I've given up. I've pinged and ponged and looked and rebooted and researched and jotted and even tried drinking it into submission, and I am so sick of my computer I could scream.

I'm calling my friend.

It won't do any good. It'll behave perfectly while he/she's there. ;)

Heh...probably. Guess we'll have to drink while we wait for it to eff up.

None of those suggestions were solutions. Those were how you get facts and numbers that mean nothing to you and that result in useful answers from others. Currently nobody can help because the necessary details are still missing.

I know.

I wrote a bunch of stuff down, but it's at home.

I saw that the lease expires like every hour?

It showed the same thing on IPCONFIG/ALL when it was working and when it wasn't, as far as the 192 whatever thingy.

My OS is Windows XP...pentium 4 something 2.66 and something 512...

When I tried to type my IP address in the address bar, nothing happened. I can't remember if I was able to get online or not when I tried that.

That's all I can remember.

First, leases typically expire in 1440 minutes. That would be defined in the router. Leases expiring every hour could be the symptom of failure. How do you know if and when a lease expires?

Once a computer has an IP address, it remains even if the router has gone defective. IPCONFIG /ALL will remain unchanged even when failure occurs. But the information is important for first locating the failure. IPCONFIG /ALL fixes nothing and typically does not change when failures occur. After reading data from IPCONFIG /ALL, then try IPCONFIG /RENEW. Then see what changes in IPCONFIG /ALL.

If the router's DHCP server can lease a new address, then it will do so only when IPCONFIG /RENEW is executed.

BTW, another address - the MAC address. It will read something like 00:aa:bb:cc:dd:ee where lower case letters represent digits. Important is that number remains consistent and is never all zeroes.

When a computer is working, the information for PING or TRACERT to the router's IP address and to cellar.org can later be compared to when computer is not accessing the internet. Difference is informative.

Previously posted was how to copy that information from the Command Prompt window and then paste it in Notepad (to record it) or to a Cellar post. No reason to remember anything when cut and pasting is so easy.

When accessing a web page that does not respond, then Windows puts up a message about diagnosing the connection. When internet access fails, click on that diagnostic to learn what has failed. Of course, it will mean nothing to you - now. But that message is critical to anyone who might provided assistance and show you how easy network problems are broken down.

Don't type your own IP address in the title bar. Enter the IP address of the router. You don't want to talk to a server inside your computer. You want to talk to the server inside that router.

Since your computer has no server, then entering your IP address gets no reply from a non-existent server.

For example, if your IP address is 192.168.a.bbb, (a and b are digits), then the address of that router is 192.168.a.1 . Enter that address both when the system is working and later when the system is not working.

Important is information from a router's status page. Also, if you can find the DHCP server, all computers that have leased IP addresses are listed - including yours.

BTW, this is why I always install at least one hardwired Ethernet port to a router. When failures occur, a hardwired port almost always still works to find and fix problems.

Not listed is who made the computer. Better computers have comprehensive hardware diagnostic specifically for problems such as yours. Executing that diagnostic only on the wireless card can (but is not likely to) provide further useful facts.

Sometimes Windows also has a wireless diagnostics from the wireless card manufacturer (ie Broadcom). Again performed both when the system is working and when failure occurs.

Don't try to fix anything. First is to define which has failed - computer or router. An example of breaking problems down into parts. Too many want instant fixes. But the easy fix starts by using simple tests (such as above) to first learn which side has failed.

Again, you may not know that the error has been identified. Even significant timing changes in PING may be a seriously critical piece of information - that would mean nothing to you - yet. Doing this stuff is how complex computers become less complex than a kitty cat - and don't make you bleed blood or money.

S123, wait. Nobody has actually troubleshooted your problem. You said it "stops acting like it's even connected". What is it doing when that happens? You're in a browser and the page stops loading? It can't find any web pages?

Does it come back by itself or do you have to reboot at that point? Does a reboot always fix it right away?

A reboot is not a guarantee that it will work when I reboot. I've rebooted sometimes more than once hoping it will log into my homesite (
CNN.com) When I got home from work I rebooted 6 times. Yeah...frustrated.

It never fails when I'm in Toontown and I wondered it that is because it is constantly sending data bak and forth.
It seemed like it go worse as time went on, yet tonight it has not booted me out since I logged in at eight o' clock and something

When it won't "connect" i get that screen where you can choose to do a diagnosics....I have a copy saved ...would it help?

It's always on wireless when this happens?

All I have is wireless... installation dude wouldn't run a cable to my comp.

Can you run your own cable? What's the box that they put in, does it have a manufacturer/model #?

By "box" do you mean that little light up thingy with an antenna? :)

It hasn't messed up since yesterday...knock on wood. It's like aliens took it over for a while and are now gone.

