Flaky internet connection in 7

Hey guys, long time no see!

Anyways, in December, I finally bought my first new Mac, a Late 2012 i5 Mini. About a week after I got it, I decided to install my copy of 7 Ultimate x64. While it works great and all, I seem to be having a problem with the reliability of the internet connection in 7. Every once in a while (WiFi and Wired both), the connection will drop and eventually pick back up. Since I am in OS X 90% of the time (Which I have no problems with the connection in OS X), it really wasn't a big deal for me until I started getting back into Vintage PCs, and needed 7 to download programs and such for the older PCs. Now it's getting a bit annoying. I know it's not the connection in general, as there are other computers on the router, and they are not having any problems. I even went so far as to direct connect the Mac to the cable modem, and still had the same problem.

Anyone else have this problem? Any help is appreciated!

The only suggestion I have is to run software update from your Boot Camp Control Panel application. It may be a problem with the Windows driver for your Mini but what is strange is that it's also effecting the ethernet connection.

I would also look at any third party security-suite type software (Norton 360, McAfee Total Protection, etc) or anything else that replaces the built-in Windows firewall or could insert its into the IP stack in some way.

Hmm, no software update option in the Boot Camp control panel. I tried Apple software update with no luck as well. As for anti-virus or a firewall, I don't have either as I've never had a problem with viruses. All I have is Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, and that isn't open in the background.

MacMan886 said:

Hmm, no software update option in the Boot Camp control panel. I tried Apple software update with no luck as well. As for anti-virus or a firewall, I don't have either as I've never had a problem with viruses. All I have is Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, and that isn't open in the background.

Click to expand...

Look for "Apple Software Update" in the Start Menu, under All Programs. This is the mechanism that allows you to update your Windows drivers for Apple-specific hardware.

Oh, as mentioned above, I did try that. All it had was a Quicktime update.

MacMan886 said:

Oh, as mentioned above, I did try that. All it had was a Quicktime update.

Click to expand...

Sorry, I missed that.

When the connection drops, does it recover on its own? How long does it drop for?

It's a hit or miss thing. It will sometimes recover and other times I have to reset the computer. Drops vary between 2-8 minutes or so.

Like I said, 7 on the Mini is the only one that does it. OS X on here is 100% stable connection wise. The other computers (3 Win 7 computers and 1 XP computer) are completely fine as well. It leads me to believe it could be a driver issue that Apple needs to address.

MacMan886 said:

It's a hit or miss thing. It will sometimes recover and other times I have to reset the computer. Drops vary between 2-8 minutes or so.

Like I said, 7 on the Mini is the only one that does it. OS X on here is 100% stable connection wise. The other computers (3 Win 7 computers and 1 XP computer) are completely fine as well. It leads me to believe it could be a driver issue that Apple needs to address.

Click to expand...

I would agree with that assessment, just trying to understand the circumstances. When the drop occurs, I would do an ipconfig /all in Command Prompt to see whether the machine has lost its DHCP lease or whether it's a media failure (i.e. auto port speed negotiation failed or something like that). That will help in understanding the nature of the drop.

Here's what I got on the last drop -

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

CWindows\system32>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Bill-PC
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : Belkin

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth Device (Personal Area Network)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 20-C9-D0-91-DE-8E
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Belkin
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom NetXtreme Gigabit Ethernet
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : A8-20-66-16-39-EC
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::34a9:6f2b:8ff7:fb75%13(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.8(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, January 16, 1877 8:48:40 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, February 22, 2013 10:46:58 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 346562662
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-18-58-1D-CB-20-C9-D0-91-DE-8D

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Wireless LAN adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Belkin
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 802.11n Network Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 20-C9-D0-91-DE-8D
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::8d4d:e2db:21c2:6887%11(Preferred)
IPv4 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.9(Preferred)
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, February 22, 2013 10:17:05 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, February 22, 2013 10:47:05 PM
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DHCPv6 IAID . . . . . . . . . . . : 237029840
DHCPv6 Client DUID. . . . . . . . : 00-01-00-01-18-58-1D-CB-20-C9-D0-91-DE-8D

DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Enabled

Tunnel adapter isatap.Belkin:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Belkin
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter isatap.{3E7AF8AA-B40D-4B8E-8CFD-064EF12E1247}:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Microsoft ISATAP Adapter #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes

Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00-00-E0
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IPv6 Address. . . . . . . . . . . : 2001:0:4137:9e76:349f:397d:3f57:fdf7(Pref
erred)
Link-local IPv6 Address . . . . . : fe80::349f:397d:3f57:fdf7%15(Preferred)
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : ::
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

CWindows\system32>

MacMan886 said:

I started getting back into Vintage PCs, and needed 7 to download programs and such for the older PCs.

Click to expand...

Kinda curious as to why you need a PC just to download PC apps; but - anyway - my suggestion is, if you're not using Windows for anything too heavy, why not install it in a VM via VirtualBox (as it's free & certainly good enough for basic virtualisation), so that it's always & only OS X that handles the WiFi connection (and also gives the added benefit of not needing to reboot to switch OSes)?