Tech Help Needed Please

[Connor_Graham]

I'm having issues with my comp and internet connection I'm hoping someone here can help me with as I've about exhausted my resources on fixing my connection.

3 days ago I found my modem/router dead when I went to turn on the comp that morning. I called my DSL carrier and ordered a new one, which arrived late yesterday and I installed early this morning. With everything installed and configured according to their instructions, my internet connection doesn't stay connected. It will run fine for about 15 seconds, lose connection, then reconnect again for another 15 seconds, repeated over and over. It's impossible to maintain a connection to UO because of this. I can access web pages on a hit and miss basis, but other than that, have no consistent connection. I've replaced my ethernet card with a new gigabit card and have gotten it up and running with no change in the internet connection. I've also had a repairman out here today that tested the lines and said everything is working fine. He was the one that told me I needed a new ethernet card. The only change that's been made to this account is that it was upgraded from a 3 meg DSL to a 6 meg speed.

Can anyone think of anything I can try to fix this?

 

[Lady Michelle]

I see you mentioned a modem and a router. Well I know when we decided to start using a router instead of us having our own modems I kept getting knocked off til we secured the router with a password. I have the main modem also on my computer because I don't have a net work card in mine. So maybe some unknown person is hooking up to your router. If you dont know this and I'm not really good at this kinda thing but maybe someone here who does might be able to tell you where you need to look to check to see if some one is doing this.

 

[Connor_Graham]

I set the user and password as one of the first things I did after the install. I did notice it seems to be having problems with the DNS cache if that makes any sense.

 

[Lady Michelle]

On my network connection on the control panel I can repair my connection. I left click the icon and it brings up a menu and I click repair.

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

Grrrrrr, there are some .... inconsistencies here.

Possibility the Repairman has his head stuck in his rear end and has not got a clue what is going on. While Ethernet NIC cards go bad they normally do not go Oh well I am Good Oh well I am bad Oh well I am good etc. They are far more likely to go I am dead bury me please.

Now, some curiosity questions.

1) Just how dead was the original equipment? Dead like NO led's being on? Or Dead because it didnt appear to be working properly.

2) Modem/Router. You can get just a Modem and you get a Modem Plus Router. The Router can be just N number of RJ45 Ports and OR a Wireless Router.

First thing one can do, disconnect everything from the DSL Modem except the DSL Line. Power it off, wait 1 Minute. Power it back on. Now the modem should have LED's that indicate the status of things. Mostly Solid Green is good, anything else may NOT be good. All that matters here is the LED that indicates there is a DSL Connection and that it is stable. You may also have a Power LED and an Internet LED. The Power LED for sure should be on and stable. The owners manual for the DSL should tell you if the Internet LED will be expected to be on or off in this condition (Menaing it is a LED indicating traffic).

Now if the DSL/Modem can stay connected and stable in this condition then it tends to suggest a problem inside the house. If it can NOT stay on and stable (i.e. your 15 Second issue) then it suggest the issue is outside your house.

If you do not mind, post back what you observe.

 

[Addicted]

Might be cable problems from your modem/router to your ISP

 

[Connor_Graham]

The DSL light stays lit regardless, and always has. The only light I have blinking is the Ethernet, which blinks in a pattern according to the on and off connectivity. Now that I think back, the guy that was here connected his laptop to my modem and said he had no problems, which is what led to him suggesting the ethernet card was bad.

 

[phantus]

I assume you are able to get into the model/router/thingie(whatever it happens to be) and make changes. Username and password etc. If you are able to stay connected to the router config page you know it's not the nic card in your computer. There are many connection settings you may have to look at. Idle timout, mtu's ...all these need to be checked.

What is the model # of the unit?

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

Ok, that is good as the modem is declaring it has a solid connection to the dsl provider.

Now then does the modem have a web/html interface? As in does the manual say you can access information/setup via a browser?

One thing I am not sure of is why the Ethernet Traffic is blinking. If you have something plugged in, then unplug it and see if it stops. If it does not, then it might be the modem trying to sign into the isp provider. This may mean it is not properly set up and/or your account is temporarily in some unusable state with the isp provider.