Yes, if that's the only box they seem to have installed.

Netgear CG814WG

OK cool. On the back of that unit are four RJ-45 jacks. And somewhere on your computer is an identical RJ-45 jack. You'll know it when you see it because it is like your phone jack, except wider.

You are perfectly free to buy an Ethernet cable, male-to-male RJ45 and plug one end into that Netgear and the other end into your puter. These are the most common of cables, widely available in computer stores and office maxen and such. You can get 3 foot, 6 foot, 10 foot, 25 foot whatever you need. You don't need the most expensive one. Anything "Cat 5" or above will be fine.

So if the system starts going out again, it might be a good idear to wire it up wired, and reboot and see if that fixes it straightaway. You may be near something or a neighbor that causes wireless interference.

Sweet, thanks. :)

Oh yes and also, you can look at the lights on that box and that might give us a hint. I don't know what the "i" light means but the one arrow means upstream traffic and the other means downstream traffic. Se what lights are on now, when it's working, and then check it when it's not working to see if the lights are different.

Right now there's the on light, the i light, the squiggly arrow pointing down, and something that looks like an old test pattern.

OK, then when I sent this the squiggly arrow pointing up lit up.

If I have problems again I will look.

See all the stuff I'm learning? :)

[useless anecdote]

When I was in college--i.e., in the days before reasonable and inexpensive wireless--my roommates and I just ran direct cable like UT is talking about all throughout the house, into five separate bedrooms.

Except it wasn't our house, we were renters. So we didn't do it inside the walls with fancy jacks or nothin', we just got a hundred foot spool and ran it down all the halls and through the doorways.

Oh, and we were too cheap to get actual bits of plastic to secure the cable to the walls. We used scotch tape.

It was awesome.

[/useless anecdote]

That is the ideal installation, except that you should use duct tape.

I had trouble connecting again this morning. I will stop on my way home tonight and get a cable.

The i light wasn't lighting, if that means anything.

OK it looks like the i light is the connection to the cable company. So a wired connection may not even work, if the i light is not lit. You'll need to call their cust. support for this one.

After several years of using ReaConverter 4.0 Pro and a year of using Avast, suddenly Avast says ReaConverter contains a trojan. OK, dump ReaConverter and reinstall with the original disc. Avast still insists Reaconverter is infected.

Dump Avast and install AVG, full scan (2.5 hrs, over 400k items), nothing but a couple of tracking cookies.

I bought the wire. It is, again working, though.

Interesting aside, re: the Antichrist that is Time-Warner: my brother's phone, cable, and internet are out. THey called TW and they said it was due to our windstorm last week and there were area-wide outages that they were working on. Fine. So he calls a few days later and they tell him it's all fixed. Mine isn't, he responds. Oh, they'll be by on Tuesday to take a look. They might even compensate by not charging him for down time.

So I'm not putting a whole lot of my faith into customer service.

grumble

Acted like it couldn't find websites again, with the i light lit. So I hooked up the cable. There are two holes on the computer and 4 on the router...does it matter which one I use?

And is it even called a router? :blush:

Well, since I hooked up the cable I've been OK. I did have almost two days of uninterrupted service before that, so we'll see.

I don't even mind the wire stretching across the living room. Gaines had fun chasing it when I was unravelling the cable. :)

Shawnee,

May I ask what kind of laptop and wireless card you have?

Thanks,

Mitch

I don't have a laptop. I have a Dell tower...not sure what things identify it.

The installation dude plugged in whatever communicates with the router, into the back of my tower.

Shawnee,

Go to Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Device Manager and expand out the Network Adapters section. Take a screenshot and tell us what you have.

Thanks,

Mitch

Provide the Service Tag number. Then anyone can go to Dell to see what your hardware is.

Those lights on the Netgear are Power, test, cable link, downstream
traffic, upstream traffic, wireless,Ethernet (1 through 4), and USB.

I assumed you were providing that critical information if it was available.

Notice what happens to lights both on your computer and the Netgear when you disconnect and connect the cable. Important information to you now and in the future.

Remember your objective at this point. Is it the Dell or the Netear. Nothing more. That cable is not to fix anything. That RJ-45 Etheret cable is to help determine where the problem is.

3com Etherlink XL 10/100 PCI TX NIC (3C905B-TX)

Intel(R) Pro/100 VE Network Connection

Netgear WG111 802.11g Wireless USB2.0 Adapter

I just typed it all.

Shawnee,

Can you look on the back and tell me what revision it is? (v1, v2, or v3)

On the back of the thing sticking out of my tower? There's a 3 there, but no (version) v in front of it.

yes on the back of the thing on the back of the tower :)

lol...I'm clueless.

There are a bunch of stickers with UPC codes, that's all I can see. One of them has a 3 on the end. To get a good look I'll have to take it out and look?

