Certain websites causing network to restart?

[James Bond]

Random Question:

In the house I live in, we have a small/medium sized network.

It contains:
Cable Modem > 4-Port WLAN Router > 8 Port Switch > 8 Hosts
> 3 Hosts

My computer, since I admin the network, is connected directly to the router, along with 2 other hosts. The rest of the hosts in the house are connected through the switch.

My computer is very clean (no adware, spyware, etc), however, when I visit certain websites (myspace.com is the only one I'm positive about) the entire network shuts down temporarily, usually for about 5 minutes. I haven't tested this directly to the modem, but it's very odd and I assume it is somehow causing the router to restart. Ive changed ports several times.

Other than connecting strait to the modem, what troubleshooting would you guys recommend? I've never heard of anything like this, and it's quite annoying.

Any comments?

Thanks.

 

[Fardringle]

When you say the network shuts down, do you lose connectivity to everything (i.e. your computers can't share files/printers) or just Internet access?

Does the same thing happen if you go to the same web sites on another computer on your network, or does it only happen when your PC visits the sites?

If you are using Internet Explorer for your browser, have you tried Firefox or Opera to see if they do the same thing? Or if you are using another browser, try Internet Explorer to see what happens.

Make sure you have a software firewall installed, but I would recommend attaching a computer directly to the modem to see what happens when you visit those sites as well.

 

[James Bond]

Sorry I wasn't very specific.

Yes, I completely lose connectivity (I.E: Can't ping my router, 192.168.1.1). I can still ping/see the same computers on my small network (theres a switch in my room), but I can't ping/see other computers on the network if it requires me going through the router.

No, if another PC goes to the website, the network is fine.

I use firefox, I haven't tested it with I.E., I will tomorrow.

Why do I need a software firewall out of curiosity? I have Windows Firewall disabled.

 

[spikespiegal]

Other than connecting strait to the modem, what troubleshooting would you guys recommend? I've never heard of anything like this, and it's quite annoying.

I run into it all the time with cheap home routers. Usually it's caused by errant packet buffering on the router, and the 5-minute delay is how long it takes to clear itself.

I'm assuming nothing is plugged into the router other than the 8-port switch. I've seen a lot of ports go bad on home routers that will cause stuff like this.

Try a firmware flash on the router you are using if all else fails.

No, you don't need a software firewall, although the Windows one shouldn't cause you much of a headache.

 

[James Bond]

Yeah I figured that might be the case.

My computer (the one causing the crash) IS plugged into the router itself.

That shouldn't change much though, should it

 

[Fardringle]

You'll want to have a software firewall running if you connect the computer directly to the modem for testing. Otherwise you probably don't need to worry about it. I'm sorry I wasn't clear on that.

As far as the actual problem, I agree with "spikespiegal" on the firmware flash if you are not able to resolve the problem by connecting the computer to a different port on the router or by simply resetting the router.

My home network did something very similar to what you are seeing a few weeks ago. Two of my three computers worked perfectly fine all of the time no matter what happened, but as soon as my main PC transferred any large files over the network (local or Internet) the entire network stopped working. I was able to fix the problem by flashing my router (Linksys WRT54G) to the newest firmware available from Linksys and I haven't had any connectivity problems in the three weeks since I did that.