Windows 7 loses all network connectivity after screensaver is disabled

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I have a very strange problem:
My Windows 7 laptop is set to show the default windows screensaver after 10 minutes. No matter how long the screensaver is active, the network connections are fine. I know that, because I listen to an online radio all day and it keeps playing, even after the screensaver kicked in.
But: When I return to my laptop and move the mouse to disable and return my work, all network connections drop for a short time. They automatically restore themselves within seconds, but all connections are lost (VPN, Online radio, Putty, ...).
I already tried to change power saving settings, so the network connections are not disabled, but that didn't help and honestly, that was already a desperate deed, because it wouldn't make sense to disable the network cards to save power not when the computer is unused, but when the computer is used again...
Any ideas?

Daniel Hilgarth

Posted 2011-11-11T09:27:16.450

Reputation: 197

Sounds like it might be an issue with the VPN software. If it's configured to drop the VPN when the user is away, it might be triggering after the screensaver. (Unlikely behavior, but not improbable.) Once the VPN drops, everything relying on network connectivity will drop as well. Depending on how long your system takes to switch from the VPN to the normal network configuration, some applications may not be able to tolerate the momentary loss of connectivity. See if there's anything about power saving or idle timeouts in the VPN client configuration or connection profile. – Iszi – 2014-07-31T22:13:08.243

Alternately: Does this happen when you're not using the VPN also? – Iszi – 2014-07-31T22:14:05.263

@Iszi: Thanks for your comment. I have since upgraded to Windows 8 and it is no longer happening. The VPN was OpenVPN, so it was unlikely to be the cause, because it left alone all internet traffic. – Daniel Hilgarth – 2014-08-01T09:35:14.593

Maybe @DanielHilgarth should set the question as solved :) – davidbaumann – 2016-12-25T07:47:02.967

1Wow. Weird. Does the laptop have any vendor power management software installed, or is it using vanilla Windows? – Paul – 2011-11-11T11:12:52.480

As far as I can tell, no such power management software is installed. I installed the laptop (a dell precision M4400) myself with a Windows from MSDN, so no vendor delivered DVD either... Can this be a hardware issue? Maybe a problem with the docking station? – Daniel Hilgarth – 2011-11-11T15:39:22.057

Answers

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I suggest trying to uninstall all power management bloatware first.

A VPN exchanges public keys and renew public keys many times, so when you continue using pc after screen saver, you may need to connect to the VPN again. So I'd like to know if it also happens on a normal network, and not only VPN.

You can disable windows power saving on a wireless adapter in device manager by deselecting the checkbox.

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Another option is to change power management settings of current plan. I suggest disabling power saving on wireless networking.

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If none works, you can try disabling the screen saver and using turning off monitor as a power saving method.

Uğur Gümüşhan

Posted 2011-11-11T09:27:16.450

Reputation: 1 216

Asked: 2011-11-11T09:27:16.450

Viewed: 5 703 times

Active: 2019-12-29T14:02:00.380