Hi,

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this or not, so apologies if this isn't the correct area, but I would appreciate any help with my problem as I'm literally at my wits end after 7 or 8 months of trying to diagnose and fix it...

I have a really weird connectivity issue with my PC. I will have indeterminate amounts of connectivity to the internet, but then it will suddenly timeout for no apparent reason, and then come back after a random period of time.

This occurs on both my ethernet and wireless connection so I don't believe its anything faulty with cabling etc. I've also gotten to the point where I've bought and installed a separate PCI LAN adapter to rule out an internal component issue.

I've tested the cabling from the port with a different PC and had no issues there so I figure it must be something with the way my computer is communicating with the network.

I have re-installed Windows 7 twice, & most recently upgraded to Windows 8.1 throughout the course of this issue thinking it could be a misconfigured setting, with no success.

I've also updated BIOS, and chipset for my motherboard on two of those previous Windows 7 installs, and have just updated my chipset for the Windows 8.1 installation, still no positive outcome.

My home network supports 4 other users with roughly 12 devices on it, and mine is the only one having this problem. I did wonder if this was causing the network to be saturated giving me these periods of no connectivity. However it only ever seems to be my PC that has this happen and I believe I disproved this as there was a number of devices disconnected and I was still getting this issue, as well as connecting another device to the network without any issues while mine was working/not working.

The only way you can "see" it happening is by using a -t ping in cmd, otherwise you only know its happened as no internet pages will load and any online activities you're doing won't work. It won't display as disconnected in the system tray icon.
I can have periods of connectivity and then all of a sudden it will drop out for anywhere upwards of 2 - 3 minutes, 1 hour was roughly the longest its done before I gave up and went away from my PC.

My network layout: 

We have what's called a Fritz box, which is kind of both a modem and a router. It provides internet access like a modem, but also shares this between all the PC's/devices etc. like a router.

I connect with WiFi straight to the Fritz, and my ethernet goes into the port on my wall, through the switch in my garage, then into the Fritz which is connected to the line.

Internet > Fritz Box > PC's/Devices

I've run separate pings to both Google, and the Fritz Box, and when I get the request time outs, it occurs on both pings at the same time.

I've also tried booting into networking safe mode.

Funnily enough in the system tray I get the Ethernet disconnected icon even though it's definitely connected as I could browse the internet. WiFi also works.

I ran a continuous ping to Google. 10,330 packets were sent, received 10, 321 so 9 lost which equated to 0% so no issues in safe mode from what I can tell.

I think I've covered everything, sorry for the long post.

I have completely run out of ideas for what this could be/how to fix this issue so any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance,
gh567

Hi gh567,

The main issue is that the network connection will always be lost with a random time,right ?

"My home network supports 4 other users with roughly 12 devices on it, and mine is the only one having this problem. "
Considering there are so many devices linked to the router ,it may be caused by the router .If it is possible ,please connect the machine to the other router to rule out the router issue .This is just a troubleshoot idea.

We could try the following method to have a check .
1.Update the network adapter driver or reinstall it from the device manager.It is recommended to download the driver from the manufacturer website for the device .
2.Run the built-in troubleshoot tool to have a diagnostic and automatic repair .This tool is always helpful to resolve the network issue .
Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Troubleshooting\All Categories\Network Adapter

Please check the Event Viewer for any related error messages to troubleshoot this issue.
Event Viewer \Windows Logs\Application ,System
"I have re-installed Windows 7 twice, & most recently upgraded to Windows 8.1 throughout the course of this issue thinking it could be a misconfigured setting, with no success."
Considering you have reinstalled the machine twice ,the issue will persist or it will work correctly for a while ? If the issue persist though we have performed a clean installation .We can`t rule out there is a hardware issue here.

Best regards