Keep getting logged out of sites

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I’m on Win 10 1803 and have the problem of constantly getting logged out of websites, especially sensitive ones like banking. I had this problem before on 1709, and the same problem using a Win 7 laptop. I usually use Firefox, and I’ve tried using it in Safe Mode with all the add-ons disabled. I have also tried with Edge, but the same thing happens. This is extremely frustrating, no one has any idea what is going, they keep saying it must be something with my PC. But why on two different PC’s, two different Windows platforms and two different browsers? I forgot to mention I also tried using Vivaldi, so make that three browsers. This has been extremely frustrating and was wondering if anyone can tell me *** is going on? I am at a complete loss.

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The fact that it happens on several PCs, several versions of Windows, and different browsers seems to point at something you are doing. Many sensitive sites have automatic time-out on non-activity – that is not unusual. Are you perhaps logging in then not doing anything on the site for a while?

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woody

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It sounds like a security issue, that is, the website loses your credentials and logs you out.

Which extensions / addons do you have installed in Firefox? If you have a script blocker (e.g. NoScript), you could get this sort of behavior.

Disable all of your extensions, and see if that fixes the problem. If it does, then you could enable one at a time, to see which one is causing the issue.

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woody

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This seems like a common denominator issue irrespective of OS or device by your description. Have you recently hard reset your router to eradicate the possibility of VPNfilter? It’s so easy to overlook your access point to the Internet.. just sayin’.

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

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I’ll guess network connectivity issues. 🙂

See if you’re getting any drops on your internet connection. Open a command prompt, START , RUN, enter CMD in the box and click ok.

When you get to a command prompt enter this command:

ping http://www.yahoo.com /t       Don’t type http://  Just www and the web site.

You can actually ping any website but some may not respond. Yahoo always seems to work. Anyway you will start seeing ping responses and you should NOT be seeing any time outs or drops. There should be a response from every ping. I’d let it run for a few minutes and you can scroll up or down to review things. Once you are done press CONTROL + C keys to cancel the command.

If you get any drops it would be time to try swapping out network cables, reboot all your network hardware, routers, switches, etc.

Red Ruffnsore

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I get kicked out as soon as I click on something once I’m logged in. I can log in, then click on something within the site (less than 10 seconds from logging in to clicking on a link in the site) and it boots me out right back to the log-in screen. Using the ping command, I tried a couple of different sites and get not packet loss. I have used three browsers on both Win 10 and Win 7, and have made sure all add-ons were disabled, no luck. I have rebooted modem, router, PC’s and no change. I tried changing the DNS in the router, no change. Allowed browsers to accept ALL cookies, no change. What else could I change in the router??

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And I also just tried bypassing the router and going direct from modem to PC, no change. Called my ISP and they have no clue.

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anonymous wrote:

What else could I change in the router??

Askwoody’s @AlexEiffel has written a good post regarding what to check for on the Patch Lady – Reboot your router thread. Also Michael Horowitz has updated his website today 8th June, with more info: https://www.michaelhorowitz.com/VPNFilter.June.2018.php

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You have varied your computers/OSs/browsers. Good substitutions. But all are ‘yours’.

Time for different locations. This is a logistical pain, but may be definitive.

This involves a friend or neighbor. And preferably use an ethernet connection.
a. Using their computer, at their home, do YOU get an immediate log-out?
b. Using their computer, connect to your network. Test.
c. Take your computer(s) to their home and connect to their network. Test.
If (b) is OK and (c) fails, then it indicates that you have malware. On all machines.

Caveat: I don’t know (if your computer has a bug) if it could infect someone else’s router. Your test of connecting directly to your modem, bypassing the router, was a good idea. I have separate cable-modem and router. I have no ability to modify my modem, it is wholly under ISP control. The router, conversely, probably I could contaminate.

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I have tried using another computer at another location and don’t get the immediate log-out. I have not tried taking one of my computers and trying that. I have run scans on both PC’s, run AV on both and even ran a scan from another AV to check for any malware and everything comes up clean.

