Vista Intermittent Network Connection Problems

I am have an intermittent network problem with Vista Home Premium on an ACER
laptop. Upon bootup the network connection appears fine. The browser will
make a good connection anywhere the first time. But sometimes after the first
connection the browser cannot connect anywhere.At this point no windows
application can connect anywhere on the WEB including windows mail.
The Windows Network Diagnostics provides the message: "There may be a
problem withyour Domain Name Server (DNS) configuration. Windows failed to
find the well known host 'www.microsoft.com' using DNS. The server maybe be
down"
But, I can, in a DOS command window ping 'www.microsoft.com' and the IP
address is resolved with no difficulty (although that host does not respond
to Ping).
It does not matter which browser I use either IE Ethernet Explorer or
Mozilla FireFox, the symptoms are the same. I have attempted turning off the
firewall and pop-up blockers to no avail.
I took the computer back to the store service departpartment (Best But &
Geek Squad); they ran diagnostics that verified that there were no hardware
problems and that problems were in Windows.
What can I do to fix this problem?

I have seen the exact same behavior. An intermittent inability to
establish any new connections to things on the Internet... mail servers,
web server, chat services, etc. Any connections already established are
fine however. I can ping, and look up IP addresses, but that's it.
Additionally, I have a friend who also has Vista and see the same
intermittent behavior.

Basically, I just have to wait until Vista "comes back", to continue
those activities or simply reboot. This really smells like a bug in
Windows to me... but have no idea how to solve it, or if there is a
solution for it.

Can you ping addresses that are a name instead of four numbers?
If not, it could be problems reaching your ISP's DNS server.

Yes, I can ping names (i.e. Yahoo.com) just fine. If I try to ping
something that doesn't respond to pings, such as microsoft.com, it still
shows me the IP address for Microsoft.com. For that reason, I really
believe it's not a DNS issue.

I'll be browsing happily along and then suddenly get the good old
"Server is not available" message (or some such) and then I can no
longer browse or establish new connections to any network (even
internal) resources. My connections to instant messenger services are
all intact and usable. If I disconnect from any service, I am unable to
reconnect. Same goes for any remote desktop sessions I've established
(like from work to home). As long as I stay connected I'm fine. So
sometimes, I'll actually use my home computer to continue doing any
Google searches I'm doing until my Vista box's networking comes back,
which it seems to do within about a half an hour.

It's a rather irritating problem, and clearly not isolated to my
installation.

Same problem on an Acer. My wireless connection works fine, but my
wired is erratic. After 2 hours with MS help I installed a new driver
for the ethernet card and the connection was fine for about a day.
Very fustrating that my old XP machine is so much more reliable.

When you ping an outside addresses Does it respond? ie ping google.com
if that doesn't work then it could be a dns issue. try pinging 4.2.2.2.
If that works, but pinging by name doesn't it is definately a dns
problem, however, if you are able to ping addresses on the web eaither
by name or address you are connected to the web. At this point I would
try disabling my anti-virus program or firewall program and check again
if that is the case.

I am having this same problem with Vista connected via a cat 5 wire to
the router.
I can use the browser for about a minute and then it fails saying
windows fialed to find the well known xxxxxxxxx using DNS
Did anybody solve this issue.. From October ???
WOW, WISH we had XP on this machine.
Thanks in advance
Dennis Adams

As far as I know no one has offered a solution since I first posted in Sept.
'07. But I have wondered about the commercials running on Comcast Cable
advising To power down and then power back up. What's that all about?

I've been having the exact same problem for about a year now. I'll be browsing the internet with no problems for about 2-3 hours, when suddenly any page I go to brings up 'server is not available'. But like other people said here, anything I had open still works, like any kind of instant messaging program, or any downloads. The only solutions I've found is either to reset my laptop, or wait around for about 30 minutes till my connection comes back.

I know the last post was last year, but if any of you guys solved the problem, please let me know.

