The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: billt on December 25, 2009, 07:18:13 AM
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I know only enough to be dangerous. I have high speed cable Internet. Lately, once in a while, (2 to 3 time a week), the Internet won't come up. I have to unplug my cable modem and my wireless router, (for Melanie's laptop in the kitchen), let it sit for a minute or so, then plug it back in, and in another minute or so everything works fine. It's like it has to "reset" or something. My cable modem is mine, not the cable companies. It's Motorola SB-5100. I've had it for about 5 to 6 years now. The wireless router is only about 2 years old.
The thing is I don't even know if it's either one, and or both that is causing the problem. I'm guessing that based on the fact they are both plugged in 24/7. I tried just unplugging the router, that didn't work. Same deal with just the modem. If I do both, then it works fine. I'm running a HP Pavilion with an AMD and Melanie has a Toshiba laptop with Intel. After the holidays we're going to get 2 new desktops, and I'm going to take the laptop and use it strictly for guns, handloading, and firearms related stuff.
If, by then, I can't get this resolved, I'll probably invest in a new modem and router as well. They're not that expensive. Bill T.
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Not uncommon, 5 or 6 year old modem is most likely your issue.
Call your cable company and get a new modem from them or ask what make/models of modem work best with their service.
Modems and routers are "disposable," replace them every couple years for best performance.
My cable provider upgraded service last year, faster and better they say, but my modem didn't work with the upgrade and had to be replaced.
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Agree with above, modems are not good for more modern systems and can be prone to drop outs etc.
Save yourself the hassle and get a n series modem/router that is supported by your ISP (if your not too crash hot on setting them up etc).
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Ctrl/Alt/Delete ... Reboot everything ... BFH
You now know everything I know about computer problems ;)
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Thanks guys. I'll just plan on replacing both the modem and the router when we buy our new computers. That way I know I'm starting fresh with new, up to date stuff. Bill T.
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Better idea is to replace the cable modem now - N-modems are getting cheaper every day. Then when you run the new computers, you know any problems are with the new machines, and not the whole setup needing to be debugged.
Also, the modem and router should both have small hioles in the back labelled "Reset". Push a paper clip into the hole, and the modem/router will reset itself. If that fails, unplug for 10 second.
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HEY billt.
I am also only smart enough to be dangerous. BUT. I had this very problem with one of the wireless modems that I had set up. What brand modem is it? and have you ever checked for a Firmware Update for it? Once I called the Manufacture of the modem that is what they suggested and it took care of the problem. Now every few times I go to my parents house I check for updates. Hmm.. speaking of which.. thanks for the reminder
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I have a BFH that will make it work right the 1st time...
Or never again
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firstly have you tried to isolate if it is the router or the modem
have you tried re-setting just the router instead or just the modem
however I would just be replacing it easier / cheaper when you look at the price of it when you consider how much time you would spend mucking around with it.
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HEY billt.
What brand modem is it? and have you ever checked for a Firmware Update for it?
It is a Netgear Rangemax Wireless Router WPN824 V2. I didn't pay a lot for it at the time, so I think when Mel and I get our 2 new desktops, we'll just get a new Router as well as a new Modem. These things are getting real cheap, real fast. As Philw said, it isn't worth the time "mucking around" with it. Bill T.
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kind of a dumb Q, but have you checked for driver updates?
I had all kinds of probs a few years ago with some hardware. A driver update fixed all that.
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It is a Netgear Rangemax Wireless Router WPN824 V2. I didn't pay a lot for it at the time, so I think when Mel and I get our 2 new desktops, we'll just get a new Router as well as a new Modem. These things are getting real cheap, real fast. As Philw said, it isn't worth the time "mucking around" with it. Bill T.
Bill..
I have all Netgear stuff.. If you login to the router. most of the time it will automaticly check for new updates. (Firmware/driver versions)
Especially if it is a couple of years old that is probably a good place to start and it isn't too hard.. Just wish I could see it. I have helped several people with there wireless networks and of all that I have had anything to do with the Netgear routers are the easiest to work with in my opinion. I have had a devil of a time with the linksys routers and never been around a belkin or d-link. Again, the Netgear that was at my parents house was doing this and all it needed was updated firmware.
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Modems get old and crappy, probably overheating and dropping the signal from the cable company. Don't worry about drivers or firmware, it ain't going to help. If you desperate, or just really want to break something, get you a can of compressed air, disassemble the bulk of the modem and clean it out, rubbing alcohol works well on electronics too. Remember to do plenty of swearing and don't waste a good excuse to throw stuff against the wall. Don't mess up you router, its fine, but you modem probably it screwed. Worst case still, its not you modem, but you connection to the cable company that's gotten worse, think no speaky English crews splicing new neighborhoods and house into the grid with shovels and superglue. Take some pictures, stuff them into a rifle case, with rifle, and send them my way, it'll help me get a better idea of the problem. ;D
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I would start with the modem i have been living in the same local for 11 years im on modem 4 at this time.
the cable compay support crews are a little slow. if you suspect the modem at all take it to your cable provider(provided you rent one from them) and have them swap it out with the current model. lot of times services changes done work as well on all the hardware they are shipping. will take you a small bit of time and wont cost you more that the gas to take it
other thing to test that is cheap is the net cables...they get wonky over time and can wreak havoc if they have been flopped around a lot they may have work hardened at the connector end.
just my .02 ;D
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My modem belongs to me. I bought it several years back because they were charging me by the month for theirs. I think at the time I paid $65.00 or so for it, and I believe it had a $20.00 rebate, so I'm way ahead by this time. After the Christmas holidays I'll replace both it and the router when we get our new desktops, or just before. Bill T.
