Riddle me this . . .

I can't connect to the internet between approximately 5PM and 10PM local time (GMT -6). This has been true for several days. The trouble is that my computer fails to generate a valid IP address. My ISP, AdAware, Spybot, Microsoft Anti-Spyware and Norton Antivirus all assure me there is no problem. So what's going on?

Just curious.

ISP down for maintenance?

No, my ISP assures me there is no problem, or at least that any problem which does exist must be with my computer.

wait: do you say that you can always connect to the internet, except between 5-and 10pm? and that every day?

if so I'd highly suspect your ISP. Or maybe your firewall has got a setting that allows you to allow access only at certain times?

edit: oh, what kind of connection do you have? DSL, cable,.... and how do you connect to it?

Yeah, I agree it feels like the ISP, but they keep telling me nothing's wrong. I've got cable internet. I don't understand what you mean by "how do I connect to it".

It be a lot easier if I could check it with another machine, but no one I know has a notebook . . .

Are you running through a router? Be sure that the router isn't set to deny internet access during that time period.

No, I'm not running through a router, though I used to have one.

Supposing that your local settings are alright, and they must be (I can't think of a way in which to tell my PC to disallow access to the internet at certain times either), there are only 2 possiblilites.

* capacity issues on your ISP's side. Depending on the quality of your signal and the speed of your connection, your modem could be 'crowded out' entirely and thus not get online at all. Usually though when there are network capacity issues your computer still gets an IP adress but service is severely degraded.

* IP- theft. Depending on how your ISP doles out the IP-adresses, it's possible someone has set his/her settings so as to receive the same IP adress you should get. That person would then be online most often between 5-10 PM.

Though I've seen the second (I work for a cable ISP), the first seems more likely.

Well, it's 5:55PM right now, and it's working okay, but it's been on all day today. I usually have it turned off during the day and then find out it's not working when I come home and turn it on. I guess I could try turning it off and checking to see what happens when I try to turn it back on.

EDIT: Hmmm. Still working . . .

Something similar happens to me every now and again. I find myself unable to get on the internet between noon and around 5pm. It's very weird and it only happens on weekdays.