Lobo/Steele

Vic Mackey · Post by **Vic Mackey** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 4:26 pm

well here i am again

another endless problem, I keep losing my connection. all the lights on the modem are still on but, with no warning, the interent will stop responding. if i then go and shut down all my IE windows and try to open a fresh one it cant even find my home page. ive had 2 roadrunner techs out to my house to try and fix it but it still happens. they said either my modem or network card was faulty since all the lights on my modem are still on when this happens. i had a tech out today and they switched out my modem but it still happens. lol the tech guy forgot to do something to my modem and i had to spend 45 minutes on phone with roadrunner to get it up again. shortly after that i lost connection again. its happened twice in about a 3 hour period. only way to fix it is to shut down the computer and unplug the cable modem. i then wait for 2 minutes and plug it back in. when i turn computer back on i must right click network connections and choose properties. then click on support tab and click repair. then my connection works fine till the next time i lose connection. i guess ill replace the network card since its still happening. do you guys have any other reasons this might be happening? this only started happening since i switched to the upright modem( instead of one that lays flat) and got switched to different, less crowded routers. its more of an annoyance then anything else but i really want this fixed cause sometimes it will happen several times in a short period of time. so far the worst time was 3 lost connections in 30 minutes. then it happened again later that day. thats 4 times in one day. kinda sucks. thanks for the help!

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 5:51 pm

If you have spare NIC laying around try that

mccoffee · Post by **mccoffee** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 6:53 pm

or replace the ether net cable

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 6:57 pm

Or scream, lol

Jake · Post by **Jake** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 7:59 pm

mccoffee might be onto something there. When the new modem got installed, something may have happened to the cable that runs between the modem and the nic ... which might explain the arbitrary nature of the losses of connection.

good luck

--Jake

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 9:30 pm

9 times out of 10 this is some type of line problem..... could be a bad splitter, a coax line or connection on your coax line. Did the tech test your frequency on your line to see if it was fine, did he check all your connections (coax that is) and splitters?

Vic Mackey · Post by **Vic Mackey** » Mon Sep 23, 2002 10:07 pm

the only test i know they did was a signal to noise ratio test. the guy said it was 23 and that was low. there was a loose connection outside and when he tightened it he said it was at 36 now which was good. he went into the basement and replaced fitting to the cables. i do have 2 pairs of extra network card cables(from the 2 new modems ive tried). ill switch it out and see if that works. if not ill have to buy a new NIC. i should get a 10mb ethernet card correct?

SnotRocket · Post by **SnotRocket** » Tue Sep 24, 2002 7:19 am

Hi m8,

I just ran into this exact problem yesterday on a Dell computer. I fixed the dilemna by removing Zone Alarm. Sounds strange I know, but it worked. Now, if you do not have Zone Alarm or any other fire wall installed then follow Mnosteele. He is usually correct on diagnosis.

Best,
Snot

Vic Mackey · Post by **Vic Mackey** » Tue Sep 24, 2002 8:30 am

yes i do have zonealarm. sounds to me like its not set up correctly. doesnt make sense why zonealarm would be the problem. does anyone know how it should be set up? if all else fails ill try removing it.

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Tue Sep 24, 2002 9:10 am

If your security settings are to high it would do that, disable it and try it, if it works OK try Security forum for the settings:

Why you people want to use those things that put icon in taskbar next to clock I don't know, unless you have lots of RAM it uses resourses, hello, do you have Top Secret Clearance, I use XP's built in firewall, no problems yet, I don't change a thing with it, just click it and use Fix-it utilities to check for virus=no icon in taskbar, dude you remind me of Fort Knox, you holding out on us poe people, lol, hehe

Vic Mackey · Post by **Vic Mackey** » Tue Sep 24, 2002 10:07 pm

hey lobo if i want to turn on XP's firewall what settings am i supposed to turn on? theres alot of options here and i dont get how to set it up correctly. i need to be able to get on the net, download stuff, and ping game servers. how do i set it up to do that? when i put a checkmark in the SMTP box for example it wants to know the name or IP of the smtp. how do i know what that is?

Vic Mackey · Post by **Vic Mackey** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 7:30 am

bump

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 8:06 am

Vic Mackey my experience with Zone Alarm is that is causes allot of problems. I would suggest uninstalling it and then go to ZA's site and remove the left over junk from your registry per their instructions. Then download Sygate Personal Firewall, it's free and much better and easier to use than ZA.

Vic Mackey · Post by **Vic Mackey** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 9:19 am

NM i found the registry stuff

Vic Mackey · Post by **Vic Mackey** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 9:20 am

i uninstalled zonealarm last night and when i did my web surfing this morning i didnt lose connection (tho modem did reset itself once last night).

Vic Mackey · Post by **Vic Mackey** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 9:22 am

do i want the regular version of sygate or pro version?

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 12:02 pm

That's your choice if you want to spend the money or not.

