Help A Friend With DSL Connection Problem!

General Questions
#1

A guy just called me from his house with a problem.

He has a high speed DSL connection from COX Cable here in Las Vegas and cannot connect. (A new problem…he has been using them for quite some time now.)

He had COX Cable come and take a look and they claim everything is all right on their end (the tech used his lap top and got connected).

This guy tells me all it shows on his monitor is “unable to display page”.

Any suggestions I can give this guy, before he has to run out and buy new equipment, or take it to be repaired? Thanks!

#2

What OS and what browser?

He can try uninstalling and reinstalling his DSL software and see if that clears it up. If he has XP he can try a restore point back to the last time he knows it worked for sure.

#3

What’s his OS? If it’s Win95 or Win98, search for instructions on uninstalling and re-installing the TCP/IP stack.

If it’s not Win95 or 98, or that didn’t help, then reinstall the OS.

#4

Try release and renewing the IP possibly?

Command prompt:

IPCONFIG/RELEASE
then

IPCONFIG/RENEW

(this assumes XP. Not sure of the other OSs)

#5

Reinstall the OS? What in the world makes you think that that needs to be done? Reinstalling the OS is the aboslute last thing to try.

#6

Note that I mention reinstalling the TCP/IP stack first, you even included it in your quote.

But yes, he or she should certainly try other easier things first if they might help. Other than reinstalling the stack, I couldn’t think of anything else. Feel free to suggest some.

#7

Oh, and I assumed the cable guy tested with his laptop connected to the same DSL modem attached to the computer. If he didn’t, perhaps that needs replacement. Did the cable guy check anything on the computer itself? I assumed he would have made sure the network card is up, since all that takes is a simple glance at it see if the lights are blinking. If they are not, then perhaps the network card is broken or the driver got futzed. I had to uninstall and reinstall my network card driver a few weeks ago, because my card wasn’t coming up in Win98 (but was with Linux).

#8

Ah dammit, I meant it wasn’t coming up in WinXP.

#9

Something that worked for me when I had problems with a Cox Cable connection: pull out the ethernet card the modem plugs into, reboot, then put it back in and reinstall the driver, reboot and try the connection again.

After a day of pulling my hair out trying to get a connection to work, that did the trick.

By the way, is it DSL he has or a cable modem? I didn’t know Cox provided DSL.

#10

There are lots of things we don`t know;

The OS?
Is it connected usb or ethernet?
Can he see the device in the list with the correct abled drivers?
What does he get at IPCONFIG?
Is the IP adress locked in static?
Do the modem or the card lights flash activity?
Are all the drivers installed and or re-installed?
He should be able to get a live tech from COX on the line to run through the checklist.