Cable connection intermittently goes away

madmanmike · Post by **madmanmike** » Fri Sep 28, 2001 6:38 pm

I did a search, and the closest I found was a guy that had a duplicate IP address. If this might be my problem, how the heck can I verify it?

AT&T @Home customer.
RCA cable modem.
LinkSys 4 port cable modem router.
Gateway P500 desktop, Win2k, 3Com 10/100 ethernet.
Gateway Solo 9100XL, WinME, PCMCIA 10/100 ethernet.

Everything will run fine for a while (1 min to several hours) then all of a sudden, all connection goes away (on both machines). Nothing changes on the cable modem, all the lights stay on, or keep blinking like normal. Cannot ping anything but myself, cannot ping gateway, DNS server, anything.

Then, in 10 seconds, or a minute, or two, everything will come right back, all is normal, for another minute, or 2 or an hour or whatever. Up and down. No rhyme, no reason, no pattern.

Swapped ethernet card in desktop, no difference.
Tried removing one, then the other machine from the router, no difference.
Took router out, plugged directly from cable modem to ethernet card. No difference.
Tried same on other machine, no difference.
cable modem has USB ability, tried that. No difference.
Tried going to static IP, no difference.

No matter what I try, there is no difference in the problem.

AT&T has switched out cable modems, no difference.

I am almost out of ideas. It is just a nuisance, except when I try to do some online gaming, then the drops result in me being booted from the game.

What can I try next?

And if it is possible that someone else is using my IP address, how the heck can I find out? And wouldn't I get some sort of 'Duplicate IP Address on Network' Error?

Thanks,
Michael

Murman · Post by **Murman** » Fri Sep 28, 2001 7:56 pm

Well it depends on how the network is setup to report on the duplicate IP theory. I know in the New England, LA & Atlanta, the AT&T Mediaone systems it diaplays a windows error of the offending IP and the nic mac address.

When the tech came out to your house did he check your modem levels at all? I know you said the light's don't go out but that dosn't mean the modem is still dropping for a split second, it does happen with a weak signal.

You in the NE region of AT&T cable modem land at all?

madmanmike · Post by **madmanmike** » Fri Sep 28, 2001 8:02 pm

I am in the LP of Michigan.

The tech called in and had them do a 'matrix'. It reported that I had not been offline in over 2 weeks.

Michael

blebs · Post by **blebs** » Fri Sep 28, 2001 9:22 pm

Sounds like an issue with your DHCP server and renewing your IP lease. Might check into that too!

madmanmike · Post by **madmanmike** » Fri Sep 28, 2001 9:24 pm

Good idea, but wouldn't setting the net card to use a static IP, vice a dynamic one, have eliminated that?

Michael

rodrod5 · Post by **rodrod5** » Fri Sep 28, 2001 9:32 pm

to test for a stolen ip address you need to have tech support ping your ip address while the modem is unplugged

if they can ping it then it is stolen

also you could have a friend ping it

and you might not catch it the first try... the other user might be offline at that time or running a fire wall

if they got a fire wall you might never catch it

if it is happening on both machines i do not think it would be a stolen ip

you need to ping your gateway continuously for about 100 pings and see if you get request timed out if so you have packet loss

have the modem repushed by tier 2 and see if it clears up if not truck roll city baby

you might have a tool called matrix run on it too at tier 2

im pissed at att so here is a direct line to tier1 no que xxx-xxx-xxxx too late hope someone wrote it down

better write it down this message will self distruct in 2 minutes

:2cool:

madmanmike · Post by **madmanmike** » Fri Sep 28, 2001 11:47 pm

A new development....

I discovered that once the connection goes away, if I go to a command line and do a

ipconfig /release

immediately fillowed by a

ipconfig /renew

the connection comes right back, albeit, for a limited time.

But this always brings it back.

Michael

jthmn · Post by **jthmn** » Sun Sep 30, 2001 12:25 pm

Hi, I don't know if this would help.

I've called @home 6 times with them same problem.

They have run all kinds of test, including the tier 2 push, they have come out and swapped out my modem. They lastly told me it was Zone alarm, and I had to uninstall - re-install AND delete the registry information.

