Internet problem =/

[yuna544]

Been recently having a problem with my net lately. It's been randomly messing up.
Basically my net will stop working, I'll stay connected but no info will be transfered (basically like not being connected at all). It happens randomly, but an odd thing about this is... I can play FFXI for hours before it happens but when I try to browse the net it'll mess up within a few minutes (heh it messed up 3 times before I got this posted).
I've checked viruss'/spyware & adaware/modem/phone cord (going from my PC > phone jack, even ran a line directly to the box on the side of my house where the line comes in) and nothing seems to remedy the problem.

Any advice will be good ; ; tired of this.

Double Post Edited:
Forgot to add I'm on 56k and this is happening to my sis's PC as well....

[Stivlobits]

Re: Internet problem =/

Have you talked to your ISP about this? Maybe it's not a problem on your end. I would give them a ring and see what's up. They can send a tech to your house, though he probably won't help much. But you never know.

[Thrasher]

Re: Internet problem =/

Well all I can think of is checking firewall settings and see if anything is being blocked during your outages, check if one of your cables is making a bad connection and run TCP Optimizer. But unfortunately it could also just be your ISP (My connection also has issues with incoming packets usually around the same time each night)

Frankly I called my isp once and I found out there provider alltel had two out of the three major data lines down and they (my isp is uses alltels data lines) found out only due to complainants. (gotta love monopoly's)

And noticed the edit, im on dsl and I cant remember much trouble shooting for dial-up.

[Gentoo]

Re: Internet problem =/

Been recently having a problem with my net lately. It's been randomly messing up.
Basically my net will stop working, I'll stay connected but no info will be transfered (basically like not being connected at all).
{snippage}
Double Post Edited:
Forgot to add I'm on 56k and this is happening to my sis's PC as well....

(assuming 56K is dial-up, and not just a super scaled down DSL/Cable connection)

Most likely you'll need to call tech support for you're ISP. There's a handful of things you can do before you call to corner them into helping you (versus having them tell you to shutdown and restart Internet Exploder, or some such garbage).

Note: all these directions assume W2K or WXP. If your Win95/98/ME, none of this will work.

Next time this happens, figure ou if you have basic IP connectivity:
- Open a DOS box (Start button, Programs->Accessories->Command Prompt)
- At the DOS prompt type "ipconfig" and press enter. The output will look something like this:

Windows IP Configuration
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : dialupisp.com
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 1.2.3.4
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.240
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 1.2.3.1
{blah blah blah}

Make note of the 4 numbers for "Default Gateway." You're Default Gateway is your path to the internet, and those 4 numbers are it's IP Address.

Use the ping command (from the same DOS box) to see if you have network connectivity. In this example the ping command would be:

ping 1.2.3.1

If you see output that looks like this:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

That means you don't have IP connectivity. With dial-up, there's a good chance are the POP you're connected to is not compatible with the settings on your modem (perhapse you ISP upgraded their POP, or someting). For example, X2 modems can have an issue with v.42 compression when talking to KFlex modems.

This gist of all this is that either you or your ISP most likely have an issue with the hardward involved in getting you connected to the internet.

In this case, Find out what kind of dial-up modem you have, call up your ISPs technical support and tell them:

I'm losing network connectivity. Our modems are connected, but I cannot ping the Default Gateway. I have <insert your modem brand and model here> modem, is it compatible with the modems I'm connecting to?

If, from the ping command, you see output that looks like this:

Reply from 1.2.3.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 1.2.3.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 1.2.3.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 1.2.3.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64

This means you do have IP connectivity -- you are able to pass network traffic/information to/from your ISP. The next step is to see if you have DNS. Type the following command in your DOS box:

nslookup www.army.mil

You should get output that looks like this:

Server: ns1.dialupisp.com
Address: 1.2.9.44

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: www.army.mil
Address: 14.183.254.10

If you don't, and get something that says "can't find www.army.mil: a non-existent domain," then your ISP's DNS servers have gone south for some reason. Call up the ISP tech support and say:

I'm losing network usage because I cannot get name lookups from your DNS servers. I still have network connectivity because I can ping the gateway, but nslookup fails to resolve any DNS names.

If you can ping your ISP's gateway when you experience the outtage, and you're DNS is working, then the problem is very likely with your computer. It could be your firewall, as Thrasher suggested. If you're using the Windows Firewall, check ou Microsofts troubleshooting document: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=875357

If you're using a firewall from another vendor, chances are they have a similar document.

[mikejones]

Re: Internet problem =/

to follow up on the previous persons' post... windows 95/98 version of ipconfig is winipcfg

[Macht]

Re: Internet problem =/

Well... Looks like Gentoo gave good detail of everything I would of said. If this is occuring between two computers though it seems like it removes the posibility of it being computer related.