The Dell sticker should be on the side of the tower.

I'm so confused.

Shawnee123,

Download and run this driver update:

ftp://downloads.netgear.com/files/WG111v3_v1.3.0.zip

The phrase "Service Tag" is followed by the alphanumeric code. Label is typically is pasted on a side panel, as well as in many other locations of the machine.

Service Tag will also be on your sales receipts.

Service Tag means important hardware information is obtained direct from Dell AND that all software updates unique to your machine are listed. Service Tag would also provide that Netgear hardware information (if the Netgear was bought with the Dell).

TW and Bruce,

The purpose of the exercise was to find out what wireless card she had so we could get the latest drivers for it, not the XP tag :)

That's what I thought you meant, Mitch. Thus, confusion.

Sorry, I am lost tonight.

All your help, from all you people, has been nice, and I thank you.

Shawnee123,

What model of Dell do you have?

Do you mean this info?

Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.66 Ghz?

Is there a model number somewhere?

Front of the case around the power button on Dells.

Oh. Dimension 4600.

That service tag number says what the hardware is and lists all latest drivers. It is not a Windows XP tag. Service tag number would have answered your version and driver questions (assuming the wireless card came with the machine)

However you performed a simpler solution - download the latest driver anyway.

Still, Shawnee - provide that service tag number anyway. Otherwise you are only stifling your help of critical information. I wish you had stated it was a Dell long ago so that I was not wasting so much time on other possibilities. You have no idea how much useful information was available if you had answered "what machine" questions the first time.

Dell Dimension and about 200 other questions such as verions numbers made available immediately from a tag labeled "Service Tag".

To know what hardware is in your machine and so that others can tell you what software corrections are required, provide the "Service Tag" number.

I thought I did provide the Dell thing...but to be honest I have no idea what is pertinent and what is not.

I see many sets of numbers on that label. Is product key the same thing as service tag?

TW,

It doesn't provide the wireless card info. Dimension 4600s didn't ship with one.

I got this computer like almost 6 years ago. See first post. lol.

So it probably didn't come with a lot of wireless options as it wasn't a huge option at the time. As long as it was cable modem ready was my concern.

Shawnee123,

Download and run the latest BIOS update:

http://support.dell.com/support/down...&catid=&impid=

And this utility to provide better drivers for USB, PCI, and AGP from Intel:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/T8Cl...Name=&lang=eng

Both of these will help eliminate issues with your USB devices.

Yes, I've used a Dimension 4600 before. It's actually quite a nice machine that has onboard SATA support.

I didn't go all the way high end when I chose it, but I did try to get a nice one for a decent price; makes me feel not so dumb when you say it's a nice machine. :)

Thanks for your help. While it's working I'm going to download.

Thanks Mitch. I did those downloads. We'll see what happens.

Should I disconnect the cable, or just leave it all in place?

Disconnect the cable and see what happens
 

Hello,

Disconnect the cable and see what happens.

BTW, if you can get 1GB RAM in there, do so. It'll take standard DDR400 RAM.

How do I do that? I mean the 1 gb RAm thing.

I've been thinking about saving for a new comp. Should I? Should I go Mac? What's the best avenue?

:)

Shawnee123,

You can get a little more usage out of it by spending $40 on this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145440

And then saving the rest for a new Dell or Mac.

right now my comp is making serious noise, like it's processing really hard.

Maybe it's running better and is shocked?

Mitch, what do you think? I wouldn't be against going completely against what I've always had, started with windows 3.1 and learning dos commands when needed, but I have friends who think Mac is the way to go. Course, these friends are graphics people. What do you think, as far as that?

That and numerous other questions would have been answerd (no reason to even ask them) had another's first question ("what is the machine") long ago been answered and if the Service Tag number was provided.

All those software updates would have been known and downloaded long ago. Meanwhile, the Service Tag number still is required because it answers everything about hardware and the many software/driver updated available (and why they are available).

Still unknown is where the problem resides - Dell or Netgear router.

TW,

I have worked with netgear cards enough to know that the drivers provided are complete and utter shite. You have to download new ones.

Dell never ships Netgear cards as an OEM option, hence they would not be available with the service tag. They ship their own brand (Dell TrueMobile) or Intel wireless cards as the OEM option when you buy a PC from them.

Dell also ships several variations of the base chipset model. They have a habit of using reference Intel designs with slight changes. However, it is always important to have the latest BIOS for them due to them making a lot of changes. The Intel ones also use Intel's chipset drivers.

Get a Mac :0
 

Shawnee123,

I am typing this on my Macbook, which also runs VMWare Fusion, and Windows XP, Windows 7 Beta, and Ubuntu Linux on that :).

I'm going to recommend what I use.