Intermittent Internet Access after installing wireless printer

[cmp12345]

Hi. I'm new here and am not very computer saavy.

Anyhow, I had an at-home network set up with a laptop in a docking station (or wirelessly) and a desktop connected wirelessly to a router. It was working great - no problems.

However, when I installed a wireless network printer, all computers started having problems w/ internet access. I'd get intermittent access, slow pauses between loading pages, etc. I had a vonage phone set up that was working great before, also not work b/c people couldn't hear me (I noticed this happened concurrently the internet pauses). I don't think it's a virus or anything on my computer b/c when I connect to other networks wirelessly, I don't have this intermittent internet access problem.

Did installing the network printer cause this? How do I fix this? I have a feeling I messed up when installing it by changing something related to the IP address? This continues even when I unplug and move the printer out of the house. I also tried getting a new modem and router, and no go.

I just want my good internet access back. Help! Thanks.

[johnwill]

Let's forget the printer and just deal with the network without it first.


Please supply the following info, exact make and models of the equipment please.

Name of your ISP (Internet Service Provider).
Make and exact model of the broadband modem.
Make and exact model and hardware version of the router (if a separate unit).
Model numbers can usually be obtained from the label on the device.
Connection type, wired or wireless.
If wireless, encryption used, (none, WEP, WPA, or WPA2)
Version and patch level of Windows on all affected machines, i.e. XP-Home (or XP-Pro), SP1-SP2, Vista, etc.
The Internet Browser in use, IE, Firefox, Opera, etc.




Please give an exact description of your problem symptoms, including the exact text of any error messages.

• If you're using a wireless connection, have you tried a direct connection with a cable to see if that changes the symptoms?
• For wireless issues, have you disabled all encryption on the router to see if you can connect that way?
• Have you connected directly to the broadband modem to see if this is a router or modem/ISP issue?
• If there are other computers on the same network, are they experiencing the same issue, or do they function normally?

On any affected computer, I'd also like to see this:

Hold the Windows key and press R, then type CMD (COMMAND for W98/WME) to open a command prompt:

Type the following commands:

PING 206.190.60.37

PING yahoo.com

NBTSTAT -n

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.

[cmp12345]

Here's the info you requested. My laptop has a firewall, so not sure if you need me to do this for the desktop, rather. Anyhow, let me know if you need more information. THANKS SOO MUCH for responding.

Computers: Laptop Dell D410; Desktop: Dell Dimension 3100; Vonage device
Name of your ISP (Internet Service Provider): Comcast cable modem
Make and exact model of the broadband modem: Motorola 35120
Make and exact model and hardware version of the router: Netgear WGR614
Connection type, wired or wireless: both (laptop wired, when docked); all others wireless
If wireless, encryption used, (none, WEP, WPA, or WPA2): None (don’t know how to encrypt router)
Version and patch level of Windows on all affected machines, i.e. XP-Home (or XP-Pro), SP1-SP2, Vista, etc.: Laptop: XP-Professional; Desktop: XP 2000
The Internet Browser in use, IE, Firefox, Opera, etc.: Laptop: IE; Desktop: Firefox

Please give an exact description of your problem symptoms, including the exact text of any error messages.
Symptoms: Internet goes in and out for periods of 30sec-minute freqently. Can’t use vonage phone (also connected to router) cause it goes in and out and can’t tunnel into work b/c it gets disconnected frequently. All was fine prior to installing wireless printer. Don’t see error messages.

If you're using a wireless connection, have you tried a direct connection with a cable to see if that changes the symptoms: Doesn’t seem to make a difference

For wireless issues, have you disabled all encryption on the router to see if you can connect that way: I don’t think we have an encrypted router

Have you connected directly to the broadband modem to see if this is a router or modem/ISP issue: Yes, when laptop is wired into modem, no difference

If there are other computers on the same network, are they experiencing the same issue, or do they function normally? Yes, both computers are affected

On any affected computer, I'd also like to see this:

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

C:\Documents and Settings\pham>PING 206.190.60.37

Pinging 206.190.60.37 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 206.190.60.37: bytes=32 time=115ms TTL=48
Reply from 206.190.60.37: bytes=32 time=111ms TTL=48
Reply from 206.190.60.37: bytes=32 time=102ms TTL=48
Reply from 206.190.60.37: bytes=32 time=112ms TTL=48

Ping statistics for 206.190.60.37:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 102ms, Maximum = 115ms, Average = 110ms

C:\Documents and Settings\pham>PING yahoo.com

Pinging yahoo.com [206.190.60.37] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 206.190.60.37: bytes=32 time=96ms TTL=48
Reply from 206.190.60.37: bytes=32 time=109ms TTL=48
Reply from 206.190.60.37: bytes=32 time=112ms TTL=48
Reply from 206.190.60.37: bytes=32 time=110ms TTL=48

Ping statistics for 206.190.60.37:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 96ms, Maximum = 112ms, Average = 106ms

C:\Documents and Settings\pham>NBTSTAT -n

Local Area Connection:
Node IpAddress: [0.0.0.0] Scope Id: []

No names in cache

Wireless Network Connection:
Node IpAddress: [192.168.1.4] Scope Id: []

NetBIOS Local Name Table

Name Type Status
---------------------------------------------
PHAM-REMOTE <00> UNIQUE Registered
PHAM-REMOTE <20> UNIQUE Registered
RAND <00> GROUP Registered
RAND <1E> GROUP Registered
RAND <1D> UNIQUE Registered
..__MSBROWSE__.<01> GROUP Registered

C:\Documents and Settings\pham>IPCONFIG/ALL

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : pham-remote
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : rand.org
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : rand.org

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx Gigabit Cont
roller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-13-72-6D-48-61

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : rand.org
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network
Connection
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-16-6F-44-EF-09
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.4
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Saturday, September 06, 2008 7:37:56
PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, September 07, 2008 7:37:56 P
M

C:\Documents and Settings\pham>

[johnwill]

If you connect directly to the modem with a cable from one machine and still have a problem, try the other machine with the direct connection. Both of them having the same problem would indicate to me it's either the modem or Comcast.

I frankly can't see how the printer can affect your direct connection, there is no wireless in the picture. One thing to try, uninstall the printer drivers on the machine you're testing to see if that makes a difference.