Internet Drops Often But Can Still Ping Router And LAN

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Level 1

13 points

Internet Drops Often But Can Still Ping Router And LAN

I’ve got a 15” MacBook Pro 2016 that’s running 10.13.3. The issue is that the connection to the internet stops working but I can still ping my router and connect to other computers on my LAN. If I go into network settings and click ‘Renew DHCP Lease’ I still have the same IP but the connection to the Internet instantly works again. Some days the Internet works for several hours while other days it drops several times per hour.

To confirm this issue I have three terminal windows open at the same time. 1st one is pinging www.google.com; 2nd one is pinging my router and 3rd on is pining a Mac that is connected via ethernet to the router. Randomly the pinging to www.google.com starts timing out while the other two still actively ping. I can access the router web interface as well as shared folders on the hardwired Mac. However, Internet web browsing is offline. If I go into my network settings and press ‘Renew DCHP Lease” it resolves the issue and I connect to the Internet again.

Also, when the internet ping stops working I did a screen share to the hardwired Mac. On that system, I have the same pinging to Google.com running and there the ping it still successfully pinging. It seems that it isn’t an issue with the ISP but rather something specific to my MacBook. I’ve gone through every setting in the router be regardless of the settings the same issue persists. I even had Time Warner completely replace the router but sure enough, the same issue persists.

I do not have any 3rd party firewall software or anti-virus installed. I attached a screen shot showing my Macbook and also the hardwired Mac which I've connected to via Screen Share.

Any suggestions on what might be causing this?

Posted on Apr 8, 2018 2:34 PM

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Answer 1

adamnyc31 Author

Level 1

13 points

Apr 9, 2018 4:25 PM in response to jeremy_v

Hi Jeremy,

Thanks for your reply. I tried your suggestion but even after creating a new network location and using the new 'location' the same issue persists. I tried switching between the two locations but the same problem occurs regardless of which 'location' I'm using.

Thanks

- Adam

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Answer 2

jeremy_v

Community Specialist

Apr 9, 2018 2:43 PM in response to adamnyc31

Hi there, adamnyc31!
Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities! It sounds like you are having an issue with your MacBook staying connected to the internet and I am happy to assist! Based on what you are describing and the screenshot provided. I would recommend following the steps here for macOS Sierra: Create and manage network locations. This will allow you to create a new location to see if you still see the issue.
Let me know the results along with if any other devices have issues when connecting through the Wi-Fi and if your MacBook has this issue when connecting to another network altogether.

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Answer 3

Apr 9, 2018 3:08 PM in response to adamnyc31

You internal LAN is not the Internet, and you will always be able to ping your router unless it is off, fried, disconnected, or there is some other misconfiguration issue within your LAN. Or you gleefully went and pruchased a new router or cable modem that is not compatible with the ISP network.

The Internet is what is between your edge device (ISP cable box), the closest ISP point of presence (or head-end), and the rest of the world that your ISP connects too. As has been the case here, sometimes, though not very often, the ISP screws up DNS, and everything in my LAN is in working order, but I cannot access the Internet. This eventually clears up in a few hours of frustration.

Sometimes, if the ISP owns the cable modem, they may push an update to it that screws things up.

Contact your ISP and ask them to back-trace the connection to their, or your, cable modem to see if the actual Internet connection is working correctly.

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Answer 4

adamnyc31 Author

Level 1

13 points

Apr 9, 2018 4:31 PM in response to VikingOSX

Thanks for the reply. I'm fairly confident the issue is not related to the connection from my ISP cable box to the point of presence (head-end). I have a Mac Mini that is connected with an ethernet cable directly o the ISP cable box. On this Mac Mini I have the ping test to Google.com running continually. On the Mac Mini the ping is always successful. While on the Macbook Pro which is connected via wi-fi the google.com is timing out at exactly the same time. This would seem to confirm the connection out to the internet is not the issue but rather some issue specific to the Macbook. Also, other laptops / phones on the wi-fi still have internet access while the Macbook Pro is timeing out until I 'renew DHCP lease' or turn off/on the Wi-fi on the Mabook.

Thanks

Adam

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Internet Drops Often But Can Still Ping Router And LAN

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