With 56K modems though on a phone line certain phone services can unsync your connection and cause it to timeout. Just in-case you didn't know that, example would be call wating. That would create a physical break a dead space in data causing sync problems that modems don't always recover from.

Otherwise you should be able to contact your phone company and they can run a signal strength test on the phoneline to see if there is anything wrong with it and may need to be relined. They should be capable of doing the test while you're on the phone.

[yuna544]

Re: Internet problem =/

Well since I've had problems the phone lines before I went ahead and called the phone company first, they ran a test and said everything was fine but I asked for a guy to come out anyways. He tested it from the box outside, at first he said he saw a "skip in the line" but it disappeared. Then went on to say that everything was "perfect".

I think that "skip" that came and went is the cause of it... but not sure. Since it randomly happens. Can anyone tell me what exactly a "skip" in the line is <.> and/or if that is the real problem. If not then I'll call my ISP.

[Macht]

Re: Internet problem =/

Are the telephone lines there strung across the electric poles? Or are they an underground network?

If they are strung in the air, then the skip can be a result of sunspots, airplanes passing by, electromagnetic interference, stuff along that line. Most of the shielding and cancelation techniques used should reduce skips to were they aren't that much of an issue. If you are on the phone long enough you may pick up a skip once in a while were the voice breaks a little or gets kind of edgy. Modems can generally handle that just fine.

If it's a real consern they should be able to run a more extensive test, to warn though if they do you will be incapable of using the phone at all during that extensive test. They shy away from it because of that and knowing customers sometimes are not very patient. You can sort of do your own test too in you want, just simply listen to the dial tone and see how clean it sounds to you. Very crude method but if it's free of static and sounds very clean then it should be good enough for a modem to handle.

[Gentoo]

Re: Internet problem =/

Macht's post made me remember something about my phone line.

As I had conversations on my telephone, I would occassionally get bursts of static, or "clicks" that were just frequent and audible enough to be irritating.
(exactly the kind of noises that would confuse a modem)

If I plugged another (wired) handset to different jacks I'd hear the same thing.

It had all the earmarks of a wiring problem -- either in my house or with Verizon. Like the OP, I ran a wire directly to base station on my phone, but the problem persisted. One day, while passing the one of the handsets, I briefly [very briefly] caught it flashing "line in use."

So I camped the satellite handset, and it, randomly exhibit this behavior every few minutes.

Ends up my old 900MHz wireless phone was incorrectly thinking a satellite handset was rapidly cycling usage states. Can't tell you if it was external noise or a short in the base station, but I replaced the phone and the problem has cleared up.

You might, while you're online, try unplugging all other devices connected to a telephone jack, and see if the problem goes away.

[yuna544]

Re: Internet problem =/

Ran Gentoos tests and checked more on my end. Nothing is wrong on my end (PCwise and inline wiring). I called my ISP and they said everything was fine, so I went and called my phone company again.
So today they sent a guy out, and again he said everything was good. Yet I explained my problem to him and he actually listened. He was clueless to what the problem was yet I insisted he kept checking but due to today being the 4th of july... ;/. So he's coming out tomorrow with a laptop, he'll run his laptop from my box and see if it happens to him. Just afraid it won't happen to him before he leaves but... maybe.
Getting tired of dealing with this problem and nothing so far has helped me fix it ; ;

[DieselBoy09]

Re: Internet problem =/

Comcast does that to us.

[yuna544]

Re: Internet problem =/

Well... again I had another guy come out. He didn't know what the problem was either. Yet due to my complaining he changed a line at the central office (or something... forgot what he said so I can't tell you exactly what he did ._.;; )

That however KINDA fixed the problem. I'm able to browse the net for long and play FFXI for long. Yet it still randomly stops working... I'll stay connection yet it just stops working.

[Macht]

Re: Internet problem =/

Yeah, sounds like interferance occuring somewere. Probably in more then 1 place. Kind of the problem with regular phone companies, their quality of service has been gong down a lot.

[Palom]

Re: Internet problem =/

This sounds so much like the problem I had with my Phone line, I had a 2nd line installed (cuz I would always hog the main one ^^) the 1st one would always connect just fine but the new one, oh man what trouble it gave me and I know that it was not my PC or ps2 because everyones PC would not work with it, but on the 1st line it would work just fine, so it would seem that this problem you are having isn't you're PC but you're line

In the end I was never able to fix the problem as I moved soon after that and got DSL, sorry I can't be of more help


BTW it's good to hear from you again Siya ^^