Cable Modem Issues Redux

[Rfdjr1]

Sorry to repost, but I wanted to try and contact whoever it was that
said he worked for the cable compnay at one time.

My issue, in a nutshell, is several times a day, my cable connection
drops out. Disconnects. I have to reboot the computer to get it back.
Release/renew doesn't work. When this happens, all the lights on my
modem are in the green.

The cable company was just here and tested my lines. All is fine. He
was suprised at my signal strength and how good it was. Nothing
physically wrong with the cable. The modem will be replaced tomorrow
in case that's the issue, but it was fine and worked perfectly with no
disconnects with my old system a month ago. It all started with this
new system. It's apparently not the connections on the motherboard.
I've tried the onboard RJ45 connector, which uses the PCI bus, and
also tried a PCI fast ethernet card. Neither solves the problem. The
motherboard manufacturer tech told me that if it was an issue with the
PCI bus, my other PCI cards would casue me problems also.

So, it's most likely in the system someplace. According to the cable
guy who just left, if I have to call them back, I have to ask for a
technician who is HSD (High speed data) certified, to look at my
system. This is what I'm wondering: What is an HSD certified
technician and what would he be looking fo inside my system. I'm led
to believe it's a software/Windows XP Pro issue. Just thought I'd
float the question here before I have an HSD tech come out. That will
cost me $50, whihc is worth it if the problem gets fixed. But I
wondered if anyone knew of settings in Windows XP Pro I should/could
look at. Thanks. And again, I apologize for reposting. This seems to
ruffles feathers in some newsgroups.

 

[Mike]

-----Original Message-----
Sorry to repost, but I wanted to try and contact whoever it was that
said he worked for the cable compnay at one time.

My issue, in a nutshell, is several times a day, my cable connection
drops out. Disconnects. I have to reboot the computer to get it back.
Release/renew doesn't work. When this happens, all the lights on my
modem are in the green.

The cable company was just here and tested my lines. All is fine. He
was suprised at my signal strength and how good it was. Nothing
physically wrong with the cable. The modem will be replaced tomorrow
in case that's the issue, but it was fine and worked perfectly with no
disconnects with my old system a month ago. It all started with this
new system. It's apparently not the connections on the motherboard.
I've tried the onboard RJ45 connector, which uses the PCI bus, and
also tried a PCI fast ethernet card. Neither solves the problem. The
motherboard manufacturer tech told me that if it was an issue with the
PCI bus, my other PCI cards would casue me problems also.

So, it's most likely in the system someplace. According to the cable
guy who just left, if I have to call them back, I have to ask for a
technician who is HSD (High speed data) certified, to look at my
system. This is what I'm wondering: What is an HSD certified
technician and what would he be looking fo inside my system. I'm led
to believe it's a software/Windows XP Pro issue. Just thought I'd
float the question here before I have an HSD tech come out. That will
cost me $50, whihc is worth it if the problem gets fixed. But I
wondered if anyone knew of settings in Windows XP Pro I should/could
look at. Thanks. And again, I apologize for reposting. This seems to
ruffles feathers in some newsgroups.


.Sounds like a network card issue. Some viruses and

spyware will cause you to drop an IP. Go to
www.antivirus.com and do a free scan just to be sure. I
contract with the local cable ISP to do their installs.
Cable levels are fine but even so you can have a
situation called "flapping" where the modem will lose an
IP or fail to renew. Call your ISP and have them check to
see if your modem is maintaining a connection. If it is
flapping it will be logged. If your machine is
virus/spyware free and your network card is functional
there is nothing about XP that would cause it to lose an
IP when your old system wouldn't. When I have run into
this type of situation it is almost always a NIC. Since
you have tried a different NIC I hate to tell you to try
another but if you have a usb nic laying around or know
someone who does I would give it a try. The cable guy
said it was in your system? He is not qualified to make
that determination. Before you pay for the tech make sure
they try a new modem. Good luck. Mike

 

[Rfdjr1]

Thanks Mike. I ended up going to the cable store and picked up a new
modem. The one I had, I paid for four or five years ago. They "lend"
them to new customers, so I wrangled a new one from them as an old
customer. The new one is a Motorola. It's USB or RJ45, whichever I
choose. I have it hooked up right now to the RJ45 jack on the
motherboard, so I'll see how it goes. I did a speed check and was
running 5935Kbs a few minutes ago. I guess this is an okay speed.
I do run Spybot and Adaware, and ran them both a few days ago. I also
run Norton AV and did a complete system scan to rule out problems with
those three programs. Guess I'll just have to see what happens. I was
wondering what this HSD qualified guy would have been able to do
besides make $50 for the cable company. At least todays visit, and the
modem were freebies. Thanks again.