Why does my Internet connection go stale?

[hazel]

I have an irritating problem. When my broadband connection hasn't been used for a while, it stops working. The data light on the router flashes but nothing gets through. Yet if I switch my router off for a minute and then on again, everything works fine once it has warmed up and I have the synchronisation signal. I don't know squat about how broadband works but maybe someone here does. Anyone else have this problem?

[scathefire]

so if you hook your modem straight into, say, your computer and bypass the router all together, does the same thing occur?

or if you hook another router up does it happen? or can you connect to like a web interface or ping your router even if your internet connection stops?

my initial suspect is your router, otherwise wouldn't you have to power cycle the modem as well? I guess if you don't have logging turned on, maybe you should turn it on and see if anything relevent comes up.

[GNU-Fan]

I had.
But in my case the problem didn't go away after unplugging the router.
Then I had to call the provider, whose engineer triggered a resync on my DSL line.
After happening four times, they sent me a new modem and it didn't occur again since then.

Do you have a combined modem+router? Or are these distinct devices?
In the latter case, try to bypass the router and "dial in" directly.

[techieMoe]

Is it a problem with your router or your cable/DSL modem? Some routers are set up to have your IP address expire after a certain amount of time... but your computer should just request a new one when that happens.

[hazel]

so if you hook your modem straight into, say, your computer and bypass the router all together, does the same thing occur?

or if you hook another router up does it happen? or can you connect to like a web interface or ping your router even if your internet connection stops?

my initial suspect is your router, otherwise wouldn't you have to power cycle the modem as well? I guess if you don't have logging turned on, maybe you should turn it on and see if anything relevent comes up.

I don't have a separate modem. There's just this one box which is an adsl modem and router combined (not to mention a dhcp and dns server as well) and plugs into my ethernet card. I don't have another router so I can't do any comparisons. I'm pretty sure it isn't the computer/router link that's going down but just for interest I'll try the tests you suggested next time it goes down.

[Rubberman]

Perhaps its DHCP address has expired and it isn't properly aquiring a new one? Sounds like a bug in the router. Have you contacted your ISP?

[hazel]

Perhaps its DHCP address has expired and it isn't properly aquiring a new one? Sounds like a bug in the router. Have you contacted your ISP?

Frankly I can't be bothered. I've a lot on my plate right now and, as I said in the original post, the problem is easily dealt with by just switching off and switching on again. I was just curious as to whether there was a simple explanation of why it happens.

[Thrillhouse]

I had a similar problem a few years ago.

Arch Linux Forums / What can I do to keep from having to power cycle my router?

Updating the firmware on the router fixed it for me. Also, I've noticed (on Windows) if you're not using the latest version of drivers for your network card, it can cause this problem.

[Rubberman]

Frankly I can't be bothered. I've a lot on my plate right now and, as I said in the original post, the problem is easily dealt with by just switching off and switching on again. I was just curious as to whether there was a simple explanation of why it happens.

Simple? No. Possible? Yes. I stand by (or behind) what I said before about this.

[hazel]

Perhaps its DHCP address has expired and it isn't properly aquiring a new one? Sounds like a bug in the router. Have you contacted your ISP?

I think you're right. When it happened again yesterday, instead of automatically switching off and on again, I went into the router interface with firefox. And sure enough there was no ip address there. I think my isp probably takes back addresses that don't seem to be in use and recycles them to other users.

There is an option to update the router firmware but I'm terrified of trying it because this router is my only link to the Internet, and (apart from this niggle) it works perfectly well as it is.