 

[Connor_Graham]

I assume you are able to get into the model/router/thingie(whatever it happens to be) and make changes. Username and password etc. If you are able to stay connected to the router config page you know it's not the nic card in your computer. There are many connection settings you may have to look at. Idle timout, mtu's ...all these need to be checked.

What is the model # of the unit?

It's a Motorola 2210. I've gotten into the router config pages several times now, which is how I was able to set the new passwords.

 

[Arnie QuickPalm]

is vista involved? are you using a wireless conection with said vista ?

 

[Connor_Graham]

Now then does the modem have a web/html interface? As in does the manual say you can access information/setup via a browser?

Yes it does.

One thing I am not sure of is why the Ethernet Traffic is blinking. If you have something plugged in, then unplug it and see if it stops.

The only thing it's plugged into is the ethernet cable.

If it does not, then it might be the modem trying to sign into the isp provider. This may mean it is not properly set up and/or your account is temporarily in some unusable state with the isp provider.

The guy that was out here tested this. He also tested the connection to make sure it would support the new DSL speed I just upgraded to.

 

[Lady Michelle]

Did you check and see if your cable cord is screwed on tight into the wall and the modem. Sometimes it comes loose I know I have to tighten mine up once in a while. and if you can go and check the line outside that leads from the main box to the house.

 

[Connor_Graham]

is vista involved? are you using a wireless conection with said vista ?

No Vista and no wireless.

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

...
The only thing it's plugged into is the ethernet cable.
...

What I am trying to determine is if the Modem has successfully signed into the ISP. If it has not your not going anywhere fast and it wont be a NIC problem.

If you can get to the modem through the browser, one or more informational pages should show its connection state and if it has an IP. If both of these are true then to the modem everything is fine. Leaving the NIC's configuration as being the best bet as to why things are not working. This would be a determination of if the modem is a DHCP server or not and if the NIC is set to get the IP/DNS Server from the DHCP server (the modem).

 

[Connor_Graham]

What I am trying to determine is if the Modem has successfully signed into the ISP. If it has not your not going anywhere fast and it wont be a NIC problem.

If you can get to the modem through the browser, one or more informational pages should show its connection state and if it has an IP. If both of these are true then to the modem everything is fine. Leaving the NIC's configuration as being the best bet as to why things are not working. This would be a determination of if the modem is a DHCP server or not and if the NIC is set to get the IP/DNS Server from the DHCP server (the modem).

I'm connected to my ISP and have a connection. The repair man had a connection through my modem as well, but didn't have the problem with the up and down connectivity that I did.

 

[Tinsil]

K well I didn't read what everyone else typed, but I had an issue like this before. If you have software that came with your router,etc use that... Do not use the windows wireless configuration tool to run your connection, as this has cause me major similar problems before.

 

[Basara]

1. Have you put the Line filters on all the phone ports in the house? Have you made sure the DSL modem is actually plugged into the DSL side of its filter?

2. Have you contacted your DSL provider and made sure that ALL of the Broadband Modems in use in your house have their correct MAC addresses enabled in their computer system for your account? I've seen some real idiots doing DSL or cable installation accidentally link the modem to THEIR account, not the customer's.
And, some companies get weird about houses with two or more separate broadband modems hooked in (and, theoretically, it might be possible the two modems might be interfering with each other, trying to get out of the house using the same residential lines, especially for older line installations).

3. If the router has 2 or more computers hooked to it, try connecting to each other through the router (shared files, etc.) If they have no trouble communicating, or setting up a network, then the chance of it being a router issue is greatly diminished.

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

All right so what we are seeing is that two NIC cards (the original and the new) cause casue this cycling and the repairmans laptop(?) did not, is that more or less right?

I guess I am going to need to step back and see what the cycling really is.

 

[Connor_Graham]

1. Have you put the Line filters on all the phone ports in the house? Have you made sure the DSL modem is actually plugged into the DSL side of its filter?

Yes and yes.