I’ve been trying different things to see if anything resolves the problem and I think I found something. On one of the sites, after it kicked me out, I looked at the address bar and a portion of it said “signed out: cause:client IP changed”. My IP is a dynamic IP from my ISP. It changes slightly each time I turn on the PC, but to my knowledge it doesn’t change during web browsing. I have checked my IP several times over the span of 30 minutes and it did not change. Would this be an ISP issue and is it something I can change on my end or something the ISP has to do?

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Just an FYI: I see four postings from you. The first three IP addresses were different. This time, your address was the same as the third post.

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satrow

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Keen analysis, PKC.

I can hardly spell ‘networking’, but could there be something that is causing an adapter lease flush/renew? When I do a [ (CMD) ipconfig /? ], I see several options that are in this area. Specifically, registerdns, among others. Or does this only apply outboard of the router, and thus has no effect on the ISP-assigned address?

Perhaps a network person can chime in here.

Speculation/guess: If the IP address is being tampered with, then ‘somebody’ may be trying to intercept traffic, that is, key strokes, etc.

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The lease time should be set by the ISP. But maybe something is changing the IP and making it like a new connection on the other end. Since it is happening at his location when directly connected to the modem, that could be causing the problem? Or the ISP?

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IF the modem is glitching (dropping the connection) then it is logical that there would be a new IP address assigned by the ISP. I can log into my modem and look at the Logs page; it shows every DHCP Renew, along with other status data. A common cable modem address is 192.168.100.1. The logs may also indicate if the (incoming) line was dropped momentarily. If so, then it is possible that there is a mechanical/electrical connection issue somewhere between the pole and the modem. Old/deteriorating cable; loose coupling?

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Even a bad splitter.

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Nice work. If you haven’t done so, download and run Malwarebytes.

Red Ruffnsore

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Thanks guys for your help. This post will have a different IP address as I am using a different computer in a different location, and as a result, had no problems at all with getting kicked out of sites, everything worked perfectly. I had a tech with my ISP come out (before I saw the change in IP address reason for getting kicked from one site). He didn’t have a clue why I was having problems. He did a ping test, no packet loss. I’m on an old and very far from the DSLAM copper DSL line. About a year or so, my ISP went to CGNAT (Carrier Grade Network Address Translation). So I connect using a “private” ISP address rather than a specific public address. The IP address of my connection as shown in the router is different from the one that shows if I check my IP address on whatismyip.com or other site. Wonder if that has anything to with it? I don’t know a lot about networking. Using the different PC, it was with the same ISP, but a cable connection rather than DSL.

The reason (possibly) my earlier posts had different IP addresses is because I rebooted and restarted everything several times trying to root out the problem. But as far as why I got kicked almost immediately when I know my IP address had not changed has me stumped. I’ve run a few different virus/malware scans and all come back clean. I have tried running the OS and browser in safe mode, but the problem persists. All of the advice and opinions are greatly appreciated. That is what makes this site so great. And a big thanks to Woody for this site and the forums!

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I would dump your current arrangement (DSL) and go with either a cable TV arrangement from your current provider or switch to a different provider that has cable TV. The cable providers most all have the same speeds throughout their service areas. ALSO if you’re on a limited budget or fixed income, they have entry-level speed levels that are faster than you’ll get from DSL, since you’re so far from the servicing office.

With DSL, the further you are from the servicing office, the slower your speed will be and the poorer the quality of your service might be.

With cable TV giving you your internet connection, you’ll have the same speed and connection quality you’ve signed up for no matter where you are in their service area. The only gotcha for cable used to be that if everyone on the block was using their internet connection at the same time, your speed would drop dramatically. I’ve had cable internet since 1999, and I haven’t experienced that phenomena (slow speeds because everyone’s using their connections) since around 2006.

Most cable companies have lower speed service tiers that offer speeds faster than DSL at a budget-friendly price for those on fixed incomes or limited budgets. Best of all, no strange IP address translations needed to make the service work!

