Yahoo mail "offline". How to restore back to online?

Frostbyte · 27 May 2023

I've attached a full (new) snip of the network connection. What other place would I find the 'power management tab' ? I'll try to close and reopen Firefox and let you know what happens. Thanks again.

You don't need to look in any other place, you're exactly where you should be. The icon that says "Ethernet Network 4" is the one you want, so you don't need to look in any other places. Don't get hung up on looking for "Local Area Connection", that name can vary from system to system. In your case it's "Ethernet Network 4".

From your screen shot I can see that it's an Intel Gigabit Ethernet adapter, that's the one we're looking for.

The icon is the one you need. The check box next to the icon has nothing to do with this, ignore it. Hover your mouse cursor on "Ethernet Network 4". Click on it to highlight it, don't double click. Right click that icon, select "Properties", when the properties box loads, click the "Configure" button on the upper right under the name of the adapter. The configuration controls will open with a line of tabs at the top. Power Management tab will be the last one on the line of tabs. Click it. Uncheck the boxes. Don't mess with anything in the other tabs. Close everything, restart your computer for good measure.

"Caught in a loop" means something else to computer people is why I asked.

Deaf Dave · 27 May 2023

I was able to navigate to Power Management (see snip). I did as you suggested and unchecked both boxes. However, the second box still has a ghost image of the "wake computer"check mark. Now all I have to do is wait for the "no internet" situation to happen and then apply your "workaround". Hopefully, all will be ok. I thank you very much for your interest and perseverance in helping me (and possibly others) in this vexing situation. Quite a learning curve for me. BTW, when a tab has the 2 dots just going back and forth and nothing happening, is what I call being in a loop. One last thing, will I have to do this on my other computers as well? Have a great day!

Frostbyte · 27 May 2023

Deaf Dave said:

I was able to navigate to Power Management (see snip). I did as you suggested and unchecked both boxes. However, the second box still has a ghost image of the "wake computer"check mark. Now all I have to do is wait for the "no internet" situation to happen and then apply your "workaround". Hopefully, all will be ok. I thank you very much for your interest and perseverance in helping me (and possibly others) in this vexing situation. Quite a learning curve for me. BTW, when a tab has the 2 dots just going back and forth and nothing happening, is what I call being in a loop. One last thing, will I have to do this on my other computers as well? Have a great day!

RED - You can ignore the grayed out checkbox. The grayed out ('ghost') status means it's inactive and inaccessible. If the adapter never goes to sleep then there's no waking it or anything controlled by it either. That 'sleep' function and the subsequent 'wake computer' and/or 'wake on magic packet' are for things you will never use and besides, in all the years they've been available I've never known them to work as advertised anyway. It did that because you unchecked the top checkbox first. If it bothers you, you can check the top box again, uncheck the bottom two, and uncheck the top checkbox again. Then all of them will be empty.

Blue - Yes, if you want your adapter to never go to 'sleep' you need to do that with every computer you own. Like I said previously, I do that as a default habit on every computer I set up, be it mine or someone else's.

This may not solve your problem but it's the first, least invasive, most likely to work. When working on computers the diagnostic process is a lot like a medical diagnosis. You should start by ruling out the most probable thing by the least invasive means. You look for common things first, a doctor friend of mine explains that as "Look for horses, not zebras.". Meaning that given the same symptoms you should look for a common cold BEFORE looking for some exotic illness that the patient is very unlikely to have contracted.

In this case we're ruling out that the network adapter is going to sleep and breaking your connection. "Ruling out" means we've taken the possibility that is the cause out of the equation. That might be the problem, it might not be the problem. Now that we've shut that function off if the problem persists we know that was not the cause but what we have done doesn't hurt anything (least invasive) except maybe insignificantly increase your electric bill by a few pennies a year.

You need to leave that setting where we put it even if the problem persists. Sometimes it can be a combination of things and ruling them out this way, one by one, is the only way to fix the problem. If you turn power management back on we could look all year for something else when that is actually a part of, but maybe not the entire, issue.

Deaf Dave · 27 May 2023

I commend you on your complete explanation of the 'whys and wherefores'! I've already changed the settings on the other computer on my desk. As its said, we are never too old to learn something new! Now its just a matter of waiting to see what the future brings. Hopefully your workaround is all we'll ever need. HAGD

Frostbyte · 29 May 2023

Thanks, DD. I've been working on this stuff for a very long time. I've found it's helpful for people to not only get instructions on how to do things but it also helps to inform them why we're doing the things we do.

Computers are just machines, they work like any other machine. Once you understand how they work the mystical, mysterious, menace and malevolence all goes away. They don't have a self-destruct button you can hit by accident. They're not sensitive, they don't get mad if you hurt their feelings. They do not quietly sit silently plotting revenge against you in the wee hours of the morning. They're just complicated toasters.

Post to the thread if you have any more problems and I'll see if anything occurs to me to help you.

Bree · 29 May 2023

Frostbyte said:

....I've been working on this stuff for a very long time. I've found it's helpful for people to not only get instructions on how to do things but it also helps to inform them why we're doing the things we do.

Before I retired my career was in IT support. I always made a point of explaining the 'why' as well as 'how' when fixing a client's problems. A little education goes a long way in reducing repeat calls.

Deaf Dave · 29 May 2023

Frostbyte,
I'm sad to say that changing the "wake computer" part of Power Management has NOT 'fixed' the problem. I'm still not able to have the "workaround" take me back to my mail. So, sad to say that for me at least, I still have to work with the beast (pun intended). As I had mentioned previously, I can access all others such as news, sports etc but when I click mail, nothing happens except for those 2 dots moving back and forth and the mail never connects. This is what happened on this computer early this morning. Tried at least four times tonight and continues to not connect up to right now. Looks as if I'll just have to put up with this problem at least for the immediate future. Thanks for all the time you have spent in educating me as well as working on the "workaround". Have a great day.