2. Have you contacted your DSL provider and made sure that ALL of the Broadband Modems in use in your house have their correct MAC addresses enabled in their computer system for your account? I've seen some real idiots doing DSL or cable installation accidentally link the modem to THEIR account, not the customer's.

I only have 1 modem and it's been set up by the instructions given after the first person I spoke with in tech support, then checked by the guy that came out.

And, some companies get weird about houses with two or more separate broadband modems hooked in (and, theoretically, it might be possible the two modems might be interfering with each other, trying to get out of the house using the same residential lines, especially for older line installations).

Not an issue with me.

3. If the router has 2 or more computers hooked to it, try connecting to each other through the router (shared files, etc.) If they have no trouble communicating, or setting up a network, then the chance of it being a router issue is greatly diminished.

There's only 1 computer hooked up, and it's the only one I have.

 

[Connor_Graham]

I ran a "Test Connection" test through the modem software and the DNS failed if that tells anyone anything.

 

[Basara]

Their Instructions mean NOTHING if the MAC Address of your modem is not in their system as a valid customer. MAC Addresses are specific to EACH piece of hardware; two identical modems, that roll off the the same assembly line, will have different MAC addresses. Sign ins and passwords only come into play, for broadband modems, once the provider's system recognizes the connecting modem as belonging to a valid customer, through the MAC address.

I had similar issues with a cable modem, after a replacement, because the system back at the company decided that the old modem's MAC was still the correct one, and had not been switched to the new one (which had been entered, but was being ignored)

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

I ran a "Test Connection" test through the modem software and the DNS failed if that tells anyone anything.

Some of this stuff sounds like it is really an issue between the DSL modem and the ISP provider and then there is the repairmans laptop seemingly working correctly.

I guess at this stage if it were me, again I would do one of two things, I would diconnect the ethernet cable, leaving only the DSL line in. OR I would camp the information page that shows the IP address and connection status and hit the Refresh button every 5 seconds and see if the status stays unchanged.

One needs to determine if the cycling is inside the house or outside the house. Inside the house is defined as something on your side of the modem. Outside the house is defined as something from the modem back to the dsl/isp provider(s). In a properly working environment, the dsl modem with no ethernet connections should NOT have any ethernet activity. If it does, then it is most likely the modem signing on and if this is the cycle then there is the problem.

And by the way, I agree with Basara and where phantus was going. Something is screwed up, it is just a matter of finding out where it is screwed up.

I suppose it is worth asking, have you ever connected up since the 6mb rate change? I know it takes some time for them to actually propagate the rate change (kind of were Basara is at) down to the physical connection.

 

[Basara]

also, with a router in use, you may need to go through the router settings and see if it is allowing DNS to go through. You'd need the documentation for the router to know exactly where to look.

 

[Connor_Graham]

Their Instructions mean NOTHING if the MAC Address of your modem is not in their system as a valid customer. MAC Addresses are specific to EACH piece of hardware; two identical modems, that roll off the the same assembly line, will have different MAC addresses. Sign ins and passwords only come into play, for broadband modems, once the provider's system recognizes the connecting modem as belonging to a valid customer, through the MAC address.

So would this cause the up and down connections I'm getting?

I had similar issues with a cable modem, after a replacement, because the system back at the company decided that the old modem's MAC was still the correct one, and had not been switched to the new one (which had been entered, but was being ignored)

You had connection, but it was unstable in the same manner as mine?

 

[Connor_Graham]

I suppose it is worth asking, have you ever connected up since the 6mb rate change? I know it takes some time for them to actually propagate the rate change (kind of were Basara is at) down to the physical connection.

No. I upgraded at the same time I ordered the new modem. My first attempt at getting it set up was this morning. I was thinking along these lines myself, and am planning on having them try resetting my speed to the lower one that I know my line will support. What they upgraded me to is higher than I was previously told the line would support, but am now being told it is being supported.