Vic Mackey · Post by **Vic Mackey** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 1:30 pm

woohoo! thanks for the help mnosteele52! BUT (theres always a but isnt there hehehe) i got some questions. when windows started up it told me a bunch of stuff was trying to access the internet. Generic Host Process for Win32 Services, Internet Explorer, Norton AntiVirus, NDIS User Mode I/O Driver all tried to access internet. i told it yes. was that right? i didnt tell it to remember so if i got it wrong it wouldnt access it everytime. all of those programs are also under the Running Applications box on the firewall screen. theres also 2 others on that screen, LSA Shell (export version) and NT Kernel & System. im not sure if those 2 tried to access internet. are all these things supposed to be running?

Vic Mackey · Post by **Vic Mackey** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 1:41 pm

hey steele i found an option that tests firewall and when i ran it all it could find out was my OS and browser type. thats good right? cause i remember running the same thing with zonealarm and it found out alot more about my computer. should i leave firewall and antivirus up when running my games? cause i normally shut them off.

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 1:42 pm

If threy're from your puter trying to get out, it's cool

Vic Mackey · Post by **Vic Mackey** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 2:46 pm

hey when i start up firewall it says the NDIS User Mode I/O Driver has recieve a packet from the remote machine. Do you want to allow this protocol driver to access the network? should i say yes or no? should i always allow it?

Lobo · Post by **Lobo** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 3:43 pm

Ask in Security Forum, I don't know

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 4:12 pm

Originally posted by Vic Mackey
hey when i start up firewall it says the NDIS User Mode I/O Driver has recieve a packet from the remote machine. Do you want to allow this protocol driver to access the network? should i say yes or no? should i always allow it?

Yes allow it, also all the other things you mentioned are ok to allow also. Check your PM.

Vic Mackey · Post by **Vic Mackey** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 4:24 pm

i ran a UDP scan from the sygate website and when my firewall is off it reports 4 ports as open. should they be open? if not how do i close them? when the firewall is up it blocks all ports. sorry bout all the question i just wanna be sure i have it set up correctly

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 4:26 pm

If the firewall is off then ports will be open.... nothing to worry about. If the firewall is on and ports are open you need to investigate how to block them.

Vic Mackey · Post by **Vic Mackey** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 4:28 pm

hehe ok thanks for your help! this firewall has blocked everything ive been able to test. thanks for the link

Vic Mackey · Post by **Vic Mackey** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 4:46 pm

hey steele what was the website you said had a free program for scanning for spyware/trojans? i forgot to add it to favorites list and i deleted msg. sorry *gets struck down by steeles godly powers* hehe

mnosteele52 · Post by **mnosteele52** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 5:15 pm

http://www.safersite.com

SnotRocket · Post by **SnotRocket** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 6:50 pm

your welcome Vic...lol

Vic Mackey · Post by **Vic Mackey** » Wed Sep 25, 2002 7:37 pm

hehe woohoo my games run with firewall up! *does his happy dance*

illestdynasty · Post by **illestdynasty** » Sat Sep 28, 2002 11:15 am

What kind of modem is it? If its a motorola Surfboard modem then, what I want you do to is uplug it for 15secs, then plug it back in and point your browser here http://192.168.100.1/signal.html and look at your signal values.

Downstream Power:
You generally want between -12db and +12db. Most modems are rated from -15 to +15. Anything less or more than that and you may have quality issues.

I personally prefer to not have less than -7db. If you want to raise your signal level a bit, check my troubleshooting and splitter section.

Downstream SNR:
This number is best over 30, but you may not have any problems with down to 25. Anything less and you will probably have slow transfers, dropped connections, etc.

See my "Downstream SNR" definition for more information on this.

Upstream Power:
The lower this number is, the better. If it is above 55, you may want to see if you can reconfigure your splitters. Anything above 57 is not good and should be fixed ASAP. (This is getting pretty close to not being able to connect.)

Upstream SNR:
Anything above 29 is considered good. The higher this number is, the better. If this number is below 25 and 29, you have a minute amount of noise leaking in somewhere. If it's anything less than 25, you want to get it fixed as you may have a lot of packet loss or slow transfer rates.

Vic Mackey · Post by **Vic Mackey** » Sat Sep 28, 2002 3:55 pm

well since getting rid of zonealarm and switching to sygate i havent had a problem is 3 days. went to that site and my downstream power level is -6dBmV. downstream signal to noise ratio is 36. upstream power lvl is 42. when one of the roadrunner techs came to my house he found a loose connection outside of the house and when he tightened it, the SNR went from 23 to 36. but even after that i was getting dropped. mnosteele suggested that zonealarm might be the cause and recommended sygate. since switching to that i havent had any problems. mnosteele is DA MAN!

P.S. hehe 4 phone calls and 2 techs to house later, roadrunner still couldnt fix it. but steele could. kinda makes RR look foolish to me....

Ferradine · Post by **Ferradine** » Sat Sep 28, 2002 4:25 pm

Hey is there anyother tester sites out there for other modems I have a:

Motorola CyberSURFR Wave Modem

SG Broadband Community

Lobo/Steele

Lobo/Steele

cool

HEHE

sweet!

w00t!