Actiontec (GT704WG) Router

connection lost after a couple hours

after surfing the net for a couple hours i lose (part of) my internet
connection if im using azureus or a messenger stuff like that they
stay connected and i can continue using the website that i am on at
the time it happends but i cant connect to any other website or use
any program that uses a internet connection unless i already had it
open untill i turn my router off and on sometimes i even have to
remove the power cord for a few seconds any one know how i can fix
this?

"bobha" wrote in message
. ..
connection lost after a couple hours

after surfing the net for a couple hours i lose (part of) my internet
connection if im using azureus or a messenger stuff like that they
stay connected and i can continue using the website that i am on at
the time it happends but i cant connect to any other website or use
any program that uses a internet connection unless i already had it
open untill i turn my router off and on sometimes i even have to
remove the power cord for a few seconds any one know how i can fix
this?

The fact that you can continue using a website but are not able to switch to
another tends to rule out the actual phone line signal levels.

What I suspect is really happening is that your ISP is experiencing problems
with their DNS servers. When you type a URL link into your browser like
http://ntcanuck.com your computer sends the request to a DNS server that
translates the URL into 207.68.173.74 (much like looking up a telephone
number in a phone book). That IP address is then used to make the actual
connection.

You might want to consider visiting the TreeWalk DNS web site and installing
their program. It adds the ability to your computer that allows it to
bypass your ISP's DNS servers and use others as needed. The program is free
for personal use. It is not uncommon for ISP's to have DNS problems due to
internal network issues or from Denial Of Service attacks by disgruntled
customers.

In article , lid
(bobha) wrote:

connection lost after a couple hours

after surfing the net for a couple hours i lose (part of) my internet
connection if im using azureus or a messenger stuff like that they
stay connected and i can continue using the website that i am on at
the time it happends but i cant connect to any other website or use
any program that uses a internet connection unless i already had it
open untill i turn my router off and on sometimes i even have to
remove the power cord for a few seconds any one know how i can fix
this?

If you lose contact with your DNS server, then there is no way for
a symbolic address (www.sun.com) to be resolved to a number
like 72.5.124.61 .

When the thing dies on you, go to your browser and type in
http://72.5.124.61 . Do you see the Sun Microsystems web page ?
What I am doing in that case, is avoiding the translation of
"www.sun.com" by a DNS server. The DNS server would usually
be provided by your ISP, and is likely set up automatically.
The DNS server is responsible for turning "www.sun.com" into
"72.5.124.61", the actual address of the server.

Reasons for the thing to die, could be a memory problem
inside the Actiontec router, it could be that one or
more DNS servers at your ISP aren't working, or your computer's
OS is stuffed.

If you open an MSDOS window, and type

nslookup www.sun.com

you should normally see something like

Server: dns.myispname.com
Address: 123.234.100.200 (the numeric address of your DNS)

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.sun.com
Address: 72.5.124.61

If typing that "nslookup" command into the MSDOS window
says it cannot find a server, then you have lost contact
with your DNS. Cycling the power on the ActionTec would be
the first thing I would try. An alternative to that, is
to statically configure DNS in Windows. In the "Network
and Dialup Connections" of your Control Panels, you might
have a "local Area Connection". Open it and click "Properties".
Select "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)". Click "Properties".
At this point, you could click "Use the following DNS server
addresses". You could use the number returned from the nslookup
command (the 123.234.100.200 in my example, obtained when
everything is working right), as an entry to be
typed into the box.

Doing this is not the cleverest thing to do. I use this
trick occasionally, if my ISP is having some problems. A
disadvantage of doing this, is when I obtain a lease for
my high speed modem, it can be connected to a different
piece of equipment each time. Sometimes, the DNS I select
by that manual method, has high latency, and it takes
many seconds for DNS to translate my symbolic addresses.
And that is why the automated method, done by DHCP, is better,
as the DNS used is related to the equipment you connect to.
So, using this manual configuration trick might be a temporary
solution, until you can get the problem solved.

You can use more than one DNS address in the Windows control
panel, and that helps with outages. You might talk to your
ISP tech support, and ask them for DNS addresses that might
be a good choice for static configuration. My ISP has some
"main" DNS servers, and a bunch of crappy unreliable "satellite"
servers. The ISP tries to spread the load over all the DNS
servers, so that everyone gets low latency address translation.

Hope that gives you a few ideas.

(And BTW, I'm no IT guy :-) That should be obvious.)

Paul