 

[Basara]

I believe so, I think I'd get what appeared to be a good connection for a while, but lose it less than a minute in; it's hard to remember details from when that happened almost 3 years (and 2 modems) ago. As long as tech support is a toll-free call, it wouldn't hurt to have their tech at least check to make sure the MAC address is correct in the system.

 

[phantus]

Another thing you may want to check is the properties of the NIC card. If it is not set to auto negotiate set it that way. If it is then set it to full duplex.

 

[EnigmaMaitreya]

No. I upgraded at the same time I ordered the new modem. My first attempt at getting it set up was this morning. I was thinking along these lines myself, and am planning on having them try resetting my speed to the lower one that I know my line will support. What they upgraded me to is higher than I was previously told the line would support, but am now being told it is being supported.

I know that DSL modems go through a Rate Training procedure that can take several days. NORMALLY they start at the bottom and work up. This issue does not seem to be that kind of thing, unless they are going backwards for some reason.

I would think at this time, it is fairly safe to assume that by some process your getting a series of disconnections. I am just not aware of any process that is on your computer side other than the Lease Time of the IP given to you by your DSL modem but that makes even less sense.

I am trying to remember if there is some setting on the computer side that is equivalent to the old stay alive setting, were some traffic is sent out periodically to make sure the ISP does not disconnect you.

On my system I have a Netgear router between me and the DSL Modem. I have a setting in that Netgear to stay alive.

Sorry but I am going to need to bail out for a while.

As far as I am concerned, aside from the repairmans laptop working, this thing is really acting like a ISP bounce (disconnect for some reason) and your being required to log back in. That could be the DSL equivalent (were you or your equipment is not being authenticated) to what Basara's Cable Modem issue was. It could just as easily be the DSL modem determining the connection is bad and reinitializing the connection.

The DNS failure suggest that the software cought the system being in an state that was NOT properly set up OR there is some issue external to the Modem. DNS= Domain Name Service. It is the place were uo.stratics.com gets translated into a hard IP address. That in itself wont bounce you, it just prevents you from connecting to anything using a url format. BUT it strongly suggest an improper set up from the modem back to the ISP somewhere. The fact that you can connect to things, just not for long, suggest very strongly that your NIC is set to get the IP address, Gateway and DNS server address from the modem. It also suggest this is working properly.

 

[Connor_Graham]

Another thing you may want to check is the properties of the NIC card. If it is not set to auto negotiate set it that way. If it is then set it to full duplex.

I have no idea how or where to look for and/or reset this.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

You are not going to want to hear this, but you have a bad modem. Waste your time with tests, so-called "repairmen", etc. if you like, but in the end, you are going to have to replace that modem.

I had the same exact problem with a cable modem several years ago, and I nearly went insane trying to figure it out and having "repairmen" come out and "test" the modem and the line. Eventually I insisted on a new modem...the guy installed one, and later that afternoon, after the modem successfully updated its status on their server, my problem was solved.

One other thing comes to mind however...

...you upgraded to 6 meg from 3, your line condition may not be sufficient to support that. The "tests" they run on your line are more or less of a joke. If the DSLAM in your neighborhood is old, you will never get 6 out of your line.

Call them up, have them bring out a new modem. If that does not fix the problem, have them switch you back to 3 meg and see what happens.

Hope that helps.

 

[phantus]

I have no idea how or where to look for and/or reset this.

I would call the tech support and see where you can get with them. They could talk you through checking the duplex setting on the nic and also check the connection to the model as well. Many have remote software that can get into your computer(even if temporarily.) The repairmen that was there should have been able to get your's to work if his did. I wouldn't take his word for anything. Give them a call and try another technician.

 

[Connor_Graham]

You are not going to want to hear this, but you have a bad modem. Waste your time with tests, so-called "repairmen", etc. if you like, but in the end, you are going to have to replace that modem.

I had the same exact problem with a cable modem several years ago, and I nearly went insane trying to figure it out and having "repairmen" come out and "test" the modem and the line. Eventually I insisted on a new modem...the guy installed one, and later that afternoon, after the modem successfully updated its status on their server, my problem was solved.

One other thing comes to mind however...

