I recently lost my internet connection on one of my PCs. I have 2 computers connected throught an ethernet hub on a cable modem. It has worked fine for the last 2 years and now I get a limited or no connectivity in network connections. The PC in question is upstairs and uses a 50 ft. ethernet cable to connect. I thought the cable failed so I replaced it and had a connection for only about an hour. I have heard SP2 might have caused this problem, but I have had SP2 for quite a while now. I can not ping the other IP on my home network or any websites. Has anyone else had issues like this. I have a 384K cable connection, but has recently been very slow. (only 47K down). If the cable signal is weak (due to a couple of splices for TV's in other rooms.), would my long 50 ft. cable be an issue now?
First off, the message 'Limited or No Connectivity' is WinXP's indication that it's not getting a response from the DHCP server, but the cable signal isn't going to make a difference in how long the ethernet cable can be. The modem will put out the same signal level on the ethernet port no matter how weak it is on the cable line. It will either output a good signal or none at all. Are you paying for another IP address for your second computer? Have you checked with the cable company to make sure they're assigning you a second IP still? Just because it's on your bill doesn't mean it's setup the same way in their provisioning system (trust me - I work in cable interenet support).
I contacted my cable provider the other day and the tech says it has both IP addresses setup. He had me do a ipconfig /renew from the command line and he could not see my pc on the modem, so he told me I had a cabling problem from the hub to the pc. I got the 2nd IP address a month ago. Before that, I just shared the connection with the hub and everything worked fine. I'll try contacting a different tech at my service provider and see what he finds. The only change latley in my setup was adding the 2nd IP address and that's when the problems started. Thanks vurbal, appreciate your answers.
If you want to test the second IP address I'd recommend this: 1. Disconnect the second computer from the hub (or just shut it down) 2. Find the reset button that should be recessed into the back of the modem (a few modems don't have them but most do). It may be labelled (if it's an RCA modem) or it may just be a tiny hole - probably near the ethernet port. When all the lights flash you'll know it's reset to factory settings so it will have to get a new configuration file from your cable provider (ensuring it's getting the 2nd IP if it's supposed to). 3. Just to be thorough, unplug the power from the modem for at least a minute and shut down the computer that's not getting an IP address right now. 4. Plug the modem back in and wait for 30 seconds (or until the lights indicate it has a good connection to the internet). 5. Turn the computer back on. If it gets an IP address it's not a problem between the hub and the computer. If it doesn't get one it probably is. 6. If that computer gets connected, make sure to plug the computer that's working right now into the hub and release/renew the IP. If it doesn't get an IP that would confirm that it's the cable company's problem. Edit: Make sure that if the tech is telling you he doesn't see the computer that he's actually logging into the CMTS (router) that your modem connects to. He might just be checking to see if another IP address is being assigned to a device behind the modem, but there should be someone who can actually login to the router, and if necessary clear any devices behind it to make sure whatever you try to plug in can get an IP.
I have Charter Communications. This is the only problem with the service in 2 years. Hopefully I can figure it out over the weekend.
Another test you can do to determine if it is a DHCP problem is hard code the address. If you know your address is supposed to be x.x.x.x put that in your tcp/ip settings manually. You will also need to know your subnet mask and default gateway, and DNS server. If you can connect after putting that in then it is a problem on their router or DHCP server. I had a router not passing BootP packets the other day so the client was never able to connect to the DHCP server and was able to determine that was the problem by doing that. The router had a misconfigured ip helper adress, which specifies which the address of the DHCP server to send the BootP DHCP request packets to. Usually you only manually put in the address if you have a static IP assignement because it is easy to get an IP conflict with another user if you put in the same address they are using.
I left my modem unplugged for an hour and started everything from scratch. I now have a connection but with terrible line speed. I have a 384K connection, but can only get about 45KB down still. Before my connection problem I was getting 280K consistently (with only 1 IP address, now I have 2 IPs). Is this something I have to contact Charter about, or could it be in my settings.
I'd contact Charter. The speed is capped directly in the modem's config file, and it seems like your other problem was also config file related (that's also where the system determines how many IP addresses you get).
