home network headaches

[stone583]

Home networking question... very frustrating

Hi all: Here is my saga... if anyone has some words of wisdom or next
steps, that would be great.

We have 3 computers on a home network. Comcast digital cable comes into
'puter #1, then a Linksys wireless router sends the signal on to #2
and #3. All computers run XP

Up until a month ago, everything was fine. Then out of the blue, puter
#2 lost its ability to access the internet. It still does email and an
online poker game I occasionally play. But I can't call up a webpage
(on IE or Secure IE). Puter 1 and puter 3 continue to be fine.

I have taken the following steps, all to no avail:

* Rebooted the cable modem and the router

* I currently use WEP encryption and the Windows firewall - I tried
turning both off.

* I refreshed the network connection multiple times

* I downloaded and installed new firmware for both the router and the
wireless USB network adapter

* I browsed some support forums for the linksys router that said you
have to leave the pass phrase field of the WEP key blank, just type in
the hex code but no passphrase. I did that.

* I invited a friend over who has a Cisco network certification. He
took a peek & was stymied

---and then 2 odd things---

* Right after internet-access failed on Puter2, it worked again for a
day, then re-quit. I don't know why it started working again, and I
don't know why it failed again.

* Puter3 has a different brand of wireless network aadapter. I tried
installing that on Puter2, no dice.

-------------------------------------------------

It all makes me suspect computer #2... Any thoughts before I 'fix' it
with a baseball bat? 8)

-Confused in Colorado

 

[Chuck]

Home networking question... very frustrating

Hi all: Here is my saga... if anyone has some words of wisdom or next
steps, that would be great.

We have 3 computers on a home network. Comcast digital cable comes into
'puter #1, then a Linksys wireless router sends the signal on to #2
and #3. All computers run XP

Up until a month ago, everything was fine. Then out of the blue, puter
#2 lost its ability to access the internet. It still does email and an
online poker game I occasionally play. But I can't call up a webpage
(on IE or Secure IE). Puter 1 and puter 3 continue to be fine.

I have taken the following steps, all to no avail:

* Rebooted the cable modem and the router

* I currently use WEP encryption and the Windows firewall - I tried
turning both off.

* I refreshed the network connection multiple times

* I downloaded and installed new firmware for both the router and the
wireless USB network adapter

* I browsed some support forums for the linksys router that said you
have to leave the pass phrase field of the WEP key blank, just type in
the hex code but no passphrase. I did that.

* I invited a friend over who has a Cisco network certification. He
took a peek & was stymied

---and then 2 odd things---

* Right after internet-access failed on Puter2, it worked again for a
day, then re-quit. I don't know why it started working again, and I
don't know why it failed again.

* Puter3 has a different brand of wireless network aadapter. I tried
installing that on Puter2, no dice.

-------------------------------------------------

It all makes me suspect computer #2... Any thoughts before I 'fix' it
with a baseball bat? 8)

-Confused in Colorado

Please start by identifying where the problem is. Can Computer #2 not connect
to the router? Or to Computer #1, or to the Internet itself?

Setup both Computers #1 and #2 with PingPlotter (free) from
<http://www.pingplotter.com/>. PingPlotter gives a GUI traceroute. Set it to
pinging a server on the Internet, say the DNS server that your ISP gives you.
Look at PP, and see where it fails.

 

[Quaoar]

Home networking question... very frustrating

Hi all: Here is my saga... if anyone has some words of wisdom or next
steps, that would be great.

We have 3 computers on a home network. Comcast digital cable comes
into 'puter #1, then a Linksys wireless router sends the signal on to
#2 and #3. All computers run XP

Up until a month ago, everything was fine. Then out of the blue, puter
#2 lost its ability to access the internet. It still does email and an
online poker game I occasionally play. But I can't call up a webpage
(on IE or Secure IE). Puter 1 and puter 3 continue to be fine.

I have taken the following steps, all to no avail:

* Rebooted the cable modem and the router

* I currently use WEP encryption and the Windows firewall - I tried
turning both off.

* I refreshed the network connection multiple times

* I downloaded and installed new firmware for both the router and the
wireless USB network adapter

* I browsed some support forums for the linksys router that said you
have to leave the pass phrase field of the WEP key blank, just type in
the hex code but no passphrase. I did that.

