[layitlo]

Thanks for the tips. It's running now tho. Finally.:^0

[smax013]

layitlo said:

Yeah I know what you mean. I had the same deal till I moved. I wanted to thank you guys for helping me out. I went today and swapped out the ethernet cable and it started to work after I reset the modem. I just didn't know that would be it since everything was all new and only used like 5 or 6 weeks old. so it didn't make sense at first. but it's all fixed and running now thanks.

If you replaced the ethernet cable and it worked, then that suggests that maybe the ethernet cable "went" bad. It could have been pulled on too hard, which cause a connection in the connector to loosen or something like that. It happens.

[layitlo]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. I wasn't there when they moved everything so it's hard to tell. But now it works.

[alchav21]

Well someone took off my message here about resetting the Modem, that it probably had nothing to do with changing the Cat5 Cable. Resetting the equipment in proper order is essential, even if it worked in a different configuration. You have to reset everything in order for the IP Addressing to become effective.

[layitlo]

Yeah I know. I've never had a problem with it at my place. but my parents are new to it and they didn't wanted to wait till I came by so they did it on there own. LOL. Thanks for the tips tho.

[rgreen4]

layitlo - I can empathize with you. My parents were gone before PC's really got started, but there were many days when I would talk my late sister through a problem over the phone. She was 750 miles away and it is much easier to do it or show them than talk them through it.

As for the resets, I had to do mine last night. I suddenly lost all internet contact, on a computer wired to the router on DSL. I simply turned every computer off, unplugged the router and the DSL modem. I waited about 20 seconds and plugged the power back into the modem and let it do it's reset. Once the lights were indicating a stable situation and connection, I plugged in the router and let it do it's reset. Once all the lights there were stable, and the lights on the router (WAN) and modem (Ethernet) indicated connection, I rebooted the computer and had my connection back.

Why this happens can be anybody's guess. Tonight I turned on the TV and had no control over my satellite receiver. I had to reboot it as well, and then everything was fine. Electronics - can't live without them and sometimes can't live with them. You may want to show your parent's that procedure and what to look for in the lights to indicated to go the the next device.

Hopefully, eveything will stay connected until you get to pay a visit there.

[smax013]

alchav21 said:

it was resetting the Modem properly.

The fact that the modem worked just fine with a USB connection but not the ethernet connection tends to suggest that it was NOT a matter of resetting the modem. I would not rule it out, but that just does not fit "well" with the facts. If the modem was not working properly (i.e. such that reset fixes things), then the USB connection would likely not work either.

[layitlo]

Yeah I know what you mean. I wanted to show them. But neither of them really understood it all. My dad was ready to take everything back to charter and tell them where to stick it. They sent out someone that is really not good at installing and they even damaged my parents home. They even told them that they only needed one cable box to have cable on two tvs. Which is not true. I did try to help them with talking them thru it from home but there wasn't any success with it. The modem that charter uses is not the same as my dsl modem. I had thought it had to be signed on to the net for it to work. My dsl modem has to be signed on the net in order to work but I was wrong. Then not all of the lights on the modem work even if the net cable is replaced with a good one. Two lights won't come on untill the pc has a good connection with the modem and then the pc has to be surfing the net before the data lights come on. One for recieving and one for sending. So not all the lights come on when it is turned on. So going by was the best way to solve the problem. The charter tech support told me and them we needed to have the pc checked out by a pro. They didn't even wanted to check and see if it was anything else.

[layitlo]

Yeah that was something that confused me. That's why I didn't stopped trying to figure it out. It made no sense to me at all.

[rgreen4]

The finger pointing battle is something that has gone on a long time. It was one reason that for a while years ago, I would buy only HP PC's and printers, cause then they would point to them selves. They at least don't seem to do that as much as they used to. I still buy HP printers, but I have gone back to rolling my own PC's, but still have a number of HP's, especially in the laptop arena.

The one light you said would not come on until connected to the PC is probably the light indicating a good ethernet connection. That is a feature of all ethernet connections, each has a small light that only comes on when that port is connected to another device and they connect. A second small light will then also blink as it has activity. On routers, the light is on the front panel and is solid when there is no activity. My DSL modem is the same way, no activity, but good connection - solid green. Activity - blinking green.

At least it's up and running now, and I'm sure that over time they will appreciate the always on feature, and not having the slowness of dial-up and the connection tone handshake.

[layitlo]

Yeah I know some of them did that. I knew something wasn't right since the dell was telling me it was connected but there was limited to no activity. I know what the lights mean on my modem. But the one they had for cable was one that had two data lights that don't come on until the pc is actually surfing the net. If you turn the pc on and don't do anything on the net those two lights don't light up. That was one thing I had to find out about cause they didn't make sense to me. But My parents are lucky they never got to use dial-up. They never had the nightmare I had. I ,ight try for a faster speed since I have a wireless net steup and my son uses the net for games I got him.