...you upgraded to 6 meg from 3, your line condition may not be sufficient to support that. The "tests" they run on your line are more or less of a joke. If the DSLAM in your neighborhood is old, you will never get 6 out of your line.

Call them up, have them bring out a new modem. If that does not fix the problem, have them switch you back to 3 meg and see what happens.

Hope that helps.

The repair guy replaced the modem when he was here, so that eliminates that as a possibility. It's getting late here so I'll call them in the morning and check the MAC address, and if that doesn't work, I'll have them reduce the speed back down to what it was before. I'll check here before I make any calls though, so if anyone else has anything they can think of to add before I go the tech support call route again, please post whatever you might come up with. Thanks all for the responses so far.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

If their network was not recognizing the MAC address of your modem, you would have no connection at all. Same thing with your router...you will either have a connection, or you won't, when it comes to MAC address issues.

I am sort of curious why he would tell you that you needed a new NIC. Assuming you were not using an ancient 10mp adapter, I can see no benefit from replacing your NIC, at least as far as DSL is concerned. Is this DSL modem one of these dual models that basically have a seperate up and down? Meaning, do you have two outputs on it? If that is the case, what he was actually telling you would be that you needed to add an additional NIC to your machine, one for send, one for receive. But that is a pretty uncommon set up in the days for Gigabit NICs, and I imagine he would have explained that.

I am leaning toward line condition or a piece of equipment (theirs, not yours) that is not capable of sustaining 6meg speeds.

But now I am curious, so I will continue to monitor this thread. Good luck with it.

 

[Tinsil]

Any chance my suggestion would fix the problem? Look up in the thread for it a few posts.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

I looked up your modem, Motorola 2120, it does not require dual NICs, so that's not it.

 

[Morgana LeFay (PoV)]

Any chance my suggestion would fix the problem? Look up in the thread for it a few posts.

He's not connecting wirelessly...


...and I use nothing but Windows built-in wireless connection manager on all my wireless devices (in both Vista and XP) without any issue at all. Any trouble you were experiencing with it was likely local, and not an issue with the utility.

 

[Lady Michelle]

The repair guy replaced the modem when he was here, so that eliminates that as a possibility. It's getting late here so I'll call them in the morning and check the MAC address, and if that doesn't work, I'll have them reduce the speed back down to what it was before. I'll check here before I make any calls though, so if anyone else has anything they can think of to add before I go the tech support call route again, please post whatever you might come up with. Thanks all for the responses so far.

Unless the repairman replaced your old modem with a bad one. that happened to my brother before.

 

[MalagAste]

I recall having many issues before between router and modem and my pc... have you tried connecting directly from the Modem?

If it works directly from the Modem it may be your router.

Also.... try resetting the modem. Unplug your router and then... I know for mine in order to "reset" the modem I had to unplug it and then take the big battery out of the bottom... wait one min and plug it back in.... then shove the battery back in...

After that wait till it's done bootting back up about 2 min or so... then after its up plug your router back in.

Once or twice I got more help from my router company than I did the ISP.

Also it never hurts to call your ISP's tech support line.

Wish you the best of luck!

 

[Fogsbane]

Not sure if any of this will help, but I have also had my fair share of DSL problems,
and the things that have been problematic to me have included =

Moving the DSL modem to a new location
(cable probably too long).

A bad Network cable
(this has happened to me more than once).

New DirectTV installation that had a phone line tie in
(bad install maybe, or too much drain on the line, and/or no filter?)


Hope you are successful in getting the problem identified and fixed soon.

 

[Arrgh]

So would this cause the up and down connections I'm getting?



You had connection, but it was unstable in the same manner as mine?

Do you have an option in the router to clone your MAC address or have you already tried that? If not as Basara said the MAC address is kind of like your home address you use for bills, mail, tell people where you live etc...if you clone the MAC it will copy the modems MAC ID into the router and should then be the same info as the provider has "if" they use the MAC on your modem as your "address" point. You can type ipconfig /all into a command prompt hit enter and look and see what your MAC addy is and it will show you the brand name of your modem and it's "physical address" which is the MAC address that is currently being used.

