I keep losing my network connection every 2 hrs. like clock work.

It begins from the moment I first log on. I start with it connected for a few seconds then I lose it from anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute and repeats every 2 hrs. all day long.

When the lost connection happens I get a message that says: local area network connection lost network cable is unplugged.

I have already installed another NIC both internal and USB, nothing works I still get the same message.

Can anyone help...please

Whats your OS and setup, DSL or ADSL. If you're using windows what flavour ? if Xp I would check your event viewer for information first.

You say you have tried different NIC's, perhaps your router/modem is the problem. have you tried changing the cat5 cable ?

We can't help with this sort of thing with vague information. Do you have a firewall ? running on the PC or built into the router ?

Sorry I was so vague. This my work computer and the OS is XP Pro as for the cable, I've tried several from some of our computers here at work.

To be honest, besides your standard (office programs) usage, I am fairly new to the technical side of computers. How can I tell if I am using a cat5 cable.

Our set-up is DSL which goes through a Linksis Firewall Router, I also have windows firewall on.

The problem is that it's only my computer that is doing this.

Let me back track for you. About 6 months back my computer lost cababilty to go online and network connection...so I posted that problem on Daniweb and got a response stating that my winsock & winsock 2 were either lost or corrupt.

In that same response I was instructed to export winsock & winsock 2 from another computer with the same OS, and import them to mine, which I did.

After doing so, I was able go back online and onto our local network and that's when the problem which I stated began.

I went into my event viewer and clicked on most recent error icon under System, that happens to be my log in time and this is the message taht came up - The IP address lease 192.168.1.100 for the Network Card with network address 0008027DDC84 has been denied by the DHCP server 192.168.1.1 (The DHCP Server sent a DHCPNACK message).

My IP address before impoting the Winsocks was 192.168.1.104, I don't know if that makes any difference

Hope this helps.

I saw this DHCP error recently on a customers PC, I tried updating the driver for the network card but that didn't cure it. In the end I had to replace the network card, and that fixed it.

Although I wouldn't be surprised if your winsock is still corrupted perhaps. Here's a useful link to get you started:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/winsock.htm

The above link mentions LSP's I had not heard of this term before, but it seems to relate to additions to winsock made by third party software and drivers you might have installed, that were not installed on the machine you exported winsock from. You said you were instructed to import winsock from another computer, that's fine but means you may need to re-install some things like the driver for your network card.

DHCP is Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, it is the protocol used for a network card to lease an IP address from a DHCP server, most DSL/ADSL routers have a DHCP server running on them. The lease is typically 24 hours but varies across devices. When the lease is half up your network card will ask The DHCP server to continue the lease, it appears from your event veiwer message that this is where things are falling over, and explains why your problem is periodic, I wouldn't be surprised if your router is configured for a 4 hour lease.

The standard ethernet network cable is Cat5 UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) This is usually printed olong the cable. it has four pairs of twisted wires. The jack on the end is an RJ45 connector.

If you can't repair winsock, you could try either re-installing your OS or purchasing a new Network card.

Well like I stated before I have already install another NIC, internal and external (USB), but I haven't replaced the NIC that came with my Compaq Presario because that one is built-in.

The fact that it's my work computer and I can't see my company paying for the re-installment of my OS or the built-in NIC unless my computer completely goes down. That would have to be a last resort type of thing.

I have re-installed the driver for card. Same thing.

I also ran the Winsock Fix for XP, that didn't work either.

I checked the router setting and the lease is set to 0 which is suppose to be equal to all day, at least that's what a dialog box next to the 0 states, or do we need to replace #0 with #24.

I've been dealing with this for over 6 months and it is has become a nuisance.

Can you think of any other solution for fixing winsock? Is there a website I can go to download winsock and winsock2 for (Compaq Presario 6027US) with Windows XP PRO.

I'm open to any suggestions you might have.

Why not just disable DHCP and manually assign the machine a static IP?

In terms of resetting/repairing your Winsock stack, there is a utility called WinsockXP fix which can restore your Windows winsock defaults.

An alternate manual method is described toward the end of this article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811259

And another possible method is here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299357

In resonse to DMR I"ve ran the fix, didn't work. I also folllowed the posted link and went through the recover from Winsock2 corruption, still have the same problem.

I guess my next step assign the machine a static IP and see if that works.

If you get any more ideas please post them. Like I said I'm open to all suggstions and all suggetions are appreciated.

Quite honestly, it looks to me as though you aren't dealing with a winsock issue at all this time around, but more of a DHCP-related problem instead.I only gave the winsock repair instructions to be on the safe side.

If you've only got one or a few computers connected to the router, it's usually more reliable overall to turn off the router's DHCP server feature and just assign all of the computers a static address. That will eliminate DHCP-related problems such as lease renewal times, the inability of the computers to obtain correct IP info from the DHCP server, etc.

Yes hollystiles- you've exactly and correctly grokked the concept of Microsoft's LSP (Layered Service Provider) extensions.

Additionally, what you stated is essentially true:

Importing the winsock entries from someone else's registry is not a recommendation I've ever seen suggested nor one that I would suggest, as the contents of those registry keys can definitely vary between different computers.

We have too many computers to disable DHCP server feature.

Would it be possible to assign a static address just to mine without disabling DCHP server feature and would that possibly work?

I'm pretty close to just giving up.