Internet connection problem on new Dell PC

DLee12 · 04 Jul 2021

I got a new Dell Inspiron 3880 PC (Windows 10) on (Monday) June 21st on a 15-day return policy, and so far most everything is fine, except for one problem. Early on (Fri.) July 1st, my Internet connection went down for the first time, and when I use the troubleshooter, I get a message that says "Starting Network Diagnostics" in a window that says "Detecting problems", but it hangs endlessly at that, with nothing happening. It just keeps going on endlessly for several minutes with nothing happening, until I quit, & then try again, but the process just repeats. I eventually end up having to "reset network adapters", or something like that, which unfortunately requires my whole PC to be restarted.

And then it happened again late on (Sat.) July 2nd! What can I do? Or what should I do? I would tremendously appreciate it if anyone tries to help, so PLEASE do! THANKS very much.

fireberd · 04 Jul 2021

This is a Dell desktop. Which connection? Wireless or the wired Ethernet connection?
Run the Dell Support Assist program and make sure all drivers are up to date.

Samuria · 04 Jul 2021

When it goes down from a cmd prompt type
Ipconfig /all

Has it lists its ip? Setting a fixed IP may fix it

DLee12 · 04 Jul 2021

fireberd said:

This is a Dell desktop. Which connection? Wireless or the wired Ethernet connection?
Run the Dell Support Assist program and make sure all drivers are up to date.

My Dell's Internet connection is from a wireless router - sorry I didn't mention it before.

Thanks very much for the help.

- - - Updated - - -

Samuria said:

When it goes down from a cmd prompt type
Ipconfig /all
Has it lists its ip? Setting a fixed IP may fix it

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by that, but thanks very much for that suggestion.

Berton · 04 Jul 2021

According to Dell that computer has both NIC/Ethernet and Wireless/Wi-Fi adapters so it's important from a diagnostic point to show which is in use at the time of the problem. Most all Wireless Routers have 1 Uplink port and usually 4 Ethernet ports, does the same thing happen when using an Ethernet cable connection? It's also possible with Wireless that other Wireless devices are causing interference, we had a Microwave Oven that started knocking our Notebooks off-the-air when used, replaced it, fixed that problem.

fireberd · 04 Jul 2021

There are 3 different wireless hardware used in this model, I checked the Dell forums and there are no wireless (or wired) problems posted for this model. Along with what Berton suggests (use it with a wired connection to see if you still have the problem). It may even be the wireless router that is the problem. And finally, as I suggested in my initial post, run the Dell "Support Assist" and check for any updated drivers.

You can run a complete hardware diagnostics. F12 at power on will bring up an options menu and one option will be diagnostics.

Try3 · 04 Jul 2021

You mentioned rebooting the computer to temporarily make the problem go away.

Between rebooting and the next onset of the problem, is there a common factor [such as the computer having been woken from sleep or the display having being turned off by your power options after a period of inactivity]?

Denis

Upon reflection, I do not think this situation could possibly apply to your desktop so the check I suggested would not be particularly useful.
I suggest running this command to help interpret the situation.
- You can run it in any Command window or PowerShell window [such as that opened by right-clicking on the Start button and selecting Windows PowerShell]
- After you have run the command just move your cursor over all the text to select it then copy it [by, for example, pressing Ctrl-C] so you can paste it into your next post.

Code:

powercfg -a

~~- The reason I'm asking is to find out if you have a mode called Standby (S0 Low power idle) and, if so, whether its entry in the response is followed by Network connected / Network disconnected.~~- If that is what is happening, it is easy to change the configuration but I'd prefer to explain what is happening first to avoid misunderstandings.
- I have not heard of a desktop having this mode but thought it best to check.

mblack · 04 Jul 2021

check your power setting go to change plan
then to
change advance power settings
then to wireless adapter setting
power saving mode
setting
maximum performance

DLee12 · 31 Jul 2021

My Internet connection (via wireless router) hasn't gone down on my new Dell PC at all the last couple weeks or so, so THANKS very much to everyone who made any attempts to be helpful!