I have recently acquired an external drive that can connect to a network by either wifi or ethernet, as well as the usual direct USB cable to a PC .... a sort of simple NAS.

The unit by and large works fine, and I can transfer files back and forth using any of the above connection means, and the unit also doubles as a wifi access point to an internet connection.

However, I've found that when using the ethernet connection to my router, as soon as I turn the device off, I loose internet access on my desktop ... sometimes the network icon (Task Tray) will show the yellow disconnect flag, whilst other times neither email or browser will work.

Running the Diagnostic option on the network connection gets things working, with the resultant message saying "could not access the gateway". Rebooting also gets things back to normal, as does simply removing the ethernet cable from the (turned off) device.

The problem doesn't happen when used in wifi mode.

It's almost like the device is 'turning off' the router or the PC's network adapter?

Any views or opinions please?