I've had similar problems before (many times) and cloned the MAC and bingo off we go. Different ISP's use different methods to keep track of their allocations by MAC address and then some use non-static IP's. When you call tomorrow you can always ask.

I have had mine actually do what yours is doing, connect a few minutes then disconnect and it was because I needed to clone the MAC in the router.


Of course I had them out here the other day because my signal was weak it so happened to become a lot stronger when they replaced a splitter and then after they left I called my pal at the ISP and he told me that there was someone on the same node as I am that had been having the same problems. Connect...disconnect. It looks like that time it was an outside problem because once they got that fixed my pal called me and asked how the connectivity was. I missed a day of pharming Tarties but at least it's fixed

 

[Rumil of Lorain]

I believe it will be your modem as it says it will work with the 6 meg's but the Motorola 2100 I recieved would work for about an hour then I would have to reboot found out that it needs a firmware update to work correctly, burned an update for it at work ran it and haven't had a problem since then,but that is from my experiance this was about a year ago I dont know if the one you have has or has not been updated

 

[Harlequin]

Possible trouble spots:

1) PC
2) Gigabit NIC
3) Router
4) Modem



You need to isolate where the issue lies at -

1) Power off modem and router. Then power each of them up. Look at the sequence where the LED lights come up. You want to know how to tell if either have rebooted by themselves.

2) When you lose connection, see if the LEDs on either is coming up like it has just rebooted

3) Do a continuous ping to google - "ping -t www.google.com" (the -t parameter means keep pinging until you hit ctrl+c)

4) Do a continuous ping to the router

5) See which times out after 15 secs

6) Check your event viewer as well to see if there's any errors

We'll troubleshoot from there once we have a picture where the problem lies at. Might or might not be releated to the DNS error your reported.

 

[Lyconis]

Going on your DNS error. How do you know your DSL connection goes out?
Light on modem flashing red? Can't ping an IP address? can you ping your router? is it just IE?

You can turn the windows dns caching feature off.
Run
"services.msc"
look for "DNS Client" double click set startup type to disabled and click stop if its running.
(its recommended to turn it off if you use a hosts replacement file)

It seems like most people believe their internet connection drops when you can't get anywhere in Internet Explorer (or firefox whatever you use)
try pinging an ip address via the command line
run
"cmd"
"ping uo.com"
if the ping fails try the ip
"ping 159.153.199.107"
if this ping succeeds your dns server may have issues.
If this is the case use someone public caching dns server like SBC/ATT
68.94.156.1 dnsr1.sbcglobal.net
68.94.157.1 dnsr2.sbcglobal.net
you can add these in your control panel>network connections>general tab scroll down to "Internet Protocol(TCP/IP)" select it and click properties> Change the bottom set of radio buttons to "Use the following DNS server
addresses" and put the two above ip addr's in. If you don't feel comfortable with those google around go find a university or educational institution and leech off of their caching servers.

What ISP are you using? (SBC, ATT, Surewest)
What DNS servers are you connecting to? (ipconfig /all may find more info in the web interface in the modem sometimes they act as little dns caching servers like with windows)
Is your DSL line on a dry loop (no telephone line)?
Anything in your windows hosts file? (C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts, you can open it with notepad)

Then there is the ip ping trouble shooting. First ping your localhost (127.0.0.1) then your machines IP address, then your gateway, then something outside like above. when windows chukes with tcp/ip it'll auto assign you some 169.x.x.x address (forget what it'll give you don't have the RFC handy)

Ever seen any squirrels running on your telephone lines? got a bb gun to shoot em with?

