Forum Moderators: phranque
I contacted her ISP, did the whole restart and unplug routine and got nowhere. They were very helpful and suggested many things to try but nothing worked. I could not send out an email. It just sat in the out box. Pings just seemed to time out. I disabled and enabled her network connection but that didn't help. (One odd thing is that the "Status" function on her network connection screen didn't seem to do anything.)
I ran Adaware and did a Norton scan and those seemed fine, though they were not completely up to date because I could not acess the Internet to get current updates. The ISP says the connection looks strong from their end and they've run out of suggestions except to send out a technician, but they thought the problem was most likely with her computer and in that case she would be charged for the visit.
I'm going to take a lap top from our house over to her house to see if I can connect the lap top using her cable connection. I'm also going to take some dial-up numbers to see if I can get an Internet connection using her PC and a dial-up number. I think those should help determine if the problem is with her PC or the cable connection.
If anyone has any other suggestions on things I could try to debug the problem I would appreciate it.
[edited by: Jane_Doe at 6:00 pm (utc) on Oct. 29, 2007]
It might be worth checking the firewall. Is it a hardware or software firewall?
It might be worth checking the firewall. Is it a hardware or software firewall?
She has Norton for a firewall. I did disable it but that didn't seem to help. But that is a good thought. Maybe I'll try taking Norton off altogether and putting AVG or something else on instead. She had weird problems with Norton in the past not updating properly.
I have had cable modems start behaving strangely after they get a little old. Also, heat can affect them after a while.
A recent problem that took out my internet was a cable signal that was too strong. It was blasting so loud that my modem couldn't make heads or tails from the signal.
End-all-be-all check: pick the computer up and test it at your house. :)
Maybe I'll try taking Norton off
If it is a USB connection, if possible, ditch it. I found the only way to get a neighbour's connection to last was to fit an ethernet card.
If XP or Vista, is the network connection icon (on the taskbar) animated or static. Animated suggests it is waiting for an IP address to be allocated by the modem.
I don't know why anyone would use Norton for anything. The free editions of AVG and ZoneAlarm are very good. Personally, I can't be bothered with anti-spyware, but then I'm super careful about what I install and what sites I visit (and what browser I use - mostly Firefox and Opera).
Kaled.
When the internet is working on the machine try going to a site that will identify your external IP
I will try that if I can, but the only thing that seem to connect to the Internet is her email program. Neither one of us have gotten any browser access since last week.
I guess taking the PC to our house would be the next logical step. Actually, I could try switching out her modem, too, with one of ours. The modem is a little easier to carry. :)
Thanks to everyone for all of the suggestions so far.
[edited by: Jane_Doe at 8:06 pm (utc) on Oct. 29, 2007]
I assume we're talking Windows, but what version?
USB or ethernet connection?
What country?
She is running Windows XP in the US. I'm not sure what kind of modem she has. It is one she got from her cable company and it has been working okay for several years.
There ought to be a firewall on at all times.
I just disabled the firewall and the antivirus software for a few minutes while trying to access the Google home page to see if either of those two programs could be causing the problem.
So thanks for all the advice to everyone who posted. I'll save this thread in case the problem starts happening again. I suspect now that it was some issue on the part of the cable company they initially didn't know how to debug, since we didn't change anything on her PC in the last two days and I've had some weird problems myself with them in the past that they were not very forthcoming about.
she got from her cable company and it has been working okay for several years.
Probably time for a new one regardless. They'll usually swap it out no problem if you take it to their store. I had a modem for a long time that I finally took in and they were surprised at it's age. They said that the model I had was one that they didn't update the firmware on when they switched to a bigger pipe. I put in the new modem and my speeds went from about 1mbps to 6mbps! It was amazing!
Yes, I'll agree with SEOmike, I acquired a new wired and WiFi router and the speed increases were significant. In addition, for the WiFi part, I was able to employ better encyption and faster throughput.
Additionally, there may be benefits to switching away from a USB modem/router.
