One computer on my network keeps falling off
 

There are usually 3 computers on my network at any given time with a 4th occasionally. My wife's computer seems to fall off somehow at irregular intervals. Actually it is still on the network as it can still see the shared drive where I keep a lot of files and she can still print over the network, she just cannot use explorer without a reboot. The only way to get back on is to reboot - closing and opening explorer will not work. I cannot predict frequency or timing of this behavior, but it is every time she used the computer.

I will detail the environment and then the steps I have taken (unsuccessfully). One important thing is that my computer NEVER has this problem and I have never seen it on my laptop although that one is for work and I don't surf the internet much on it. It is unaffected by whether other computers are on or not - it can happen on it's own or when I am online.

Cable Modem - Motorola Surfboarrd
Lynksys Router - BEFSR41 4 port wired
Windows XP OS
P4 2.53
640M RAM
Norton AntiVirus 2003 Updated regularly


Formatted Hard Drive / Reinstalled Windows
Ran all spyware checkers (Adaware, CS Shredder, Spybot Search and Destroy, Hijack this!) I doubt it is a virus or a spyware thing - it had the problem on a fresh install.
Changed out NIC
Changed to fixed IP
Added additional DNS Servers from different sources (shuffled order).

If you are going to tell me not to run IE or that I should be running LINIX or something, please use the back button. This is not realistic for my wife and her computing needs. This has been going on for quite some time and I cannot fix it. Please help any way you can. This problem has been very frustrating for at least a year and a half.

how computer literate is your wife? what i mean to say is, could it be something she is doing, perhaps out of habit, each time she uses the machine? has this ever happened to you? check out the event viewer, you might get a hint at the problem there. doesn't sound like a virus/spyware problem, maybe configuration of the ethernet cared

She is fine as far as computers go. The computer does the same thing to me when I am on it as well so that is ruled out.

The only reason I brought it up was that I am aware of other browser options and did not want the thread going in that direction.

sounds like tcp/ip. you may need to uninstall/re-install the tcp/ip protocol on her system.

your network probably doesn't use tcp/ip to handle ms shares and printing (i think you can set it up to use tcp/ip, but the default is netbui or some ms network sharing protocol). that is probably why shares/printing still works while explorer doesn't.

temporarily installing firefox might help determine if its an explorer or protocol problem.

I will try this, but I am a bit doubtful. It is a Dell computer and it came with XP preinstalled. When I wiped out the system, I would guess that this would fix itself.

I will try this though and thanks a lot for the lead. I will report back the results. It is bound to be something weird like this.

The only protocol on the comp is tcp/ip and I cannot seem to uninstall or reinstall it at all. It just won't let me. The option is grayed out. Yes I am the admin. Maybe I need to go somewhere else to do it since I am in the network connections dialogue but I dunno.

Perhaps you should look into a new desk?















Sorry, couldn't resist :P

Check the services in the management console/snap-in. Maybe some tcp/ip related services are shuting down prematurely. Sort them by status and make note whats running when the explorer is working and when its not.

Did you try firebird (just to rule out any IE quirkiness)?