Some technical specs here before the questions:
DSL though DirecTV (formerly Telocity), telco is BellSouth.
Modem/gateway thingy looks like a giant mutant speaker, has plugs for power, phone line, USB or ethernet connection.
Computer specs available upon request, if the bits mentioned below aren’t enough info.
Here is where the oddness begins: (This gets a bit long, bear with me, as I am trying to give as much relavent info as I can.)
Tried using my ethernet card (Realtek 8029(AS) PCI) with the modem. Card seems to work right, but the DSL software says it can’t find the modem. Win98 (SE) recognizes the card, it has TCP/IP bound to it but… DSL software simply can’t see the modem through it. Tried using a different cable, just in case the one they shipped was bad, and that didn’t do anything. Even tried putting card into a different PCI slot. Nada. Reinstalled drivers for card. Zilch. Tried to find updated drivers for card. Nope. Unplugged the modem from the ethernet card, and used the USB hub instead: worked like a charm. Perhaps it’s just the ‘age’ of the ethernet card? (Side note: this will be a moot point in the future, as once I get the money, I’ll be setting up a wireless network and the ethernet card won’t be used. This is more out of interest than anything else.)
Then when I bring up the ‘advanced info’ tab, there’s a part where it shows the status of the connection between “DSL to PC”. In their on-line tech support FAQ’s, it says this should always say ‘up’ if you have an active internet connetion. Problem: Mine has always said it’s down. Perhaps a side effect of having the modem plugged into a hub?
Then, also under the ‘advanced info’ tab, there’s something called ‘System Power’. Half of the time (roughly), it says in red letters: “Low Power”. User Guide says nothing about this, haven’t been able to find it in the on-line info. I suspect this may have to deal with the USB hub (which has it’s own power source that is plugged in and turned on).
Then I’ll have the ‘power’ light blink amber once or twice, then glow steady green again… then a random amount of time later, blink once or twice again. According to the User Guide, this means a problem with the wiring. But all wires and plugs are where they should be, and nice and properly snug. This also happens very randomly, and if it wasn’t for the fact the lights are in my direct field of vision, this would be very easy to never notice.
Last bit of random oddness: as I type this, the DSL software claims it can’t communicate with the modem. User Guide says ‘Your computer doesn’t sense that a gateway is connected to it.’ Um. If the computer doesn’t know it’s there, then why do I still have a good internet connection?
I have tried going through the FAQ’s etc. on DirecTV’s site, but haven’t found anything of use. (Or at least if there’s stuff of use to me there, it takes more than a hour’s worth of searching to dig it up. It took me a good solid half hour to find the bit about the DSL to PC connection, since there seems to be no master list of the meanings of things on the advanced info page.)
I would like to try and figure out what’s happening without contacting tech support, but the User Guide and their on-line info isn’t proving to be very helpful.
So, to sum up: What the heck is going on here? Despite these oddities, my connection so far has been good (knock on wood!), and I haven’t had any problems with the net that haven’t been caused by my browser blowing up. Suggestions on things to try are also welcome.
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