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My modem belongs to me. I bought it several years back because they were charging me by the month for theirs. I think at the time I paid $65.00 or so for it, and I believe it had a $20.00 rebate, so I'm way ahead by this time. After the Christmas holidays I'll replace both it and the router when we get our new desktops, or just before. Bill T.
what sort of new desktops are you getting ???
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what sort of new desktops are you getting ???
We're not sure yet. Melanie will need everything. Monitor, keyboard, computer, speakers, etc. I'm good for everything, and just need the computer. We'll look around in a few weeks. All I know is no more AMD Processor for me! This thing has been quirky since the first day I plugged it in. It does weird things I've never had an Intel unit do. For example, if I have You Tube on the task bar playing music, and open mail and click to a link, say here to read a post, it will kill whatever is on the task bar. This thing crashes with all too frequent regularity. It will recover, then be fine for several weeks, then out of the blue comes the infamous "blue screen of death!" Anyway, I'll stick with Intel.
I have no brand loyalty per say. This is a HP, but the one before it was a Sony Vaio, and it was fine except the drives went out, (wouldn't open), and it really sucked the way they had the hard drive "partitioned". If I tried moving things from "C" drive to "D" drive, things would get screwed up badly. I'm seeing some really good prices on desktops so we should be able to get everything we need without a whole lot of damage. Especially after the holidays when everyone is spent out. Bill T.
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Cheap desktops are exactly that - cheap desktops, small drives, limited memory, poor (and I mean POOR) graphics.
You can get good desktops for under a thousand, even if you go Intel duocore - a wise move BTW. My son who is anti-mainstream anything even said to stay away from AMD and go Intel when he built my new desktop a year or so ago. I'm partial to HP, if only because so many businesses I know go HP for their servers rather than anything else.
Of course, for ultimate performance, you can go Intel quadcore - 4 processors instead of 2 in the duo. And top-end nVidia cards, dual graphics cards if you do a lot of gaming. It will cost a little bit more than a grand (and by a "little bit" I mean 2-5 times more than a grand! ;D )
Also, stay away from 1TB drives - they have reports in the industry of being fragile and flakey - proven out in my case where I have never had a HD crash in almost 2 decades of computers - until I got a 1TB drive, which crashed a year-plus into use. I now have 2 500GB drives.
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About all we use computers for is the Internet, and picture storage and printing. I don't play games or do much else with them. Even my camera is an older Sony Cybershot that only has 2.3 mega pixels. It's good enough for what we use it for. I would get a better one, but to be perfectly honest, I don't want the hassle of learning a new one all over again. Mine takes the Sony Memory Stick and holds way more pictures than I take. I can see getting a lot of Ram and storage, and perhaps a Quad Core if it makes things faster. But even then, after a year or so they all get mucked up and slowed down. We were at COSTCO yesterday and they had some nice ones for under a grand, so we'll see next month when all of this traffic dies down. Bill T.
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If you do get a new modem It would pay to plan for the future.. if your ISP does not yet support DOSCIS 3 it will very soon.
here is a future proof modem, a bit pricey but worth it in the long run. Comcast uses these in the upgraded areas,
http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-SB6120-SURFboard-eXtreme-Broadband/dp/B001UI2FPE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1261860020&sr=8-1 (http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-SB6120-SURFboard-eXtreme-Broadband/dp/B001UI2FPE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1261860020&sr=8-1)
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flynlr,
I can live with that. It looks like a nice Modem. How long will it be considered, "current technology"? That is always the $64,000.00 dollar question. Bill T.
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flynlr,
I can live with that. It looks like a nice Modem. How long will it be considered, "current technology"? That is always the $64,000.00 dollar question. Bill T.
Until about 5 minutes after you buy it. ;D
Just set your mind to this fact, and anything computer-related will be fine. Else you drive yourself crazy waiting for the next BIG thing so as to try to be state of the art.
Besides, some of the servers used at my former company were 10 years old. The just upgraded the memory and hard drives and it's all good. They weren't hi performance machines, actually some still had 386s in them.
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We're not sure yet. Melanie will need everything. Monitor, keyboard, computer, speakers, etc. I'm good for everything, and just need the computer. We'll look around in a few weeks. All I know is no more AMD Processor for me! This thing has been quirky since the first day I plugged it in. It does weird things I've never had an Intel unit do. For example, if I have You Tube on the task bar playing music, and open mail and click to a link, say here to read a post, it will kill whatever is on the task bar. This thing crashes with all too frequent regularity. It will recover, then be fine for several weeks, then out of the blue comes the infamous "blue screen of death!" Anyway, I'll stick with Intel.
