Vista - Loss of internet connectivity with IE and Firefox whilst mail can still update

Hi all.

Having surveyed numerous similar posts I am at a loss as to how to resolve this issue, hence posting my specifics...all help greatly appreciated.

I am running Vista Home premium, IE8, Firefox 3.5.3, AVG free and Zonealarm. On starting the PC there is no problem connecting to the internet through either browser or updating email (Windows Mail).

Problem...

Loss of internet connection via IE and/or Firefox whilst Mail can still send/receive. I have tried clearing the cache etc but the only thing that works is re-booting the laptop (Dell XPS 1330).

I mainly browse with IE but downloaded Firefox in case IE was the problem. One or the other will lose connection first then the other will follow.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Steven

Could you provide details of how you connect to the internet?

ISP and connection details
Are you connected with wires or wireless?
When did the problem first occur, had you made any changes to your system prior to noticing the issue?

Thanks

Hi DC187 and thanks for the reply.

ISP = Tiscali
Wireless connection (Thomson ST585)

The issue has been on and off for many months (possibly since late 2008) and tends to occur more after viewing streaming video (although this may be a coincidence).

My present situation is that, despite receiving mail (without problem) to say there had been a reply to my question, Firefox was unable to open the page ("Problem loading page - offline mode" and won't come back on) yet a copy and paste into IE allows me to reply as I am now...without problem.

Hope you can help

When the problem occurs in FireFox, is that FireFox has entered Offline Mode?
You can check from the file menu and see if there is a tick next to Work Offline.

There was a bug in 3.5.2 where Firefox would randomly switch to Offline mode and then get stuck in that mode.

I suspect it isn't that since you also have the issue in IE, but worth a mention none the less.

Could it be your connection via wireless momentarily drops?

Are you able to connect by wires just to eliminate that as a problem?

Thanks DC187. I don't think it is the Firefox issue as it alsi impacts IE around the same time.

I have followed your advise and eliminated the wireless router, which coincidentally appears to have 'expired' but the problem occurs when connected by wire also.

Any other suggestions greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Steven

UNcheck auto detect settings in IE. go to tools >internet options>connections>lan settings>auto dectect

Hope this helps

ken

Quite a strange sounding problem.

Try running a continuous ping to say www.vistax64.com:

Open command prompt > ping www.vistax64.com -t

Now browse the internet as you would, when the problem occurs check the command prompt, does it continue to ping or do you get a time out or destination unreachable?

Whilst you have the problem you could also try running a tracert to a site to see how far out on the net you can reach.

I just noticed your ISP is Tiscali and you say you notice the problem more after watching streaming video.

Could it be you're reaching a download limit and Tiscali are then throttling your bandwidth, this would go someway to explain why your email still works.

Have you tried to contact Tiscali regarding the issue?

Thanks DC.

I have tried as you suggested. There was no impact on the ping, either loss or slowing down, despite losing the ability to connect on a couple of occasions today. First I lost Firefox but was still able to connect with IE. Then IE hung but I was still able to ping websites and reconcile emails.

Re download limits, using today as an example, I done minimal browsing and nothing heavy. For what it is worth (i.e. small print aside) I am on an unlimited download package, so suspect reaching their limit is unlikely. Also, each time this happens, I am able to re-boot and start broswing again immediately (unrestricted).

Very odd.

Any further suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

PS Thanks also to Zigzag...this was already the case.

A further oddity...

Mail okay, Firefox 'waiting' indefinitely to load any other page from a Google link yet I am still able to move between search pages in Google and to open another Google window...everything else just hung.

IE failed to open Google or any other page. Having re-booted the PC, everything now works fine!