I'm running Windows 2000 Pro. I keep losing my internet connection. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with the cable modem or the Linksys router. I have another machine that runs Windows 98 that does not lose it's connection. My Win 2k machine drops it's connection while surfing the net... there one minute, gone the next. Any suggestions?

Check the idle time-out ! sorry if that was too simple ! But just maybe it's set to 1 minute etc...

How do I set the idle time-out?

OK Go to: Start Programs Accessories Communications Network and Dial-up Connections Right click your Dial-Up option Select Properties Select the Options Tab The 3rd option on the right is: Idle time before hanging up! I have mine set to Never as I use ADSL but you might set it to 20 mins so it gives you a chance to take a call b4 it drops the line etc... Hope that help!

John, You must not be running Windows 2000 Pro. I have no such options. Also, the instructions/solution you're giving me seem to be geared toward a dial-up connection... I have a cable connection. Similar to your ADSL only cable (Time-Warner). I tried a cable tweak (actually, it's a registry tweak) that seemed to work fine for a while then things started going fuzzy. I'll be surfing along normally, then all of a sudden I'm unable to get anywhere... like the connection has been dropped. I can't ping out at all. I removed the tweak and returned the registry to the default settings, but the problem persists. When this happens, I can go to my wife's Windows 98 PC and there's no problems other than the fact that her machine is much slower than mine. So, the problem is obviously not the cable modem or the Linksys router. It seems to be specific to my Windows 2000 Pro machine. If I reboot, I'm OK for a while longer, then it drops the connection again. Gets to be a pain in the rear after a while.

This is actually pretty common with cable. I've been having a lot of problems with it also lately. The irritating way to fix this is by power cycling the modem and router (if you have one), meaning turn the pc off, unplug the modem, plug it back in, turn on the pc. I think it has something to do with DHCP dropping the ball. Next time this happens you could try from a command prompt: ipconfig /release then ipconfig /renew. Doesn't work for me but worth a shot.

I am dealing with the same problem. I have found that if you disable the network interface on the 2k box and then enable it it will allow access to the internet again. I think this is the same as release/renew from ipconfig. I would really like to find a way to fix this permanently. It is really a pain when gaming. I will be in the middle of a game and the windows 2k box just drops the internet connection. I will be staying tuned to this list to find out if anyone knows how to solve this.