# Help diagnose my network problem **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2007, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-diagnose-my-network-problem/424645 "2007-10-31T00:12:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-diagnose-my-network-problem/424645/21 "2007-11-01T11:25:10Z")
Methinks I’m getting me another router. Thanks everyone. I’ll let you know what happens. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-diagnose-my-network-problem/424645/22 "2007-11-01T11:40:18Z")
Were you using a Linksys router? If so, my hat’s off to you for getting it to talk to the Mac at all. My cheap-ass Belkin router has its share of problems, but at least it acknowledged that not every machine was running Windows. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-diagnose-my-network-problem/424645/23 "2007-11-01T11:41:35Z")
[QUOTE=scotandrsn] Were you using a Linksys router? If so, my hat’s off to you for getting it to talk to the Mac at all. My cheap-ass Belkin router has its share of problems, but at least it acknowledged that not every machine was running Windows. [/QUOTE] Netgear. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-diagnose-my-network-problem/424645/24 "2007-11-01T11:45:09Z")
[QUOTE=fachverwirrt] Methinks I’m getting me another router. Thanks everyone. I’ll let you know what happens. [/QUOTE] Before you run out can you get into the advanced settings of the router and do a ‘factory reset’ ? Have you tried this yet? Worked for me when things went to hell. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-diagnose-my-network-problem/424645/25 "2007-11-01T11:53:03Z")
[QUOTE=Uncommon Sense] Before you run out can you get into the advanced settings of the router and do a ‘factory reset’ ? Have you tried this yet? Worked for me when things went to hell. [/QUOTE] I probably could, but the router has been acting up anyway. It freezes up at least once a day, forcing me to do a hard restart of the whole system. I’ve been putting off getting a new one anyway. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-diagnose-my-network-problem/424645/26 "2007-11-01T12:48:05Z")
A couple of other things… Changing the wireless channel of the router can work wonders with a flaky connection. Even something as simple as a microwave oven can interfere with some of the channels, and you might have neighbors using the same channel as you. The command-line util on Mac that **Askance** couldn’t recall might be ifconfig If your router is behaving itself, you should be able to set each machine’s DNS address to the router’s address (192.168.1.1). This simplifies things many times. Make sure you have no restrictions set up on the router. I learned this one day when I realized my careful config that blocked the kids at certain hours was now blocking me. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-diagnose-my-network-problem/424645/27 "2007-11-01T13:16:01Z")
[QUOTE=fachverwirrt] Alright, now I’m really confused. When I got home, the Dell connected to 192.168.1.3, the Mac to 192.168.1.2, they could both ping each other and the router (at 192.168.1.1), but no internet. I reset everything, now the Mac is still at 192.168.1.2, the Dell is entirely different and can’t ping anything (the Mac can still ping the router), but now the Dell has internet. Urk. [/QUOTE] Are you sure your Dell is connecting to **your** wireless network? Si ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-diagnose-my-network-problem/424645/28 "2007-11-01T15:09:46Z")
[QUOTE=si\_blakely] Are you sure your Dell is connecting to **your** wireless network? Si [/QUOTE] It CLAIMS to be connected to my network. I have no confidence that it actually is. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-diagnose-my-network-problem/424645/29 "2007-11-01T17:36:41Z")
[QUOTE=fachverwirrt] It CLAIMS to be connected to my network. I have no confidence that it actually is. [/QUOTE] Then verify it. Change something on your router, such as channel or DHCP range and check that your machines are connecting to the new changed router. Log in to the router’s admin page and check the list of connected clients to see if your machines are there. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-diagnose-my-network-problem/424645/30 "2007-11-01T21:17:09Z")
All set. New router, new security; everything works. I probably could have spent more time troubleshooting the old router, but it was still freezing on a regular basis and I was considering replacing it anyway. Thanks, everyone. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2007, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-diagnose-my-network-problem/424645/31 "2007-11-02T02:03:52Z")
Glad you got it fixed, but it would have been nice to know about the router freezing up at the start. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-diagnose-my-network-problem/424645.md?page=1)