I have no brand loyalty per say. This is a HP, but the one before it was a Sony Vaio, and it was fine except the drives went out, (wouldn't open), and it really sucked the way they had the hard drive "partitioned". If I tried moving things from "C" drive to "D" drive, things would get screwed up badly. I'm seeing some really good prices on desktops so we should be able to get everything we need without a whole lot of damage. Especially after the holidays when everyone is spent out. Bill T.
hmmm if it is not that old
how much ram is in it also the HD, I would replace it in the PC or just re-format it seems to me that there is a problem with the formatting ( Back up first) with how cheap drive are I would just get a new one though, that is what I did first signs of issues I went and got a 1tb drive in to it as the old HD was a few years old and the puter runs 24/7.
amazing it was nice and quick again and no issues since. also I added more ram in it ( now has the Max ram it can take, Lappy will be next when I have the $$$ )
for a new Puter
ok intel it is then
have I got a Computer for you.... ;) ( Sledge STFU )
if it is just email / internet / Family Photos
then have you considered an iMac http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MB950LL/A?mco=MTM3NDc2NDc
for you it is a little over the 1K mark and will do everything you need
also if you need to transfer your data / email from the PC there is a product by belkin that will make it Sooooo much easier ;)
then you won't need to worry about Virus's as much / winblows security issues, and they work well
also if there you have a requirement to run windows for a particular program then you can also still run windows on it via Parallels, VM ware ( with out re-starting the puter) or Apple's Bootcamp ( makes it 2 computers in 1 )
if you look at the Mac option then for a router I would go a Time Capsule as it gives you N-Spec wireless and a router, it also has the a 1TB or 2TB Server Hard Drive in it and that will work with Time Machine with in the Mac OS, this is an Auto Back up software that will back up any changes you have done, it is a set and for get system until you need to get a file you deleted or if the HD dies
however you being you having all the FUN GUNS
they have a 27" one as well http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MB952LL/A?mco=MTM3NDc2NDg I don't think you need the i7 CPU though with what you would be using it for though
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I'm afraid of Mac. Only because I know so little about it. Bill T.
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Cheap desktops are exactly that - cheap desktops, small drives, limited memory, poor (and I mean POOR) graphics.
You can get good desktops for under a thousand, even if you go Intel duocore - a wise move BTW. My son who is anti-mainstream anything even said to stay away from AMD and go Intel when he built my new desktop a year or so ago. I'm partial to HP, if only because so many businesses I know go HP for their servers rather than anything else.
Of course, for ultimate performance, you can go Intel quadcore - 4 processors instead of 2 in the duo. And top-end nVidia cards, dual graphics cards if you do a lot of gaming. It will cost a little bit more than a grand (and by a "little bit" I mean 2-5 times more than a grand! ;D )
Also, stay away from 1TB drives - they have reports in the industry of being fragile and flakey - proven out in my case where I have never had a HD crash in almost 2 decades of computers - until I got a 1TB drive, which crashed a year-plus into use. I now have 2 500GB drives.
all depends I have a couple of 1TB drives and touch wood no issues, and I have also sold heaps as well
I have replaced countless Hard drives and most have not been 1TB drives mostly Deathstar 320GB's recently or 80 / 120 GB 2.5" drives
recently got in a 2.5" 256gb Solid state drive and it did not pass the initial testing spoke with supplier and these drives are a little dodgy at the moment as well, as they have been getting a lot to fail the 128gb or less are good though
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I'm afraid of Mac. Only because I know so little about it. Bill T.
I find they are very incurtive to use, it will take a little while to get used to the interface
however it is soo simple
take photos, connect camera, iPhoto opens and asks to import them all or selected ones
once imported it will auto split them up to events ( say you have been away to a wedding on one day then the next a trip to the local range it will group the photos together that were taken to the range)
if you have used iTunes think what iTunes is to Music, iPhoto is for images )
if you have an Apple Re-seller or Apple Store near they should be able to show you how they work and let you have a good go using it before getting one.
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ATT came out and replaced our modem recently. Did the same thing.
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I'm afraid of Mac. Only because I know so little about it. Bill T.
There for the devil worshiping...or Australians. ;D
Of course, for ultimate performance, you can go Intel quadcore - 4 processors instead of 2 in the duo. And top-end nVidia cards, dual graphics cards if you do a lot of gaming. It will cost a little bit more than a grand (and by a "little bit" I mean 2-5 times more than a grand! ;D )
Also, stay away from 1TB drives - they have reports in the industry of being fragile and flakey - proven out in my case where I have never had a HD crash in almost 2 decades of computers - until I got a 1TB drive, which crashed a year-plus into use. I now have 2 500GB drives.
That's what I got. Ran $1700. And I will agree that having two redundant smaller hard drives are better than one big drive that you never fully use. RAID arrays are the best for that.