Let’s see if anyone out there can outsmart the DSL tech department, and actually give me some useful advice!
I’ve had DSL for about 2 years now, and it’s always worked great for me. Being only 90 yards from a main junction does have it’s advantages! Anyway, the DSL modem I used to have was a nice little USB thing, with no ethernet card required. It worked great, but unfortunately went belly-up a few weeks ago. Anyway, the phone company (who is my ISP) hastily delivered unto me a brand-new DSL modem. However, this one requires an ethernet card, and is quite different from my old one in other ways. (supposed to be faster, etc.) They even had a tech guy come out and install it for free. Nice, but now the dark side…
Ever since I got this “thing”, I have been almost incapable of downloading files off the 'net. I can get web pages pretty well, although it seems slower at times, and sometimes pictures don’t show up. My major problem, however, is with files. I beta test a lot of things, and not being able to download updates and such has brought this to a screeching halt. The problem goes like this: I click on something to start the download, the little download window pops up, and it starts rapidly downloading the file… for about 30 seconds. Then it just stops. Period. No error message or anything. Boom. This is entirely reproduceable, especially if I try to get anything from a server like fileplanet. Occasionaly I will get lucky and be able to download something, but they are usualy files under 5MB. This is extremely frustrating, and tech support has been no help. They even put a monitor on my line for 2 weeks, but no dice. I’m SO frustrated, that I’m seriously considering switching to cable internet from Time Warner (something I find distasteful, and NOT just because I have to give everyone a new email addy!)
Anyway, anyone got any ideas? I’ll try ANYTHING! Windows settings? BIOS? Help! Help! He…static
Who’s your ISP? Go over to www.dslreports.com and click on Forums (then “all forums”) and go to the forum for your ISP and ask them the question (they’ll probably want to know some other info as well ie modem type, OS, and some various settings), they’ll probably have you run a couple of tests (unless it’s a knowen issue) and have you up and running pretty quick.
I have the same kind of mysterious DSL troubles, too, hmm, maybe it’s the Ethernet. You know how this kinda thing is, it seems like on rainy days… or every third tuesday … I mean, you get to looking for patterns to it but there aren’t any.
Sometimes if I: reset my internet options, clear out all cookies on the computer, do a total shut down of computer and modem… sometimes, that helps. But not always.
Some broadband providers are blocking large file transfer because of bandwidth hogs and possible suits from the record agencys. This could be the problem.
Also check the cable from the modem to the telco jack - it should be a cat 5 cable if possible (but with 1 or 2 pairs) and is round - not that normal flat cable.
Try reducing the speed of your network card from 100 TX to 10T (somewhere in control panel>network) - this will make no difference in speed as the DSL connection is slower then 10T anyway.
Also make sure your network card is not conflicting with anything else.
You might try a network to USB adapter and just converrt it back to USB.
Ninety,
You know, I’ve always been suspicious of ethernet cards…
Anyway, I’d LOVE to go back, but they are no longer carried or made by anyone. Apparently, they had a lot of trouble with them, although I never experienced any.
Yay! I think I figured it out. Using a combination of K2dave’s and someone from another board’s advice, I think I have it licked. I changed the speed of my card from 100x to 10x and switched it over to half duplex. This seems to have worked. (the other board told me that my hardware doesn’t do well with full duplex.)
You sure you can’t change that NinetyWT? Most cards auto-negotiate the Ethernet network speed by default. Find your NIC in the Device Manager, and go to the Advanced tab of its Properties.
If you still can’t change the setting, why not just buy a new NIC? You can get one for less than $10 nowadays.
Well, I guess I spoke too soon. Changing that DIDN’T eliminate the problem, it just aleviated it for a bit. I’m getting advice from dslreports.com telling me to switch the slot the card is in, as well as the idea that there might be something wrong with my modem as well. We shall see how this all plays out.
Skippman who posted in the thread was extremely helpful in helping me to understand the mess I was in. He also offered to provide any help he could to dopers in general
Do you stilll have a driver for the DSL NIC in Control Panel / Notwork? Make sure that’s gone…
Also, does your ISP use WinPoet for the PPPOE connection? There’s a program called WinPPPOE IIRC that is much better.
Do you plug into a router? A DSL router seens to get rid of a lot of the driver headaches that PPPOE creates. I have a Compaq that I bought at Radio Hack that works OK.
Also check your MTU settings… DSL is more efficient with a non-default MTU structure. See the following:
