Internet Issues

[weknowhowtolive]

I'm not sure exactly which forum this should go in.

2 days ago, I started having weird dropping problems with my internet (Comcast cable.) It wouldnt completely disconnect but my messenging services would disconnect and i would have to refresh my browser a few times to get it to connect. I called comcast and they sent a tech out, who did nothing and I seemed to know more than him.

I tried passing my wireless router (Linksys WRT54G v5) and my VOIP router, and ran the modem (Motorola SURFboard SB5100) and this seemed to work for about 2 hours and then the connection randomly dropped and i got the "attempting to obtain IP" blah blah blah message. Going into command prompt and doing ipconfig /release would release it but /renew gave me (according to the comcast rep i had on the phone) an invalid IP. I ran back through my router and changed my IP to a static IP (192.168.15.1) which allowed me to connect fine to the router, but I still had no internet connection. However, repairing the connection like this worked just fine.

Comcast claims that this is a hardware issue on my end, which if it is I have no problem with, but if its just my NiC not obtaining the IP correctly, why can I repair it fine while connected to either router, but when I try to repair my connection while connected to the modem it wont do it?

What would you recommend to figure out exactly what the problem is so I can just buy a new one, I'm sick of getting these runaround, unhelpful answers from Comcast.

Thanks in advance for any help!

(oh PS, my NiC is a gigabyte onboard 10/100/1000 and I havent touched the drivers in months)

[johnhook]

weknowhowtolive,

Is your PC a laptop or desktop? If it's a laptop, do you have power-saving features enabled or are you closing the lid. This will cause the WiFi network to disconnect.

Go to:

http://paininthetech.com/2005/10/25/...in-windows-xp/

and try this. If this works, let me know, if not - we'll try other things.

- John

[weknowhowtolive]

Nah its a desktop. I'm running about .5 feet away from the routers and modem, and run everything hardwired to my computer. I just got off work and really dont know what to try besides lugging in a different computer and trying it on there.

Does it make sense that this would be a NiC problem?

[weknowhowtolive]

An update:

I messed around going from the modem to my router, then from my router to my computer in the first port. I can connect to the router but it will not auto obtain the IP, I have to set it manually. I can get into the router just fine, but even though the router shows the comcast IP and shows a connection, I cannot get a connection on my computer.

I noticed a few things. My LAN connection is #3, but there are no others.
Also, on the side display it shows my NIC as "NIC #2" but I have no other NICs?

I can get online still by plugging in to the modem directly (thats how I'm on now) but if I pull the cable or reset the modem, repairing or doing "ipconfig /renew" will result in about 45 seconds of "acquiring" followed by "limited or no connection" and "cannot renew IP"

Anyone have any ideas? It seems more and more like it might be my NIC.

[johnwill]

If a direct connection to the modem works, it doesn't sound like the NIC.

Reset the router to factory defaults by holding the reset button down for 15 seconds with power on.

• Turn off everything, the modem, router, computer.
• Connect the modem to the router's WAN/Internet port.
• Connect the computer to one of the router's LAN/Network ports.
• Turn on the modem, wait for a steady connect light.
• Turn on the router, wait for two minutes.
• Boot the computer.

When the computer is completely booted, let's see this.

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD to open a command prompt:

In the command prompt window that opens, type type the following command:

IPCONFIG /ALL

Right click in the command window and choose Select All, then hit Enter.
Paste the results in a message here.

If you are on a machine with no network connection, use a floppy, USB disk, or a CD-RW disk to transfer a text file with the information to allow pasting it here.

[weknowhowtolive]

Well here's the thing, its not working connected directly to the modem. The connection is fine and it doesnt pop on and off ever few seconds, but what does happen is at a random time, maybe 30 minutes maybe 2 hours, the connection just drops and i get the acquiring IP followed by limited connection errors, and I have to restart to fix it.

Here's the stuff anyway

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Cope>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : wkhtl
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : hsd1.ca.comcast.net.

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 4:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.ca.comcast.net.
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit E
thernet NIC #2
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-1A-4D-4F-77-37
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 67.188.180.197
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 67.188.180.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 68.87.76.23
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 68.87.76.178
68.87.78.130
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, May 21, 2008 9:50:51 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, May 21, 2008 10:50:51 AM

C:\Documents and Settings\Cope>

[weknowhowtolive]

As youll notice my lease expired at 10:50:51 AM. At exactly 10:50:51, it happened. My next lease expires at 12:52:40, and I'm guessing thats when it will happen again.

So if this is happening when the lease expires and then I cant get the new IP, is that the modem or me?

[weknowhowtolive]

So I found 2 10/100 NICs in a box. I tried both. The first was an old Netgear, which I downloaded the drivers for, but windows auto installed drivers for it and when I tried to use the downloaded drivers it tells me the driver does not contain information for my hardware. But I could connect through it. However, it had the same problem.

Then I found an old DLink, found the drivers, and windows auto installs it and says the same thing, but I cant even connect with it. And it wont let me install the drivers???

ANYONE have any ideas? This is really starting to drive me nuts. Comcast is sending out another tech, and I really hope this is a modem problem, but I've never not been able to install drivers like this before.

The DLink NIC is also being installed as a Realtek, which it obviously is not.

[myocseng]

i dont know why.. last week i still can onilne. but today cant already. i check my LAN iP address.. is blank already... why.. izzit got virus effect? i know that normaly have the iP example 192.168.0.1, but now all is blank..

pls help me.. got any program can scan it. b cos i got many important document inside. i cant format...... pls help

thanks.

Eric Ong

[evolros]

Originally Posted by weknowhowtolive

As youll notice my lease expired at 10:50:51 AM. At exactly 10:50:51, it happened. My next lease expires at 12:52:40, and I'm guessing thats when it will happen again.

So if this is happening when the lease expires and then I cant get the new IP, is that the modem or me?

That's your modem. It's automatically renewing its dynamic IP address. I had this same problem. The DSL modem company has you set up with a dynamic IP that changes every X amount of minutes. This prevents you from hosting web servers and things like that with your "basic" home high-speed internet service. If your DSL modems updates its IP, your router may not update and will thus shut down the connection as it doesn't have the correct IP for your DSL modem.

The fix... log into your DSL modem and in the Advanced Configuration settings, there should be a IP Time Lease input. Set it to like 365 days (or some other long period of time). Then you're still using a dynamic IP but it won't update for a whole year.

You should then be able to reboot your DSL modem, then reboot your router, then the computer and it should work and stay on longer than 15 minutes.

If this doesn't work, when your DSL modem reboots, jot down the IP address it gets (this will be the one it has for a whole year). You may have to set this manually in your router's interface by logging into it. If it's old and has no login interface, it should automatically get the correct IP from the DSL modem

This is the solution if your Internet connection drops out after 15 minutes or so of successful activity. Because this is a hack, every now and then you may have to reboot your modem, router, and computer if for some reason you lose power to your DSL modem. You would then need to reset the router's IP for the DSL modem. This shouldn't happen often though.

[johnwill]

Actually, there should be no issue with DHCP leases no matter what the period. If the lease isn't getting renewed, something is not working correctly one one end or the other. It's not necessary, or even desirable, to have excessively long lease times.

[evolros]

Agreed. It's just a work-around if your wireless router for some reason isn't picking up the DSL modem's dynamic IP changes. It does work though and I've heard of others having to do this as well.