(before beginning, please understand my knowledge of how these things work is limited!)
I just had a cable modem installed thru Charter Communications last week. When connected, it runs wonderfully fast. Unfortunately, I have been having a lot of trouble staying connected and I suspect its my machine (PC, Pentium III, 500 mhz processor, Windows 98) more than the modem.
The fellow that hooked the modem up suggested when I have trouble getting online I should do the following:
Start>Run>type “winipcfg”
Get the Ethernet adapter option from the drop down window.
Click ‘Release all’ then ‘Renew all’
This is where the trouble starts - when I click ‘Renew all’ it takes a good three minutes to then pop up an error message: “DHCP Server Unavailable - Renewing Adapter”" I am hoping/assuming this is the cause of my troubles.
I can usually reboot the modem and computer and get it running for at least awhile, but its a pain in the ass and not too reliable. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
I don’t think it’s a problem on your end, unless there’s a loose connection somewhere. What do the lights on your cable modem indicate?
The DHCP timeout is a symptom of the problem, not a cause. The connection between your computer and the ISP breaks down somewhere, which A) keeps you from using the internet, and B) keeps your computer from contacting the ISP’s DHCP server.
If rebooting the modem helps, it could be overheating, or there could be a problem on the line between the modem and the ISP. Does it fix the problem when you reboot only the modem, or only the PC, or just when you reboot both?
I dunno about your exact problem, but I do note that if they gave you a Motorola SB4200 modem (what they gave me), you need to disconnect the power for 30 seconds to get it to really reboot. Just hitting the “idle” twice button doesn’t really do it. Sometimes during the night I lose the connection, and now, that’s the first thing I try because resetting my own computer almost never helped.
Also in [Win98SE] “control panel/network” I have only “Client for Microsoft Networks” and TCP/IP enabled, as per grc.com’s advice.
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Also at one point when I had called up customer service about cable internet problems, they had me check the higher digital cable channels (if you have digital cable). The reason was that the internet connection uses a higher frequency on the line, and if there’s a problem with the actual cable line anywhere, the cable internet service and the higher-numbered digital cable channels (up around 500+) are the first to suffer.
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If youve got this thing hooked up USB then get a network card pronto. I had the similar problems when I first got my cable modem and havent had a single connection problem since I switched to ethernet.
whuckfistle, I have a network card, which the installing tech would make my life a lot easier, a sentiment echoed by other cable modem users. DougC, I have a 3Com modem, and it to needs to be unplugged for a full 30 seconds before rebooting, and then they recommend restarting the computer as soon as the ‘connect’ light is lit. Mr2001, since my original post things have gone from bad to worse. Now, all four lights on the modem are on and solid, indicating a major problem. I talked w a CSR at Charter and he’s pretty certain its a bad modem. I should have given my machine the benefit of the doubt, I suppose.
So, I’m swapping out the modem w another tomorrow and hoping for the best. Wish me luck!
completely uninstall the old one and re-install the new one. You may have to contact the CSR again to get all the proper settings and passwords etc,. though all that stuff may be on your original work order.
completely uninstall the old one and re-install the new one. You may have to contact the CSR again to get all the proper settings and passwords etc,. though all that stuff may be on your original work order.
IIRC, the ‘renew all’ for DHCPs does not work correctly in either ME or XP. The quick fix is to restart the computer, and you will be given a new DHCP at that time.
Your ISP is not going to give you a static address, which would solve the problem. What is happening is that your lease for the assigned DHCP is too short. My ISP was able to fix the problem by lengthening the lease. Now that I think about it, I’m not sure why, but this eliminated the problem rather then just making it less frequent.
My first thought was that there was other interfaces not connected to anything, and they were the ones timing out. But a dead modem works too
If you don’t have a hardware based “firewall” yet, get yourself one fairly soon. You will be amazed at the amount of people trying to get into your computer. Your basic Linksys DSL router is enough for most home users, but if you want things like SPI and IPSec VPN you will need something a bit more robust (and expensive!).
Welcome to the wonderful world of broadband! You’ll never want to go back to yucky ol’dial-up again.
Be aware that if you do have a firewall, hardware or software, you’ll need to configure it to let your ISP’s heartbeat through. They should have info on how to do that.
Not to hijack the thread, but I’ve heard the USB modem connection sucks theory a jillion times and have never really been told why—I use USB with my cable modem and it seems to work very well, so why, exactly, would I or the OP not want to use USB?
They’ve solved my (thankfully few) issues every time. Go to their message board, and find the appropriate provider. If you don’t see your question answered already, post it and they’ll answer it very fast.
UPDATE: Charter swapped me modems (even giving me a different brand, allowing me to ditch the 3Com “shark fin” they gave me the first time) and I’ve had nary a bit of trouble since then. So it was apparently a hardware problem. WATFO?
Just for the record, there’s nothing wrong with your computer. People are led to believe that they’re behind the times if they don’t have a 3 Ghz Pentium 4 with a gigabyte of RAM they’re somehow behind the times. Fact is, a cable modem just isn’t fast enough to stress a reasonably fast (i.e. 200 Mhz or faster running Win9x) PC. Sure, your browser may be a little sluggish compared to the guy with the 3Ghz Pentium 4, but it’s not because the computer’s not fast enough to keep up with the cable modem or DSL.
And, of course, the one time the board doesn’t time out while I’m trying to post is the one time I let something like this slip by and notice it a fraction of a second after I click Submit Reply:
