Can somebody help a complete amateur?

[Spikyjim]

Hi.

I've just got connected to 512k Broadband through a cable modem, connected to my PC via USB. My problem is that my connection drops out randomly.... normally at least once every couple of hours. I've re-installed my USB drivers on the recommendation of my ISP, but no joy. Does anybody have any suggestions?

By dropping out... I mean I have to reboot the entire PC to get access to the web or my POP3 email. Very, very annoying.

I apologise for the post and my lack of knowledge... but I figure it's a decent idea to go and ask some experts for their opinion, rather than just make a hash of things myself... and you guys seem to know what you're doing... well, a lot better than me!

Other info... I'm running under XP, on a Pentium 4... I have virus protection software and a firewall running too. If anybody can help, drop me an email at spikyjim@postmaster.co.uk or leave me a message here - it will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Spikes

[stevebakh]

hey hey... are you with NTL by any chance? If you are then it could be to do with their upgrade to CR3 [the STB software]... this is assuming that you have the cable running through your TV box [STB] and then a cable running to your computer with a ethernet to USB connection... am I correct?

The problem may even be caused by the USB connection, to do with the power output of the connection...

regards

[stevebakh]

if you are actually with ntl visit http://www.nthellworld.com a good resource for ntl users with ntl specific forum too. have you tried shutting down your firewall [it isn't zone alarm is it¿]

[volntn]

Hey,

Dont Use USB to connect your computer to your cable modem,I have seen hundreds of posts over the years with people having issues with USB connections to Cable modems.Buy yourself a NIC (Network Interface Card) Or simply called a Network card.It connects using CAT5 cabling(Look's like a phonecord only the connectors are Fatter).You simply plug in the network card..power off of course into your Mother Board.Boot back up,it will ask for the install disk that came with your card,or with XP,it should already have the appropriate driver.Reboot Agian if needbe then do nothing else..Simply Open up your Browser and enjoy.

This should solve your problem,ALSO goto Windows Update and make Sure you have the latest Updates for XP,namely SP1 as there are a few updates that affect USB directly and networking in general.

NIC cards range in price from (FREE) from your cable company,to $15 buck to $100...The best NIC's are USR,3com,Linksys.Although the "no name" cards will work,you just may not get the best performance.Hope this helps..

[volntn]

If that doesnt help,try going to control panel,Network Connections,Right Click on your current Network connection and choose repair.Then close Control panel and see if you can "surf" once again.May be a quick fix for you

[caveman]

Definately reccommend using the network card method.

I too use broadband (supplied by Blueyonder) and the cable modems we have have both USB and ethernet (cat5) connectivity but we only use the cat5 system and we`ve had no problems!!! Even at 1Mb/sec

[delphi17857]

I have a SB4200 Motorola Cable Modem. When they hooked it up, couldn't get the cat5 way to work, used the USB hookup. Works great. One problem. After hookup, I went to connect to my Netgear RT311 router, no USB hookup to router. I can't seem to get it to go through the Cat 5 cable. Any help for this newbie would be greatly appreciated!

[chpalmer]

What os are you using? Might look at your ip lease time as it may be expiring every couple of hours and dropping you.