However, if you’re far enough from town that your only choices are your current DSL provider or internet from a satellite provider, all the above is a moot point!

From reading this entire thread, I think your problem is occurring because of your ISP’s policies in dealing with your connection. The sites where you’re going are seeing a change in your IP address on their end and signing you out automatically out of an abundance of caution. But on your end, you still see the same IP address because that hasn’t changed from what you’re saying that you’ve seen.

Really weird arrangement, if you ask me. But, hey, it works for the most part.

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Mr. Natural posited network connectivity issues.
PKCano informs us that the outside-in IP address changes.
You tell us that your connection is DSL (I had been assuming cable).
– My understanding is that cable connections customarily are dynamic (DHCP) for us private users. A static address may be used by businesses and for those running a server.
My DSL, back when I had it, was DHCP; but I had no address volatility that I know of.
I am not familiar with CGNAT, but from a quick read at Wikipedia I understand that it is a way of concentrating/saving IPv4 addresses. It is an ISP-defined-and-supplied function.

Trial suggestion. This requires using 2 tabs or windows:
– Check and record your outside address (whatismyip, …).
– Try your banking log in.
– When it fails, whatsmyip, again.
Repeat above as desired.

You now have documentation for your ISP Help folk, probably level 2, or even 3.

Early in my DSL usage (I had been on dial-up) my line was VERY flaky, constant dropping, really unusable during rain. Finally I called the DSL trouble line at the phone company. Technician tested the line. They replaced my service drop, which was at least 25 years old, but probably was over 50. Problems gone. I mention this to expand on my previous comment about an old cable. MAYBE a bad cable or connection is triggering a changing address, although I don’t see why it should.

Does your modem support IPv6? Does the ISP?

Edit: I see that your 12:11 post is awaiting moderation. I did not notice it before posting this.

Edit 2: OK, there are more than one person named Anonymous! The ’12:11′ post is renamed now to 12:45. (For reference, my Pacific time now is 11:02 AM.) Apologies for the confusion.

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Good advice PaulK. I will definitely try that. My ISP doesn’t support IPv6 and to the “other” anonymous- I don’t have a choice. There is only one provider and I’ll be dead before they upgrade my area to fiber.

After seeing PaulK’s post, I checked my IP address. Then I went to Steve Gibson’s site to run a ShieldsUP scan, and the address was different (just the last two parts of it). Checked IP address with another site, it was the same as what it was the first time. Weird that and address checker and ShieldsUp would show different addresses. I do get a new address (last two parts) when I open my browser after closing it. I did a check with an IP checker and ShieldsUp after closing and re-opening my browser and the addresses were the same. Very strange! I should mention that I usually use an ethernet connection as opposed to wireless, but the issue occurs on both. Has to be something with the ISP. I am at a complete loss and it appears that they are as well.

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There is one other thing with dsl that can cause poor internet connectivity if you have a PPPoE connection. If your router requires a username and password in order to establish a connection with your ISP, then you have PPPoE. Others simply connect by acquiring an IP address and no username or password is required.

There is something called MTU which is maximum transmission unit. Usually the MTU value is 1500. But that can cause issues on a PPPoE connection. The MTU value can vary but usually it should be set at 1492. I’m not even sure if you can adjust that in home routers but if you see a setting to change MTU and your router requires a username and password then you can try setting it to 1492 and see if there is any difference.

You can learn more about MTU here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_transmission_unit

Red Ruffnsore

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Thanks Mr.Natural, but I don’t have a PPPoE connection. I haven’t just sat and tested over a span of time to see how often the IP address changes, maybe I should try that.

It is strange that the kickouts occur on certain sites, but not all. Maybe something to do with the security protocols used? I’m getting a runaround from the ISP, no one seems to have a clue. Apparently no one else is complaining of the issue, and as I said before, the problem doesn’t occur using any connection outside of my own.

I don’t know anything else I can do on my end to try. And I don’t think the router has anything to do with it, since it occurs with a direct connection from modem to pc as well.

