Windows 10 Network - Secured, not connected

andrewstevens556

Bronze Level Poster
Sorry to break the news.....

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ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
What other devices do you have connected to that router? Do any of those have problems? Did any new device connect just before you lost your connection? Do any devices have a static IP address coded?
 

andrewstevens556

Bronze Level Poster
What other devices do you have connected to that router?

W7 PC, W10 Laptop, iPhones, Samsung TVs, usual kind stuff.

Do any of those have problems?
Nothing else seems to have much issue. The W10 laptop sometimes starts with that globe for 10s after waking from sleep, but it soon changes to a proper wifi symbol.

Did any new device connect just before you lost your connection?
Not as far as I'm aware.

Do any devices have a static IP address coded?
No static IP addresses set at all.
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
We know that it does resume from sleep OK sometimes when on WiFi, so there can't be anything seriously wrong on your PC or with your WiFi network config.

Something sometimes prevents the PC renewing the DHCP lease when it wakes from sleep. If that something isn't on your PC (and it doesn't seem to be) you then it must be something external on your network. Hence my last set of questions.

Check your router config and ensure that the number of addresses in the DHCP pool is at least as large as the total number of devices you have. It's possible your PC loses its IP address because the pool isn't big enough when a new device connects. Whilst you're in the router setup increase the DHCP lease time. I would set it to the biggest value your router accepts (note that it's in seconds), short lease times are pointless in a home network, they are really designed for use in active public hotspots.

I would also suggest that you keep a diary logging the times when this PC does wake up from sleep OK and when it doesn't. In each diary entry note what other devices are connected to the network at the time. I'm hoping you'll find that there is a consistent difference between when it works and when it doesn't, which will help us figure out what the cause is.

Later Edit: I'm wondering whether the uninstall of Bullguard might not have been as complete as we'd hope and that some aspect of Bullguard hanging around is the problem? We can see the status of the Windows firewall if you enter the following elevated PowerShell command Get-NetFirewallProfile Private,Public so post a screenshot of that output please.

And even later edit: I've been doing some reading on this issue and next time it wakes from sleep with no Internet please issue the elevated PowerShell command Get-Service WlanSvc and let me know whether that service is running or not.

I think it's also worth having a look at your event log just in case there's anything helpful in there. Open your Event Viewer and wait for the log files to be read. In the tree menu on the left expand Custom Views, you should see a sub-entry called Administrative Events. Right-click on Administrative Events and select Export Custom View... from the drop-down menu to save these log entries to a file. Then upload that .xml file to the cloud somewhere and post a link to it on here. We can then import that into our Event Viewers and look through your logs for anything untoward. Posting the times when you slept the PC and when you woke it will also help.
 
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SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Latest update: Never really had a problem in the last week or so.

That's good enough for me. Thank you very much all.
You'll find that windows 10 will often change the wifi symbol between the globe which signifies no connection, and even sometimes a LAN connector symbol. This is just a bug within windows 10 network settings and hopefully doesn't actually signify any issue with connection.

Quite often, when I first boot up, it won't automatically find the network and I have to manually connect it, but once it's connected it's fine.

They reworked the entire network stack for Windows 10 and it's stilll a bit buggy, but functionally it should be fine.

Glad it's working now :)
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Latest update: Never really had a problem in the last week or so.

That's good enough for me. Thank you very much all.
I'm glad you're happy - but I wouldn't be. Problems never fix themselves so if it's working now it's because this is an intermittent problem and things are good at the moment.

TBH that it's working now makes me even more inclined to check the pool of addresses available via DHCP in your router. If you have only one less device connected at the moment then you'll not lose your IP address whilst sleeping - but if that device comes back on again you'll start seeing the problem again.

Below is an image from my router's DHCP config. You can see that my DHCP address pool runs from 192.168.1.2 up to 192.168.1.254 giving me a pool of 252 addresses. Unless you have a very good reason for restricting the address pool in your router you want a similar address range. Again, there is no point at all in having a reduced DHCP pool in a home router. Note also that my lease time is set to infinity - also the wisest setting in a home router, there's no point in setting short lease times (like the 24 hours yours has), it just leads to problems like the one you're seeing.
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andrewstevens556

Bronze Level Poster
Thank you for your reply UBUYSA. Apologies for not spotting it before.

I still seem to be having troubles - but it's hard to isolate it to know whether it's a router issue or a W10 issue.

I've just taken a look at the router settings as you suggest and have changed it to 525600mins i.e. 365 days which is the max I could do.

The DHCP pool appears to be ok - see below.
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Tony1044

Prolific Poster
Try setting static DNS. Windows 10 uses this to determine if it's got internet connectivity.
 

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andrewstevens556

Bronze Level Poster
Try setting static DNS. Windows 10 uses this to determine if it's got internet connectivity.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have tried this and will see.

The fact it still did it with the second router suggests it may not be the router that's at fault - though admittedly that second router isn't Linksys and I haven't altered the settings on it at all from standard ISP ones.
 

ubuysa

The BSOD Doctor
Happened again today when waking from sleep. It does seem very strange. Hard to put any logic to it.

Thanks for the link @SpyderTracks - if that relates to the issue I have then there may be some light at the end of the tunnel. :)
There are lots of reports of strange behaviour on many Windows 10 devices when waking from sleep. TBH, apart from a small and hardly significant power saving, I don't see any point in sleeping (or hibernating) a desktop. I never do, my PC is on 24x7. To me, sleep and hibernation are laptop power-saving tools and have no logical place on a desktop.

I would disable sleep and see what happens....
 

andrewstevens556

Bronze Level Poster
In fact, that's a very good point...! It wasn't even sleeping now I come to think of it which make it all the more bizarre.

I turned off sleep a week or so back as running Folding@Home. All it does now is turn the monitor off, and log me out.

Checked the IP lease time is working OK - I have a lease til April 2021.
 
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