Diagnosing connection issue

[bogstad-e+AXbWqSrlAAvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org (Bill Bogstad)]

On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 6:12 AM,  <edwardp-jjFNsPSvq+iXDw4h08c5KA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> For a while now, I've been having an issue with an Ethernet connection. ?The PC is a 64-bit system, purchased new 15 months ago, so I still consider it new. ?:)
>
> After being online for a while, the connection "drops", this occurs with both Windows Vista (32-bit, pre-installed when I bought it) and 64-bit Ubuntu, with both SeaMonkey and Firefox with both OS'.

Do other completely different systems also have problems?

>
> While this was occuring last night, I also tried to ping the primary Comcast DNS that was assigned and on two separate attempts, there was considerable packet loss from it (both exceeded 50%) with one ping response not initially displaying until the 11th attempt. ?Yet the ping responses from the router and modem were perfect, no losses.

I would suggest using traceroute instead to see where the packet loss
is actually occurring.  It could very well be somewhere on the other
side of your cable model (i.e. Comcast's problem to solve).  You can
also see what the IP address that your cable modem is getting for it's
default gateway and try pinging it.  If you don't see packet loss to
that
address, but you do to something farther away then there is nothing
you can do to fix the problem besides complaining to Comcast.

Good Luck,
Bill Bogstad