I have done all of this, and still have the problem, I am going to call them soon, and try one more time, otherwise I will change to a new provider.

My connection worked fine when I had the mediaone cable modem. Since they upgraded me to the RCA ATT@home modem I have had this problem.

If you find out what is wrong, please let me know. I am so frustrated at this point, I don't know what to do.

Thanks

Jason - Chicago, IL

madmanmike · Post by **madmanmike** » Mon Oct 01, 2001 9:19 am

Okay, perhaps I have solved my problem.

I called and finally got to Teir 2 support. His first suggestion was to remove and reinstall TCP/IP. I knew this would do nothing, but I did it, and I was correct. No difference.

Then I removed ZoneAlarm, including the registry entries. No difference. On the third call, I asked how I got assigned a new IP. Here is what he said, and what I did.

Go to your @home home webpage. Go to member services. Select 'Home Networking'. From here, you can get a second 'computer name'. I installed that name into my LinkSys cable router, and about 15 minutes later, I was online with a new IP. I then went to the 'Chat online with a customer service Rep' and had him deactivate my original computer name. Else they charge you $5/months for each additional computer name.

Now they may charge me for one month (hour) of a second name, but my connection has been rock solid for over 12 hours now. It never dropped once last nite while I did some online gaming. This was a first. I had also reinstalled and was running Zonealarm. Everything is working great.

I think I was experiencing IP theft. Of course, if this person is running a firewall, how can you know?

Hopefully this was a fix, and not just an aberration.

Michael

jthmn · Post by **jthmn** » Fri Oct 05, 2001 5:14 pm

Heya,

I tried the same and my connection has been up all day without a problem! My next task is to Call ATT and give them a piece of my mind, in addition to getting credit for some time of service, and getting my $5.00 reversed.

I hate to say it, but don't you think they should have someone in level 2 that would try to fix this even before swapping my modem out? just curious, it seems like a easy fix.

Thanks again for your help

JT

Espn · Post by **Espn** » Sat Oct 06, 2001 2:27 pm

I have this same issue. Is your connection still rock solid?

madmanmike · Post by **madmanmike** » Sat Oct 06, 2001 2:47 pm

It has been almost a week now, and my connection is still as solid as I could possibly ask for.

No more timeouts, drops, etc.

I am very confident that the IP address was the issue and now that I have a new one, no more problems, I guess, until someone steals this one.

Michael

Espn · Post by **Espn** » Sat Oct 06, 2001 5:17 pm

Where do you install the new name in the links router?

madmanmike · Post by **madmanmike** » Sun Oct 07, 2001 12:15 pm

On my Linksys Cable Router, I have to use a web interface to set it up.

I connect to 192.168.1.1, then go to the setup page.

There are 2 settings on top of the first page, 'Host Name' and 'Host Domain'.

In the 'Host Name' you put your @Home name, for example:
c1833574-b (this is made up).

In the domain, I put the 'grapid1.mi.home.com' for my area, but I am not sure this is required. Try it without it and see if it works.

Then at the bottom of the page, click on 'Apply'.

It was about 15 minutes after I got the new name before it was activated by @home, and ever since then my connection has been solid.

Michael

XenaRule · Post by **XenaRule** » Sun Oct 07, 2001 8:37 pm

It sounds like you had the same problem as I do.

I had called someone to ping to my IP when I got "disconnected" and he returned with "Request Timed Out." So, no one else is using the line.

Now, my problem is that my connection disappears but the light is still lit. I would have to unplug the modem and plug it back to the outlet to get my connection back. The problem is a weak signal your cable modem is getting. You should call @home and tell them to send you a technician to test the signal on the cable. They should send you a tech to fix it.

madmanmike · Post by **madmanmike** » Sun Oct 07, 2001 10:15 pm

Request timed out does not mean no one is using your IP. If they are running a firewall, you won't get a ping. And unplugging and replugging in the modem gets it to reset the IP lease, so you do come back online, at least til the other guy does the same.

If the light stays on, it is doubtful that the signal is weak. If the light blinks, then the modem was losing sync and could be a weak signal.

Don't be so fast to discount the stolen IP idea. It was certainly my problem, and at least one other guy I know of solved his problems by getting a new IP.

Michael

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