* I invited a friend over who has a Cisco network certification. He
took a peek & was stymied

---and then 2 odd things---

* Right after internet-access failed on Puter2, it worked again for a
day, then re-quit. I don't know why it started working again, and I
don't know why it failed again.

* Puter3 has a different brand of wireless network aadapter. I tried
installing that on Puter2, no dice.

-------------------------------------------------

It all makes me suspect computer #2... Any thoughts before I 'fix' it
with a baseball bat? 8)

-Confused in Colorado

With a router, the Comcast cable is connect to the router WAN port, and
each computer is then connected by wire to a router LAN port or wireless
to the router. Why do you have this set up with the modem signal to a
computer first?

Q

 

[Guest]

Pardon my jumping in, just started to learn the protocol for this media.
I have a networking problem. Three computers, two desktops, one laptop. All
were working fine sharing files, connected via a router from modem for Cox
Cable. Worked just fine. Two weeks ago lost ability to connect to the laptop,
and then finally the second work station. I experienced problem this week
connecting to Cox Cable. After much work, replaced the router. I can now
reach the Internet on each machine. However, no ability to connect to each
of the desktops or laptop, from any of the machines. Went to Help and read
instruction for File Sharing on Windows XP (Windows Aarticle ID 304040 (How
to configure file sharing in Windows XP) with the following result:

Following instructions under "Turning on and turning off Simple File
Sharing" above (including viewing the video instruction), the "Use Simple
File Sharing (Recommended)" check box command is missing (Windows XP, SP2)
from the view menue. How do I restore this command? I hesitate to "restore
defaults" until I know more; will that do it? Thank you.

 

[Chuck]

Pardon my jumping in, just started to learn the protocol for this media.
I have a networking problem. Three computers, two desktops, one laptop. All
were working fine sharing files, connected via a router from modem for Cox
Cable. Worked just fine. Two weeks ago lost ability to connect to the laptop,
and then finally the second work station. I experienced problem this week
connecting to Cox Cable. After much work, replaced the router. I can now
reach the Internet on each machine. However, no ability to connect to each
of the desktops or laptop, from any of the machines. Went to Help and read
instruction for File Sharing on Windows XP (Windows Aarticle ID 304040 (How
to configure file sharing in Windows XP) with the following result:

Following instructions under "Turning on and turning off Simple File
Sharing" above (including viewing the video instruction), the "Use Simple
File Sharing (Recommended)" check box command is missing (Windows XP, SP2)
from the view menue. How do I restore this command? I hesitate to "restore
defaults" until I know more; will that do it? Thank you.

Joe,

You'll get better service, and we can help better, if you will start a new
thread, with descriptive subject.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/how-to-post-on-usenet-and-encourage.html#Hijacking>

 

[stone583]

Sorry, I mis-spoke. The setup is as you describe. C#1 is connected by a
wire to the router, and C#3 is connected wirelessly to the router. Both
work fine.

C#2 is wireless to the router, and I have lost the ability to connect
to the net, tho email is still fine.

-Still Confused on Colorado

 

[Guest]

Thank you and wilco.
--
Joe Mac

Joe,

You'll get better service, and we can help better, if you will start a new
thread, with descriptive subject.
<http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/how-to-post-on-usenet-and-encourage.html#Hijacking>

 

[N. Miller]

Sorry, I mis-spoke. The setup is as you describe. C#1 is connected by a
wire to the router, and C#3 is connected wirelessly to the router. Both
work fine.

C#2 is wireless to the router, and I have lost the ability to connect
to the net, tho email is still fine.

-Still Confused on Colorado

You can still get email on Computer #2? Then you still have an Internet
connection. Last two days I was having trouble with the web, but not with
email. But I had no dial tone on the POTS equipment, and too many CRC
errors on the DSL line; I still had Internet connection, just not under
normal conditions. All was fixed earlier today.

Your problem is almost certainly different. The first check that I can
think of is to try and reach a site by using its IP address. Try these:

66.94.230.44 for www.yahoo.com
207.68.183.32 for www.msn.com
66.102.7.147 for www.google.com

If you can get there with the IP address (i.e., http://IP_Adress in your
browser address bar), then you are having DNS difficulty.

 

[stone583]

Good suggestion - but I tried it and it still doesn't work... does
anyone see another alternative than getting a new computer?