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I would check the modem (in its internal stats display) for a statistic like “retrains in last 24 hours” or similar.  It sounds like there is some electrical noise on the line and your modem has to retrain (reconnect), which results in a new IP being assigned on the remote end, which will result in you being logged out.  If you can find where the SNR (signal to noise ratio) is reported by the modem, have a look at it when it is working and then check it again when it begins to act up.

This could either be a problem in your modem (overheating, bad capacitor, bad AC adapter, etc) or in the line itself.  If you lease the modem from the ISP (or if it comes with the service  but is owned by them), you would have to contact them to see how to get a new one.  If it’s yours, it’s up to you how you go… maybe it is still under warranty and you can RMA it with the ISP or the OEM of the modem.

If it is in the line itself, you will have to set up a service ticket with the ISP to come repair the lines.

I have extensive experience with the latter, unfortunately.

In my cable and DSL modems I’ve used over the years, the URL for the modem has usually been 192.168.1.1, but that can vary.

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Thanks Ascaris. I can’t check the modem stats myself as it is from the ISP and only they can do that. What you are saying makes sense. I think it would have to be a problem exclusive to my modem or line. The line from the DSLAM for me is only over three miles!! Ridiculous. Plus it is probably 60 years old. I know the drop to the house is at least that old. Not only is the ISP cheap and not interested in upgrading, they are the only option, except satellite, which I understand is even worse. I will try to see if one the tech support folks could tell me how many retrains my modem has had and what the SNR figures are. Guess it would be best to do that when it is acting up. Sure would be nice if it was just the modem. I can get that swapped out free.

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I concur fully with Ascaris’ comments.

Have you tried to log in to the modem?
You can get its address (you must be connected directly to it, not through the router) by doing a
[(CMD) ipconfig /all].
Yes, the ISP can get to it, but they will be using the outside-in (WAN) address that their system has supplied. And that is the address that you have been seeing when you query the IP-address. What ipconfig will give you is the inside-out (your LAN) address for the modem. (It MAY be that there is a log-in name and password required for you to get in to it.)

Can you post the make and model of the modem? There may be a ‘User Guide’ that can be referenced for full details. As Ascaris noted, you will log in to the modem by going to [http://192.168.1.1], or whatever address the ipconfig gives you, or the Guide documents. The Guide also will give you the default name/password, if any.

If your phone line drop is 60 years old I think that it is a good candidate for replacement. My DSL (several years ago) became usable after my drop was replaced. Is there another user in the area with whom you could swap modems? This would narrow down where to look for the problem. Note: both of you will want to record your existing log-in credentials, as a ‘factory reset’ probably would be required. As an experiment I once did a modem-swap with one that my neighbor gave me; it worked fine. The modem was from the same manufacturer but an older model. There was no hiccup from the ISP during this; I’m guessing that they just saw a re-boot if they even noticed.

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Footnote on the modem address –
My DSL gateway was a ‘2Wire’ brand; my ex-neighbor’s also was 2Wire.
The direct address was 192.168.1.254 (not 192.168.1.1), so the LAN-side address is make-dependent. I don’t recall that this address could be changed, but I may be mistaken.
Because the gateway had an internal DNS, one also could log in using http://homeportal, or http://gateway.2wire.net. Your modem also may well have a ‘friendly’ name; the User Guide will document that.

In any case, once you have the modem address, you can reconnect the router. Because the modem and the router have different addresses, you can log in to the router and to the modem separately, or even concurrently in different tabs/windows/browsers.

My present cable modem is 192.168.100.1 (a common address for cable); my router is 192.168.1.1. If my modem were 1.1, I would have set the router to 2.1. The same principal applies to your DSL modem. A modem address may be fixed by the supplier; a router address is user-assignable, so as to be able to differentiate it on the network from the modem.

