Windows 7 losing network connection randomly when other PC's are connected

Question

I'm having quite an annoying problem which I haven't been able to find a solution for yet. I hope you can help me.

When my PC was using my home network and was connected to the internet through a router I was randomly losing connection to my own network - not just the internet. It actually looks like it "forgets" my entire network and reconnects/re-establishes a network again a few seconds later. If I turn on just one more PC and it also is using my router, the problem seems to increase which means that I can't have a LAN party at my place because when my network disappears i lose all connections to any games.

I noticed my Event Log showed an error 8033 just when it happened, which is about some masterbrowser. I found a suggestion to disable the service called Computerbrowser. This seemed to have the effect that when I am alone on my network I no longer get any problems. But as soon as another PC is connected I start having the disconnect problem again. There does not seem to be any recurring sign that could tell why it does it... it's just random. Could be an hour, 10 minutes, 6 hours etc. All my programs are losing connections. Even when I was writing this I lost my connection but the strange part is that today it seems to be happening every hour +/- a few seconds.

In my Microsoft-> Windows-> NetworkProfile folder it shows Event ID 4003 and then Event ID 4002 a few seconds later.

Please let me know if you need any further information. I'm not sure what to provide to give you the best possible opportunity to help.

Answer 1

Okay so I was lucky and got it fixed by having my ISP reset and restore my router so I guess there was a software malfunction of some sort. Perhaps also because I bought new hardware with a new NIC.

I noticed my DHCP Lease expire exactly on the hour and caused the disconnection. Then a new one was set and only lasted the next hour etc. After my ISP had done their work I could see that the expire time automatically added another hour each hour and therefore I never got the disconnection again.

But to offer some possible solutions for future problems I have listed those I have come across here below:

1. Try switching port on your router (if you use a wired connection).
2. Turn off power management on your network card.
3. Turn off WAKE ON LAN on your network card.
4. Update your network card driver.
5. Reinstall the network card.
6. Update your router firmware.
7. Reset and restore your router.
8. If your PC is not a server you don't really need Computerbrowser enabled. You can disable it if you write services.msc in Start, go to Computerbrowser service and disable it.

Answer 2

I think I know what this might be, as I have been getting the exact same thing on my new Netbook and it has been driving me crazy. Every 30 minutes, regular as clockwork.

Are you using WPA-PSK ? I am. On my Zyxel router there is a setting "ReAuthentication Timer (In Seconds) " and this defaults to 1800 ( 30 minutes ). Sure enough, if I change this to 60 seconds, the problem now occurs every minute. Set it to 120 and it occurs every 2 minutes.

Check your router to see if you have this setting.

It would be worth checking your router settings for that particular feature, as the refresh could be what is happening.

source: Wireless disconnects every 30 minutes

Answer 3

Several articles related to the Event Error 8033 indicate updating drivers on the network cards can assist in resolving this issue. This article has some added info. The systems are trying to establish which computer will assume master browser role.

Others suggest a firmware update on the router can also address the issue.

Are the NIC drivers up to date? Is the router running latest firmware?