Every hour to a few hours, internet will drop for 2-5 seconds randomly.

Could you explain the symtoms of the problem and what your network consist of? Modem and router? Gateway?  Can you post your signal levels? I will be able to tell you how once I know what modem/gateway you have.

Alright, I can confirm it does NOT happen on wireless devices. Pinging google via command prompt will give this during the short outage "PING TRANSMIT FAILED: GENERAL ERROR"

Modem is a Cisco DPQ3212. Router is a Netgear N450  CG 3000Dv2. I'm on Windows 7. Heres a picture of Netgears "Connection tab" which has power levels and all of that. http://puu.sh/k73WL/ccdcf1a350.png

If it only happens on wired, then sounds like either a network or firewall issue. Not anything to do with the modem, thats for sure. How often does it happen? And how do you fix it? Or does it fix itself?

Also, what are you pinging when it happens? Try 192.168.100.1 and 127.0.0.1 when it happens.

Last, when the problem happens, try a "ipconfig /all" then right click top of CMD window and go to Edit > Select All > Then press enter button. Paste the results here. You may want to edit out the Physical address for privacy reasons.

Thanks for your help so far, I was pinging google before. I'll keep an eye out with pinging those for when it happens again. However since it only happens for a couple seconds I won't have time to ipconfig /all in that time frame. And yes it just fixes itself. Normally I'd say something like this is no issue at all, but since that is long enough to disconnect me from games and the such, it does pose an issue.

ping on 127.0.0.1 is fine during the outage.192.168.100.1 got PING TRANSMIT FAILED: GENERAL ERROR" during the outage.

Ok, well if pinging 127.0.0.1 failed, we would know for sure it's a firewall issue, but the data isn't so conclusive. 

Do you only have 1 wired connection? If not, does it effect other wired connections?

Also, does it happen enough and in a timly manner that you could bypass the Netgear router and connect direct to the modem to see if problem goes away? 

Last, when did the problem start? Anything new around then? New software/hardware/etc?

Yes, I only have 1 wired connection. The problem seemed to happen a little bit (a week?) after reformatting my PC, which was a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately I'm not able to plug it directly into the modem as all of its slots are used for stuff such as my phone.

Yoshimtu said:
after reformatting my PC,

May I ask why you had to reformat you PC? Something break? Also, what do you use as a firewall or Antivirus?

Yoshimtu said:
Unfortunately I'm not able to plug it directly into the modem as all of its slots are used for stuff such as my phone.

The phone modem should have a ethernet going from it to your netgear router. Unplug it from your netgear router, and if possible, plug it into your computer. You then need to use the reset button on the back of the phone modem, which is usually above where the cable wire screws in. Keep in mind, this will stop your phone from working for a bit while the modem resets.

The fact that it happened after a format, and there are no errors in the router logs, makes me think it's more likly to be a PC issue, just can't figure out how to confirm.

I reformatted due to an issue I was hoping wasn't my graphics card VRAM, it was unfortunately. The only thing I have in terms of firewall/antivirus/etc is Avast, I tried turning it off but it was no help. I also tried turning off windows firewall.

After trying to plug my ethernet from PC to the modem it just showed a red X and acted as if it was disconnected, not sure why but it also continued even after a full reset.

Yoshimtu said:
it just showed a red X and acted as if it was disconnected,

Disconnected? That is unusual. Do you mean it showed the network as not active, or as if the ethernet was unplugged? If the former, I wonder if its as simple as a bad ethernet wire. Did you use the ethernet that went modem > router or that went router > PC to go from modem > PC? I would try replacing the wire and see if that helps. Its a cheap easy fix, and even if it doesn't work, it rules one more thing out.

The only thing connected from my router to my modem is the power coax cable. Tried a different cable and it didn't change anything however.

Yoshimtu said:
The only thing connected from my router to my modem is the power coax cable

Ok, not sure where we got off course. Let me draw out how I think your network is;

Cisco DPQ3212 (power, coaxal, phone wire, and ethernet going to Netgear)

Netgear CG3000Dv2 (power, ethernet from Cisco and ethernet going to PC)

You want to to replace the red ethernet wire, as per example above. To bypass the Netgear to troubleshoot, you would disconnect the blue ethernet going into the Netgear, and instead connect it into your PC. Then you would press the reset button on the back of the Netgear. When you phone comes back up, you should be online with your PC. I think at this point, I would try replacing the ethernet wire if you have a spare one. Only bypass the router if a new ethernet doesn't help.

I have the same problem.  I'm using a Peplink Balance 210 and it sends me an email when ever the health check fails on the wan.  I get these a lot.  Here's the definitive note:  I lose my dial tone.  Sometimes I'm on the phone (cox phone) and the line goes dead.  Sure enough I get one of those emails telling me my internet disappeared too.  

I have observed the same the same symptoms, but for much longer than a couple seconds. I noticed this problem immediately after installing Windows 10, but it occurs on my laptop when running from wireless or ethernet. I've tried disabling and enabling the network and wireless cards but sometimes it's so stuck I have to re-start the computer which is VERY disruptive to productivity. The only change made to my system was the windows 10 upgrade so I assume that's where lies the root of the problem.  

My network:

Cisco: coaxal, power, splitter, (Splitter: one cord to phone, one cord to to the phone wall jack)

Netgear: coaxal, power, ethernet going to PC

This is how the Cox Technician set it up. I did try going from PC to Cisco instead of to the router with two different cords however, they both showed disconnected.