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And while we are on the premise of electrical connectivity problems —
How long have you had DSL?
How long have these spontaneous logouts been occurring?
How frequently does the problem occur?
Do you have stormy (windy, rainy) weather before a spate of problems?
– Check the ‘demarc’ation box, where the outside phone drop connects to the inside phone line. If there is water in the box, or if any connection is loose, it can cause a problem.

Does the outside drop line abrade against a tree or some supporting structure?

Have any of the in-house telephones been moved recently?
– Has any DSL line filter inadvertently been omitted, or damaged?

Depending upon problem reproducibility, or when a cluster of problems occurs:
An additional DSL check is to completely disconnect ALL telephones. Connect the modem line directly to the phone jack: do not go through the filter that is on the modem line. The modem is to be the only thing connected to the house telephone wiring. If a direct connection is OK, but there is a problem when filters are in use, then isolate which filter is a trouble maker.

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Another thing to try, are you using a proxy to connect to the internet (someone more tech-savvie can chime in with instructions if you don’t know how to check for this), or using something like TOR which regularly changes IP address by design?

Also some anti-viruses have started including free VPNs (eg Kaspersky), I’m not sure if that would regularly affect the IP address if you activated that (intentionally or otherwise)

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Thanks for the input. The modem is a Comtrend and I have in the past gone to the Comtrend site and read the user guide, but accessing the modem is not possible for me, the ISP has it set it in a way that it is impossible for the end user to access the settings.

I’m not using a proxy and the issue occurs regardless of the weather. I have checked the connections to the modem as well where the drop connects at the house. There is no filter as I have just DSL, no telephone. For whatever reason, my ISP doesn’t want anyone to have access to the settings of any of their equipment. I had a modem/router combo from them a few years ago, and when the tech connected it, he asked me what password I wanted to use for wireless connections. I told him just use the standard “admin/password” and I’d change it later. He said I couldn’t, that only they could access the router. Needless to say I didn’t have it long. The router I have now I have full access to the settings, but it is flashed with ISP-specific firmware and I have to get the ISP to put new firmware on it whenever they get a new version (which they don’t tell you about or automatically do).

I can understand that a lot of folks don’t know that much about networking and they don’t want people screwing things up and it is easier for them to control everything. Most people wouldn’t have a clue what they were looking at if they could see their modem stats. Basically I am at the mercy of my ISP. But at least we are getting some consensus that it is a problem with the modem or line, just don’t know how we can tell which and narrow it further.

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Thank you for the manufacturer information.
You’ve probably already seen, at [https://us.comtrend.com/support/], this statement:
“Please note, Gateway products are sold to Service Providers, who receive direct support on these products. We are unable to provide assistance to customers of Service Providers, who securely configure Gateway products to access their networks. Therefore, all residential requests for support on Gateway products will be referred to the ISP providing Internet Service.”
And from other (Google) searching it looks like other users also have run into the (stone)wall.
“Basically I am at the mercy of my ISP.” Infuriatingly, yes.

Is it possible that the phone line in the house has a splice in it somewhere?
Can you do a modem swap with someone else, to narrow down whether it is box or line?
Is the ISP amenable to doing a temporary modem replacement?
Can you correlate problem incidents with ANYthing else that is occurring: environmentally, time of day, … .?

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An update to the situation: The ISP has been feeding fiber to a lot of their DSLAM’s and lo and behold one a whole lot closer to me was finally finished and my line got moved onto it. Got a nice little boost in speed. However, the problem of getting kicked out of sites continues. The ISP still has no clue as to why.

On sites that have a “remember me” or “keep me logged in box”, if I click on that, I can stay logged in. If I don’t, it boots me. Problem is not all sites have that option. And a funny thing, on one site, I couldn’t log out of it. Kept getting a “the information doesn’t match your current session” error.

I didn’t get a new modem with the switch, I forgot to ask for one. So I guess the multitude of culprits still exists- modem, line degradation, etc. Could it be possible that there is something within the OS registry that could causing it? I have in the past made some tweaks to the registry for improved security, privacy and performance. Some of those tweaks I have gotten from this site. I know it’s a shot in the dark, but at this point, it is all I have.

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