all the cables back and reset the wireless router and everything came up fine. I did notice this seems to happen when the PC goes into hibernate and I come back and wiggle the mouse and have to log back in. When it fires up it is connected to my network but says no internet. It has happened when surfing the net but happens every time it "wakes" up.

I'm thinking its something with the wireless router. I am going to upgrade that soon anyways. Its a cheap netgear one and has been good until lately. Thanks for the suggestions. I love this place.