Forum Discussion

B8NDD's avatar
B8NDD
Tuning in
12 days ago

Intermittent Internet Connection on Windows 11 Device

Hi all, please can somebody help.

 

I have been supplied a brand new Dell Latitude 5550 windows 11 laptop from the company I work for and my internet connection just keeps dropping out.

 

I have tried connecting to the internet via wifi and ethernet cable.  I have tried multiple cables, ones I know are ok, with them plugged into switches and directly to my Hub 4 router.

 

My household uses multiple other devices such as windows 10 computers, imacs, ipads, smart TVs, android phones, apple phones, heating control system, which are all connected by either wifi and ethernet with no problems at all.

 

I am required to connect via Forticlient VPN to the work network from home, which I can not do.  The VPN will go through the motions and ask me for a verification code and actually connect but then drops out anywhere between 30 and 60 seconds. 

 

I have an older Dell Latitude 5500 work laptop running windows 10, which works with no problems at all and I have a stable internet and subsequently VPN connection all day.  I even connected to the new windows 11 laptop whilst it was onsite from my old work laptop with no problems to test my account.

 

Now here is the kicker, if I connect the new windows 11 laptop to the internet by hot spotting off my phone, the connection is absolutely fine and I can connect to the VPN and stay connected.  As a short term fix this is ok but it can not be the long term solution.  This is how the company IT Support were able to connect to it whilst at home and then tried all sorts of things but no joy.

 

One specific fix I found which sounded promising was selecting the Properties of the Ethernet Connection under Device Manager – Network adapters and unchecking the box ‘allow the computer to turn off this device to save power’ under the Power Management tab.  Suffice to say that did not work.

 

I can connect to the router in a browser with 192.168.0.1 but will regularly get the ‘I can’t reach this page’ error message before it does connect after about 3 seconds.  Checking the MAC filtering in here and no boxes are checked.  When Running Diagnostics it comes back with ‘your home network has a few problems’ with red warning triangles against ‘Checking Broadband Service’ and ‘Checking Wifi Connections’ but doesn’t allude to anything else.  I get the same messages when doing the same on a working computer but apart from the new windows 11 one, everything works fine.

 

So I am stumped.  It has to be an issue with Virgin and the router right?  I have tried all the obvious things and have been through the Virgin online chat support but they came up with all the same obvious fixes that I have tried multiple times that do not work and couldn’t offer any solution other than contact the Virgin Gadget Rescue Team.  I am aware this is not free and so before I go down that route, can anybody here help please?

 

Many, many thanks in advance!

  • Cardiffman282's avatar
    Cardiffman282
    Trouble shooter
    12 days ago

    See https://community.virginmedia.com/discussions/Wireless/issue-with-new-installation-and-forticlient-vpn/5483269

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    12 days ago

    It has to be an issue with Virgin and the router right? 
    Given your original Win 10 laptop is perfect with VM & VPN, that is not a logical conclusion.


    Aggressive Windows power saving plans on laptops can pause CPUs, drop Wi-Fi or Network connections causing VPN access to drop and video call issues.

    Try your Windows 11 laptop on the mains PSU with an Always On Power Plan enabled
    and network cabled direct to the VM Hub 4.

  • goslow's avatar
    goslow
    Alessandro Volta
    12 days ago

    Are your dropouts on Win 11 happening only when the VPN is running? Does the Win 11 connection hold up without the VPN?

    I would save your money regarding Gadget Rescue IMO.

    • B8NDD's avatar
      B8NDD
      Tuning in
      12 days ago

      Hi goslow,

      Thanks for responding.  I have an unstable connection all the time even when VPN is not running.  Trying to speak to work IT Support over Teams was painful and they kept getting notifications of a poor connection.  For me they just kept freezing.  Just loading web pages gives me connection errors.

      • goslow's avatar
        goslow
        Alessandro Volta
        12 days ago

        Try safe mode with networking as well while you are testing in case there is some Dell bloatware on the new laptop which is causing an issue.

  • legacy1's avatar
    legacy1
    Alessandro Volta
    12 days ago

    Put hub in modem mode try that if that don't work problem is the laptop

  • B8NDD's avatar
    B8NDD
    Tuning in
    12 days ago

    Thanks all.  I have a few new things to try.

    Fingers and toes crossed!

  • B8NDD's avatar
    B8NDD
    Tuning in
    8 days ago

    Dear all, I finally managed to find a quiet moment to have a play with this.

     

    Cardiffman282, thank you for the link.  It seems my case is slightly different as the router doesn’t give me any issues to any other devices when connecting to FortiClient and Safe Mode is off.

     

    Client62, the power plan is set as Balanced but I am unable to change it as it is set by work admin.  I have tried with the original power supply unit directly connected to the VM Hub 4 but I still get the same issues.

     

    goslow, I have yet to try  ‘safe mode with networking’.

     

    legacy1, I put the Hub into Modem Mode and successfully connected to the internet.  It looked really promising and the VPN stayed connected for the longest time so far but after about 2 minutes it would regularly drop again.  So from your comment it suggests an issue with the laptop.  This is actually my second new laptop as the company IT Support couldn’t work out what was wrong and couldn’t fix this issue the first time round and so ended up giving me another laptop.  The IT guy also mentioned that circa 200 laptops of this spec and set up have been deployed with no reported problems – lucky me!

     

    So I guess my next port of call after trying safe mode with networking is over to Microsoft support forum as this doesn’t appear to be a VM thing.

     

    Thanks all for your help so far.