Can anyone tell me why this happened? Internet connection problems

[JerseygirlCT]

And I just tried to post about this - twice!, and then got the "no service" screen immediately following, though only on this forum on DU)

Last night, minding my own business, and all going well, when suddenly both my browser and my e-mail seemed to be unconnected. The e-mail complained it couldn't find the server, and I got the MS screen on the browser suggesting the same thing.

The little icon on the task bar said things were connected. My modem was lit up (although the "internet" button was flickering, not solid), but the provider said they couldn't detect my modem.

After a great deal of time with my provider (both computerized and real person), turning the modem on and off, disconnecting everything and rebooting, etc., they gave up and scheduled a service call - 4 days from now! (Gulp)

I disconnected the modem and turned the computer off and went to bed. At 4 am, I reconnected and I have service again. Which is great. But I want to know what happened and why or I'm going to be nervous that it will happen again.

Does anyone have any ideas?

[landdaddy]

1. Cable or DSL?

My cable connection would drop out off and on because of a tree limb hitting it in windy weather. Also dropped out when another device was removed from a splitter. Had a broken cable ground wire cause me some probs also. Could be any # of reasons, so best to have the service tech come out and check it.

[JerseygirlCT]

2. Yes, it's cable.

If any of those things happened, though, wouldn't that affect the tv, too? That was just fine through all of this. There's the one cable from the wall, to a splitter, and then to either the box or the modem.

I haven't cancelled the call -- as you say, maybe there's reason to have them come, anyway?

Ugh. Nothing gets me more stressed than these sort of problems. I was a crazy woman: "you mean you expect me to be w/o internet for 4.5 days???"

[landdaddy]

3. Never affected the TV's

only my broadband. Hang in there! Might be something simple like the splitter, which they should replace just for troubleshooting purposes.

[unhappycamper]

4. I have Comcast & sometimes I need to unplug the modem and leave it off

for 5 minutes or so. I have no clue why this is.

[JerseygirlCT]

5. Yeah, when I left it off for a minute or so, nothing

happened.

When I unplugged it and slept for a few hours, then I was able to get back on.

Weird!

[JPettus]

10. I had that problem once with cable

What I was told by the tech guys at the cable company when I first set up a router to my modem was that the cable company "binds" to the MAC address of the machine that it's connected to (in this case, my computer. When I unplugged my computer later and tried to connect the new router, the cable company's server was still looking for the MAC address of my computer's network card and wouldn't recognize the MAC address of the router's network card.

When I unplugged the router and powered everything down for a few hours, the server back at the cable company "reset" to a blank field and waited for the next machine to connect and then "bound" to that MAC address.

I didn't have the problem with DSN later, only with cable.

[MyNameGoesHere]

6. Could have been a DNS issue.

Not uncommon. When a primary DNS goes offline or down Windows XP is supposed to automatically pick up the secondary. This is not always the case. Next time it happens and you seem to have a connection type this in the CMD window. Ipconfig /flushdns then type ipconfig /registerdns

Sometimes this will work on a cranky DNS server.

Also it is common for them to not to be able to "find your modem" A really skilled tech can usually find it easy but sometimes the novice ones are a little lost.

[JerseygirlCT]

7. Thanks!

I'm going to print this and save it.

We were in that CMD window last night, but that's not one of the commands the tech had me try... Good to know!

[RoyGBiv]

8. Finding a modem ...

Having been on the business end of "finding a modem" I can offer that the novice problem is a huge issue, as well as general incompetence and laziness. What I saw techs doing a lot was just not bothering to try if the initial search didn't immediately hit on it. This tended to be when they did something like put in the wrong account number, MAC, etc. when performing the search. They also didn't ask questions of the customer well enough

Of course, if something is messed up in the lines or the provisioning system is down, finding the modem will be impossible because it really is disconnected from the network.

[JerseygirlCT]

9. Damn! Keeps happening now

Just for a minute, or even a few seconds. Just... out. Then... in.

Very frustrating!

[yy4me]

11. From a computer novice, let me suggest you check your outside

connections. Comcast made so many diagnostic errors before I got this HP Pavilion that I ended up buying a new computer. A tech said my problems were not with the lines, not Comcast, not a virus. He said my old Compaq computer was shot. I kept getting the "server cannot be found" message off and on, not a constant thing. Of course I was on the phone for hours with both Comcast and Compaq. After hours of on line support, 2 house calls, I just about gave up and bought this new machine. I could not find any way to have my Internet connection work.

I did think it was corrected on the last Tech visit but it wasn't. I did one final call to Comcast who told me the last house call was a correct diagnosis. I told them I was going to cancel my Comcast account because I bought a new computer based on their techs diagnosis that my machine was bad and I still got the "Cannot find Server" message. Well, out comes another Comcast truck, he does his inside stuff then went outside to check connections. He came back and told us it was now fixed. That our outside connector was loose by two and one half turns. Every time the wind would blow, the lines would wobble, instant disconnect.

Then of course, after spending almost $1000.00 on a new computer, off went my letter to the Northeast Regional VP for something-or-other. He called me back, apologized for their bad service and said they would give me 10 months of free internet service which was about the same cost as the computer.

I do not like their service techs but in this instance they made up for their goofs.

About 6 months of aggravation could have been avoided if they checked their outside connections as part of their service call.

[JerseygirlCT]

12. Hmm... wonder where they are! nt

[yy4me]

13. The outside connectors are (at least in our case) screwed into

the house in several places. First at a point where the line from the street pole comes over and down to a point about eye level. There is a connector that splits the service that goes from the first to the second floor. This one was not the problem. From this same point, a line goes to the rear of the house where it joins (or splits) with a line to the TV, then continues to a point where it goes into the house for my Internet connection. It is at the side where the wire split and continue that the connection was loose. It looks sort of like a "T" connector with the little hexagonal tighten-upper thingies for the connections in and from this split.

For a non-techie, I'm sorry about any incorrect words used in this description but I'm sure you get the idea. Good luck.

Every so often I go out with my handy little wrench just to make sure they are still firm.