 

[dupadupa]

skimming over the thread,

you have replaced your ethernet card, so its not that,

the ethernet light will blink, this is normal, it means there is traffic flowing on the ethernet port,

now, if the repair mans laptop worked fine on the link then i would suspect it is your pc,

first thing i would try is re-installing your TCP/IP stack as it could of got corrupted,

do this in dos with the following commands

"netsh int ip reset reset.txt" <- this will reset the tcip stack,

you could also reset your winsock with the following command

"netsh winsock reset catalog"

then do a re-boot


there is a file to automatically do the winsock fix and is located on "major geeks"

http://majorgeeks.com/download4372.html

personally id just do the dos commands they take 2 minutes to do both

 

[Connor_Graham]

Going on your DNS error. How do you know your DSL connection goes out?
Light on modem flashing red? Can't ping an IP address? can you ping your router? is it just IE?

You can turn the windows dns caching feature off.
Run
"services.msc"
look for "DNS Client" double click set startup type to disabled and click stop if its running.
(its recommended to turn it off if you use a hosts replacement file)

It seems like most people believe their internet connection drops when you can't get anywhere in Internet Explorer (or firefox whatever you use)
try pinging an ip address via the command line
run
"cmd"
"ping uo.com"
if the ping fails try the ip
"ping 159.153.199.107"
if this ping succeeds your dns server may have issues.
If this is the case use someone public caching dns server like SBC/ATT
68.94.156.1 dnsr1.sbcglobal.net
68.94.157.1 dnsr2.sbcglobal.net
you can add these in your control panel>network connections>general tab scroll down to "Internet Protocol(TCP/IP)" select it and click properties> Change the bottom set of radio buttons to "Use the following DNS server
addresses" and put the two above ip addr's in. If you don't feel comfortable with those google around go find a university or educational institution and leech off of their caching servers.

What ISP are you using? (SBC, ATT, Surewest)
What DNS servers are you connecting to? (ipconfig /all may find more info in the web interface in the modem sometimes they act as little dns caching servers like with windows)
Is your DSL line on a dry loop (no telephone line)?
Anything in your windows hosts file? (C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts, you can open it with notepad)

Then there is the ip ping trouble shooting. First ping your localhost (127.0.0.1) then your machines IP address, then your gateway, then something outside like above. when windows chukes with tcp/ip it'll auto assign you some 169.x.x.x address (forget what it'll give you don't have the RFC handy)

Ever seen any squirrels running on your telephone lines? got a bb gun to shoot em with?

Some of this made sense, most didn't. I ran the first ping to uo.com and it succeeded, whatever that means.... I'll be giving tech support a call as as soon as I can get some coffee in me.

 

[kinney42]

Can't believe nobody suggested that it could be the Electric Socket. If the original modem was dead and every modem connected to it hasn't worked then it could be a bad electric port. I used to be a cable tech and had many a bad modems because of the power cord was bad or the electric socket was putting out bad current.
I would try a completely different wall socket. Use an extension cord if you have to. Heck, move the entire PC and modem to a new room to weed out the possibility the PC is plugged into a bad port.
Also, now that I think about it, if you got a surge which fried the modem it could have damabed your power supply which can cause really off the wall problems.
If the techs laptop had no problems then you know its got to be your pc/electrical system.
If that doesn't work then I would call them and (like a few people said) check the mac address and provisioning on thier end is correct. If it is then bump back down to the 3mb speed and test it out. Most importantly, keep them on the phone while you change the speed back to 3mb. They should be able to watch the modem status while you are testing.

 

[Connor_Graham]

I've tried different power outlets and have tried replacing all of the wires, including the filter.

 

[gjohnson5]

Their Instructions mean NOTHING if the MAC Address of your modem is not in their system as a valid customer.

The repair tech that was over his house should have changed the mac address of his DSL modem when it was swapped out.

To Connor:
My question is did bad weather cause the DSL modem to go bad? It could be that the router is also malfunctioning due to lightning strike. Grounding issues in the house itself can cause electronics to malfunctiion in bad weather. IMHO I would replace all the phone and ethernet cables that were in use at the time the DSL modem was found dead.

Secondly you probably should remove the router and plug the DSL modem directly into the computer. Check the connection for drops with that setup

 

[kinney42]

What about the pc? did you try moving the pc to a different outlet?
How about a different computer?
It's just so odd that his laptop had no issue. Was his laptop using it's battery?