VPN keeps disconnecting every 2-5 minutes

VPN
1

Hey y’all!

I just got Mullvad today and I’m having the problem that it disconnects like every 5 minutes or so. Then my internet connection is also completely gone. This not just happens with Mullvad, but also with a VPN I set up to access university remotely some time ago.

I think I have an idea where this problem stems from, but I have to explain my situation to you:

I’m living in a student dorm. Here I do not have a router, but a socket in the wall for an ethernet cable. I could install a router, but since I do not need one I just connected my PC directly into the socket via an ethernet cable.

In order for me to get online, when I start up my PC I have to type in a specific adress into my browser for a log-in page to appear. There I enter my log-in information (username, pw) and then I can use the internet without problems and without disconnections.

The log-in page also says something like:

“If you should see this page every 2 minutes, make sure your firewall allows ICMP requests (I don’t know if this is the right translation of the word) from the IP address (and then it shows an IP adress).”

Now I have the feeling the disconnection of the VPN stems from here: I probably get these ICMP requests every two to five minutes and something goes wrong and Mullvad disconnects and my whole internet connection as well. Again, I have no trouble with this when I’m not using a VPN.

In order to connect to the internet again after the VPN and my internet connection aborted, I have to access the log-in page again and enter my log-in information.

I just tested it again to post you a typical daemon.log from when that happens. Here I started the VPN connection at 3.55am and it disconnected at 3.58 am. Before it disconnects the log states this:

"

(… a lot of stuff beforehand at 3:55:xxx)

[2021-11-17 03:55:49.933][talpid_core::dns][INFO] Setting DNS servers to [REDACTED]

[2021-11-17 03:55:50.165][mullvad_daemon][DEBUG] New tunnel state: Connected { endpoint: TunnelEndpoint { endpoint: Endpoint { address: [REDACTED]:443, protocol: Tcp }, tunnel_type: OpenVpn, proxy: None, entry_endpoint: None }, location: Some(GeoIpLocation { ipv4: None, ipv6: None, country: “Sweden”, city: Some(“Gothenburg”), latitude: 57.70887, longitude: 11.97456, mullvad_exit_ip: true, hostname: Some(“se-got-008”), bridge_hostname: None }) }

[2021-11-17 03:55:50.193][mullvad_daemon::management_interface][DEBUG] get_current_location

[2021-11-17 03:55:50.359][mullvad_daemon::geoip][DEBUG] Unable to fetch IPv6 GeoIP location: Hyper connect error: Der angegebene Host ist unbekannt. (os error 11001) [means something like the given host is unknown]

[2021-11-17 03:58:28.722][talpid_core::dns][INFO] Resetting DNS

[2021-11-17 03:58:28.725][talpid_core::process::stoppable_process][DEBUG] Trying to stop child process gracefully

[2021-11-17 03:58:28.725][mullvad_daemon][DEBUG] New tunnel state: Disconnecting(Reconnect)"

I think it has something to do with the “Resetting DNS” part. That always comes before a disconnect.

I hope you can help me. Thank you so much in advance!

P.S.: I’m using Kaspersky Security Cloud and that has a VPN option in it one can use freely with 200MB/day. When I’m using that, I get no disconnections whatsoever. Maybe this information helps you/us in finding the error. Thank you!

2

I found a “solution” to my problem:

I contacted the Mullvad support and they said that while it would be no problem to allow a ping that comes from within the local network it seems that my ISP pings through the Internet and that gets blocked by Mullvad. The problem would probably disappear if I got a router because then the router would answer the ping while the VPN software would work on the PC.

But I decided differently and just tried out another VPN: IVPN. If I disable the firewall there, I get no disconnects.

Thank you for reading and upvoting my text and thanks again for answering, AlwynEvokedHippest!

3

You could try the Allow Local Network Access option.

That way machine should still be available to respond to the ICMP requests locally while on the VPN.

It can definitely be useful posting here but it’d be worth getting in touch with Mullvad support directly, they’re usually pretty fast.

4

I’m struggling with Mullvad disconnects too. It disconnects pretty much every 10 minutes on the dot. I’m on wifi though, so perhaps whatever trouble you were having is not the same issue I’m having.

But it’s weirdly intermittent. Sometimes it does that, sometimes it doesn’t. I go weeks with it operating fine, and then suddenly I’m dealing with this disconnecting nonsense all day.

I’m not terribly well versed in networking stuff so this is really infuriating. I’ve been using Mullvad for close to a month and I’m three inches away from getting a refund.

How does IVPN fare overall in terms of speed, etc?

Thanks in advance! You seem to be the only one who’s having the same issue as me.

5

Thank you for your response!

I just tried the option, but unfortunately it didn’t work.

Yes, I will definitely contact the support now. I also just received a mail from someone who is responsible for the internet connection in the dorm and he says that pings have to be allowed for the VPN to work.

I’ll try the support now. Thank you again!

6

Heya!

Strange that you can go weeks without the problem and then it appears for a whole day. I solved my problem not only by using IVPN but also by using the OpenVPN protocol in its software with the additional OpenVPN configuration parameter “block-outside-dns”. Since I put that in I had no more disconnection problems. Maybe you can try that with Mullvad too, I dunno.

I’ve had good speeds with IVPN, it works well. Without a vpn, I download with ~ 11MB/s max. and I can also reach that with the VPN on. So IVPN has been great so far.