Why is my computer losing internet connection in layman's terms?

[tallyho8]

When I get up in the morning and go to my computer it says it has no internet connection. When I restart my computer it works fine. If I go off for 8 hours and come back home, same problem. Every time I leave my computer for about 8 or more hours it loses the internet connection and it takes me about 5 minutes to restart it.

I Google this problem and get such a highly technical answer that I am not able to follow with my limited computer skills. I have Cox cable high speed internet, Windows 10 and usually use Firefox or Edge on my Dell computer. This problem started about a month or two ago. Anyone have a not too highly technical answer to the problem?

 

[/pine]

To prevent a bunch of back and forth (looking for the correct settings)...I suggest calling Dell support...they can tunnel into your pc and fix it for you...
Good Luck...

 

[tallyho8]

I didn't think of that. I will try it one day when I have time.

 

[Ken45101]

Do any of your energy saving settings trigger at 8 hours?

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Click the windows task bar. In the Search field enter command.
That will open a command line window.
enter ping -t facebook.com and hit enter. Let it run. Everyone will know you are doing important stuff.

If that doesn't work, it's not them, it's you.

It might be them. Mickeysoft updates your OS with no warning any time the computer is idle. Sometimes weird stuff happens. My computer started refusing to shut down after one of their "updates." If it's still usable, count yourself lucky.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

How old is your cable modem? Are you using a home router, or does the network cable go straight from the cable modem to the back of your computer?

Cable providers have stopped "supporting" the older cable modems. The short version of what that means is that the old modems now "lose" their connection to the cable network quite frequently.

Mine got so bad about a year or two ago (it was 15 years old) that I had to reset it every day.

New one very seldom loses sync. But I attribute that to my cable provider being the issue now.

 

[plowhog]

Every time I leave my computer for about 8 or more hours it loses the internet connection

It's the 8 hour timing that I wonder about.

Something else to try the next time this problem appears is to leave the computer on, but turn the modem/router off then back on. Wait a few minutes and see if the problem resolves. If it does, you have a modem/router issue, not a computer issue.

For your computer to use the internet, it needs an internet address. It's called your "IP address." Your computer automatically gets this IP address from your modem/router. But the modem/router doesn't assign that number to your computer for eternity-- far from it. Most internet providers have more users than they have available IP addresses. So these IP addresses get shuffled around as you need to use their internet service, but also quietly reclaimed during periods of non-use.

There is likely a setting in your modem/router that controls how long the "lease" is for regarding your use of that number. I'm curious if your IP address lease time is set for 8 hours in your modem/router. And curious of the problem is being caused by that lease expiring. If this is the issue, try editing that number in your modem/router. If its set for 8 hours, try setting it for something like 30 days instead.

Finally, before changing any settings, make sure it is definitely is a modem/router issue. As described above by cycling power on the modem/router to see if the problem goes away.

 

[mikester]

When I get up in the morning and go to my computer it says it has no internet connection. When I restart my computer it works fine. If I go off for 8 hours and come back home, same problem. Every time I leave my computer for about 8 or more hours it loses the internet connection and it takes me about 5 minutes to restart it.

I Google this problem and get such a highly technical answer that I am not able to follow with my limited computer skills. I have Cox cable high speed internet, Windows 10 and usually use Firefox or Edge on my Dell computer. This problem started about a month or two ago. Anyone have a not too highly technical answer to the problem?

Bottom line - it's a computer.

All personal computers use buggy software. Things just stop working, we shrug, reboot, then try again. We have been conditioned to believe this is normal and acceptable.

Why? Because in the computer industry "new means better" and the drive is to make blinky things with swooshing noises and gee golly not "make it work reliably". Reliability and the KISS principle isn't on their radar.

This is why I will never buy a Tesla or car made by Apple.

 

[duffer]

My money is with the guy that said it's your power settings on the PC. Once it goes to "sleep" or hibernation, it will disconnect the wifi signal. Some routers will do the same thing, although that is unlikely, unless your router is REALLY old.

Check your screen saver settings and there should be an option to adjust your power settings before going into hibernation.

Or.. click on the wifi icon on the bottom right of the task bar, and it will tell you if you have a connection available. If so just click on it and it should start the re-connect process without having to restart your computer everytime.

 

[3Ts]

the drive is to make blinky things with swooshing noises and gee golly not "make it work reliably".

^ +1 I worked on government contracts in the computer field and the "gee golly" stuff was more likely to be funded than the reliability and performance parts.