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Aurora-R4, Intermittent Connection Problems
I'm having intermittent connection problems with my Alienware R4 running 64 bit Win 8.1 Update. When I click on a link (using Firefox), a new tab opens in my browser and I frequently get "Problem Loading Page" in the new tab, and a popup that says "Server not found." There's some additional generic text and a button in the popup saying "Try again." Clicking on the button anywhere from 1 to several times WILL get me to the link. Similar results using IE. (I don't run both browsers at once.) When I'm at one site - for example, playing some online game, sometimes for an hour or more - no problem. I have AT&T DSL service and am using an AT&T Netgear 7550 modem - a older Dell XPS (running x32 Win XP) plugged into the same modem works fine; (I only use one PC at a time.) Both PCs are using the same version of Kaspersky anti virus. I've tried exchanging modem ports and the problem follows the Alienware R4 PC. I ran all the Dell PC diagnostics on the R4, and it passed. It's current with all Windows updates, and I also updated the driver for the Realtek card without solving the problem. Any suggestions?
John In Texas
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July 29th, 2014 10:00
Looks like I fixed the problem.
I checked the DNS server assignments and found that while the IPv4 was set to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 for primary and alternate servers, IPv6 was set to "Obtain DNS server address automatically."
Unchecking this choice, choosing "Use the following DNS server addresses," and entering 2001:4860:4860::8888 and 2001:4860:4860::8844 for the preferred and alternate IPv6 server addresses seems to have fixed my problem - two days now with no difficulty.
John In Texas
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July 29th, 2014 10:00
Looks like I fixed it.
When I went to check the DNS server addresses, the IPv4 preferred and alternate addresses were set to use the correct 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 . . . but IPv6 was checked "Obtain DNS server address automatically."
Selecting IPv6 to "Use the following DNS server addresses" and setting the preferred and alternate addresses to 2001:4860:4860::8888 and 2001:4860:4860::8844 respectively seems to have solved my problem - haven't had any troubles for two days now.
DELL-Chris M
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July 17th, 2014 10:00
Go online and check for any firmware updates for the AT&T Netgear 7550 modem. Disconnect the older Dell XPS from the AT&T Netgear 7550 modem and test the R4 in all four AT&T Netgear 7550 modem ethernet ports. Consider adding a PCIe-x1 network card to a PCIe-x1 slot on the motherboard. This would enable you to disable the R4 onboard Realtek NIC in the Bios. Then test and see if the add in network card has the same issues.
John In Texas
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July 19th, 2014 16:00
Talked to my ISP (AT&T) - their tech informed me that the AT&T Netgear 7550 DSL modem is set up to automatically download and install firmware updates if they become available. I physically disconnected the older Dell XPS from the modem and tried the R4 in all four ethernet ports - same intermittent connection symptoms as before. AT&T checked my connection and it looked OK from their end, they're now running a "48 hour monitoring test" to see if they detect any issues. After that's done I'll replace the ethernet cable and try connecting the R4 sequentially to all four modem ports again . . . I'll probably run the Dell diagnostics again, too.
I also went to Control Panel and under Intenet Settings I restored advanced settings and reset Internet Explorer settings, rebooted, and tried again - no effect on symptoms.
DELL-Chris M
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July 19th, 2014 18:00
The Dell Realtek RTL8111E integrated Ethernet driver was released on 1/20/14.
* I went here and found the retail driver dated 6/3/14
* Right of "Win8, Win8.1 and Server 2012 Auto Installation Program (SID:1656266)", I clicked US1 and saved the file to my desktop
* I then extracted the ZIP file into its own folder
* I opened that folder, WIN8 folder, 64 folder
* See if you can go to the device manager and update our Realtek integrated ethernet driver with the ones in the 64 folder
John In Texas
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July 21st, 2014 17:00
I updated the Realtek driver per the instructions - although when I checked the driver properties afterward it said the driver date was 5/8/2014 and the driver version was 8.32.508.2014.
I did a little more research and found some information on intermittent connectivity at the following link: http://forum1.netgear.com/showthread.php?t=80533
I'm not computer literate enough to understand the full explanation and of course the hardware discussed at the link isn't the same as mine, but thinking I might have a problem with the Kaspersky software's firewall, I just temporarily disabled the firewall - and I'm still getting the same intermittent connection problems with my Alienware R4 as before.
I also found one odd thing - my R4 will not connect to www.randallssurvey.netat all - the message in the tab is "problem loading page" and the popup message is "unable to connect" - I have NO problem connecting through this modem to this website with my old Dell, and my R4 will - eventually, after anywhere from one to several tries - connect to every other website I've tried.
John In Texas
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July 27th, 2014 08:00
Did some more research on line, and found that "Malwarebytes" was incompatible with Kaspersky anti virus, so I removed Malwarebytes. I then cleaned up my hard drive using the "cleanmgr" command, and went through Dell's ePSA system assessment and all the post-boot Dell diagnostics - the computer passed all of them.
But I'm STILL getting the same intermittent connection problems as before. (Except now the www.randallsurvey.net website I mentioned before is accessible.)
I can eventually reach every website I try, but I shouldn't have to click multiple times to do so - so what the heck is going on with my R4?
John In Texas
27 Posts
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July 29th, 2014 10:00
Looks like I fixed the problem.
I checked the DNS server assignments and found that while the IPv4 was set to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 for primary and alternate servers, IPv6 was set to "Obtain DNS server address automatically."
Unchecking this choice, choosing "Use the following DNS server addresses," and entering 2001:4860:4860::8888 and 2001:4860:4860::8844 for the preferred and alternate IPv6 server addresses seems to have fixed my problem - two days now with no difficulty.