Uhh... Any of you still keep a connection long enough to even get to this thread? o_O

I too am having this same problem (and its driving me nuts too). I have a new Vista machine with a Realtek GBit onboard Network interface connected to an unmanaged DLink GBit router using cat 6 cable, which in turn is connected (using CAT6 15 m cable) to a Billion ADSL/VOIP/Router with a 4 port Fast ethernet switch. The Billion is supplying a printer and PC (Fast ethernet only) directly and the DLink switch. The switch in turn is servicing a laptop (Fast ethernet only), PC and Brother multifunction device. I am getting intermittent internet browser service on the GBit PC and also the laptop. I have tested and tried the following, with no result:

1. replacing the Dlink unmanaged GBit switch with another identical switch (even though both appear to be working flawlessly elsewhere) - no change
2. Pinged using both resolved name addresses (e.g. www.google.com) and number address (203.5.45.21) and found no degradation in speed even during the browser failure periods. Also used a ping route speed testing program which showed good speeds to the ISP even during the "outages".
3. tried server-provided, open dns , ISP dns and Billion as dns on both individual PC connections and in Billion: no change
4. replaced the 15m cable - no change
5. Tried Wireshark - wow, not sure how to use it!
6. Tried Opera, Chrome, Firefox as well as IE - all same problem
7. Tried FTP - it has no problems or brownouts
8. Tried updating the Realtek network interface drivers - no change
9. Tried setting the network connection setting to only use Fast ethernet - no change
10. Tried connecting the new GBit PC direct to the Billion - no change
11. Got rid of DHCP and set everything up as Static IPs - no change
12. Tried to get rid of WINS but the network printers don't seem to allow a no-WINS setting
13. Did thorough deep scans with AVG, A2Free and Windows Defender on all PCs: no problems identified

As found by others above, if something is streaming from an already connected website, it continues no problem. Ping and FTP have no problem. The XP machine connected directly to the Billion has no problems. Only the laptop and New PC with Vista are having problems and only on web browsers. Works great for a few minutes and then "bam", "Server is not available": only on browsers, only on Vista.

What the f@#$?

Should I downgrade to windows XP on both the laptop and new desktop?

If you have Vista, it is most likely you have Norton Anti-Virus. Norton is
known to terminate traffic on your system although you can Ping your can't
send or receive port 80 traffic. Check to see if your trial subscription has
terminated, if it has then you should uninstall Norton (completely using the
unistall tool also) and your connection will mysteriously re-appear...

This is one possibly solution to your issues.

ZOne Alarm also causes issues for some folks.

Have you upgraded to SP2? A friend of mine with the same scenario as
you found that SP2 mysteriously fixed it.

I don't know if I can put you out of your misery, but I have had this now for about 5 / 6 weeks, all the same symptoms with Vista home. I have had reams of live chat with Dell, as computer only a few months old, They have sent me updated drivers for network adaptor, and BIOS settings and replaced my motherboard with the Ethernet socket just in case and to be fair they have been great, but the problem still persists. I have been on to all the forums and checked and un checked various and many property boxes, all to no avail. Done a diagnostics run - and even installed Firefox. nothing!
I have been on to my ISP who kindly provided a new modem router (the old one was only 4 weeks old) NO difference.
Please believe me when I say I have sore eyes from scanning the web for solutions. Now I read in one forum a guy reported this to Microsoft and they advised him to contact his ISP - hang on; we all got different ISP's yet have the same problem, so it is apparent that MS response is a buck passing side swerve, for want of a more unsuitable adjective
I was speaking to my pal this morning - he has it too, he's with Orange, me with Virgin. Hello?

We have decided to give up, we reckon that it is another cock up in Widows updates that came down about 5 weeks ago SP2 possibly, so we all appear to be stuck till they get a fix and put in updates. If you restore your PC to 6 weeks ago, the problem may dissapear, but it will be shouting for all the previous updates. If you reset to factory settings and re install Vista the same thing will occur.
So either wait and use your XP laptop or PC for any crucial web work (buying etc.) cos it AINT affected XP with me either on the laptops or 2nd. PC Good as gold. and hope that the fix comes later. OR downgrade to XP from Vista for a quiet life.
Hope this is useful, it may just stop a few people chesing rainbows.

Good luck