Intermittent Internet connection problem

[shg_1]

I recently subscribed to a new internet service provider HughesNet. We have a Hughes HN9000 modem and a netgear wireless router connected to my HP desktop, an HP Pavilion p6142 running Vista. Quite often when I get into Internet Explorer, I get a message... Internet Explorer cannot display the Webpage." It prompts me to Diagnose connection problems, which I click on. After a minute or so I get the option to Reset the Network Adapter "Local Area Connection" Then the message "Repairing..." appears. Next I get, "the problem has been resolved. Close or reopen the program or refresh. This seems to work most of the time to reestablish my internet connection. I have looked at the IP address when internet is up and it is a 192.168.0.1 (I think). When internet is down... IPconfig gives me a 168.something address. It seems that the IP address somehow changes on the fly. When internet is down however, the other wireless computers in our home are still able to access the internet through the router and modem. Hughes Net support assures me it is not a problem with their modem because those other comuters are able to access the internet. The Netgear folks say the same thing. I am able to usually correct the problem with the above procedure. Can you tell me why this is routinely happening and how to correct it? HP support says they think it may be hardware but my desktop is out of warranty so no real help there. Do I need to update drivers for my NVidia NForce ethernet adapter? I am not very knowledgeable about network connectivity stuff. Does anyone have any ideas or familiarity with this sort of problem? Thanks... SHG_1

[DeniseM-Toronto]

Check for whatever versions of the Nvidia network drivers you can find and try them.  Some of them are buggy when used with Windows Vista and even worse with Windows 7, but no one has ever done anything to fix them.  And the Nvidia chipset might have some of the guilt.  But, though HP uses these Nvidia parts, as far as Nvidia is concerned it is old stuff they aren't interested in.  Some of the older drivers are no longer available.  HP, though still buying the parts and using them, doesn't seem to pressure Nvidia to fix things.

The actual network chip is a Marvell one, but not one Marvell supports, so we're stuck with Nvidia for any solutions.

If you can't find one that works for you, you could try a different network adaptor. 

Ultimately our solution was to also change our router.