“Network Change Detected” – repeats – Apple Community

This has been happening for roughly the past two weeks. As far as I know, I have done nothing to change my Network configuration.

Situation: Powerbook G4, running 10.4.11 — online via my wireless connection at home. At a seemingly-random point either a web page won’t load (Safari tells me I am not connected to the Internet), or my email tells me it is having problems getting to the server. However, the ‘bars’ in my menubar show that I am still logged onto my home network and I still have a connection and a strong-enough signal. My husband is still online on his notebook and my iPhone is showing that it’s online on the wireless connection.

Safari offers to run Network Diagnostics: I do that, and it comes to a point where it says: “Network Change Detected: Your network configuration has changed. Click OK to proceed to the next step.”

When I do that, and Continue (without changing the options that the dialog is showing me); it completes and tells me my connection is fine, which it then is. After that I can go online, retrieve/send email, etc. … until the next time (sometimes a day, sometimes a few hours).

What is the “Network Change” that Network Diagnostics has detected? I have not done anything to change my Network. In fact, I have my Preferences ‘locked’ (ever since that problem with the ‘looping’ by the Network preferences, several months back).

Since I now know how to get things back working it’s only a bother. But I am left wondering if there is something more dire that this signals. Any ideas?

(The router is a Belkin; the connection is Comcast cable modem. These have not changed.)