Second Life Disconnects me.

Ok let me explain my set up.

I have a cable modem connected via usb. Everyone is connected via ethernet. The computers on the ethernet are all sharing the modem that is connected to me.
No bridging anywhere involved.

Actually, from rereading: maybe it's modem, USB hub and then computer?

Edit: Nevermind, answered.

Nope ethernet hub.

My networking is a little rusty but I think you really want a switch there, not a hub..

Anyway, does this happen on other PCs in your LAN or just on yours?

Okay, seems we're all having a verbal disconnect. Do you use a USB to other computers or to a router (hub)?

I'm more used to my style, where in we have a modem which connects to a router, which then connects to the computers in the network. We use Cat5 cables, rather than coax or USB.

A similar thing began happening to me a couple weeks ago. Has happened I think 4 times in the past two weeks:

I'll be in SL, chatting and IMming away and eventually realize that I've been silently disconnected. Not only can I not log into SL, but none of my other Internet apps (like Firefox) work either. When this occurs, I've noticed that the little Wireless Network Connection icon by the clock disappears (I use Windows XP), and if I go into Network Connections, I find that my wireless connection is disabled- and it won't let me re-enable it.

I have to reboot the computer in order for the connection to come back. I know that my computer has problems with overheating (it's a notebook). If I rest my hands too much on it, the screen will get messed up with these giant black triangles until I turn it off and let it cool down again. I'm wondering if my recent networking problems are heat-related too.

Anyway, SL is a much more network-intensive game than most others. A lot of online games will even work okay on dial-up connections, but not SL. I wonder if your network card is overheating or just flaking out now when you run SL?

Another thing... in the early days of World of Warcraft, there was this crazy bug where some people would get disconnected the second they turned in a quest. It turned out to be a firmware bug in a certain model of cable modem that was only triggered by the specific data that WoW sends during quest completion. Is it possible that a program or piece of hardware on your system is barfing on something that only SL does?

But your computer is still being used as a gateway?

This reeks really bad of ISP P2P bandwidth throttling, like the kind Comcast is known to do. Their method is to detect higher volume traffic that uses certain protocols and ports which they believe will target filesharing applications. When detected (either rightly, or falsely) their server returns a 'stop' packet to the users computer effectively killing its connection to the ISP. The fact that ALL internet using programs die at the same time really makes me suspicious, especially if they don't (by themselves) crash, or blue screen, or whatever...

When this happens, does choosing 'repair' for your network connection help?
If no, then goto start button-->run.. type in cmd and hit enter. Type in ipconfig and hit enter. Does it say in the returned text anything about 'auto configuration address'? If it does that means your computer was forced over to a temporary IP address, and if you were already connected and on the internet, only happens at the ISP level. You can talk to most cable/dsl modems directly by going to http://192.168.100.1/ in your internet browser as they have their own embedded DHCP server. Lots of connection info in there that could be a clue as to what's happening. DON'T reset the modem or mess with the configuration from inside it's menus as you can really screw things up if you don't know what you're doing.

EDIT: Using your main computer as a net gateway shouldn't really be a problem UNLESS you're overloading the USB bus on your computer by having too many USB devices connected and all fighting for resources at the same time. Optimal solution would be a second 10/100 ethernet card to connect to the modem with.

A router is cheap. $50 at Walmart for a Linksys Wireless G.

Dont use a "Hub", use a "Switch". Two different devices that handle the data in 2 different ways. The Switch will help break up Collision domains, while the Hub wont.

Switches create separate collision domains but a single broadcast domain. Routers provide a separate broadcast domain for each interface.

Between the 3, I'd go with a Router.

Get yourself a router, switch to CAT5e/6 cable, and you'll see a difference.

OH! I forgot about that one!! Quite Possible too!

Actually we do have throttling by our isp but its never stopped it before, 2 of us have had bit torrents running my mum running irc and my sis in WoW and its never cut us off, as an experiment we have changed our set up, im no online via the ethernet rather than the usb which is allowing me to be online, the modem is plugged into a hub, the hub is linked to a switcher upstairs and no one can get on but me. So i suspect we may have to get a router.

ok I see...
Definately get a router then, and remove the hub AND switch. Should also use ethernet cables. Using USB takes up reaL time CPU power to do the work that should be the responsibility of the embedded chips on ethernet cards.

Texas!