Okay, Warren, I am so ready to be wowed with wisdom right now, because
NO ONE seems to be able to help me sufficiently with this problem.
Here's what I've done since the last post:
- Bought a new Motorola SB5100 and replaced the Scientific Atlanta
rental from Comcast. Hooked this up with the USB connection, called
Comcast to give info. on the new modem, connected to the internet just
fine.
- Switched the modem connection from USB to ethernet, following all of
the power off/on routines, of course. Same problem. Obviously not a
problem with the modem.
- Spent forever on the phone with Comcast. Was told that adding my new
router (Linksys Broadband Firewall Router BEFSX41) to the mix may either
eliminate the problem if it has something to do with a "black list" or
at list help eliminate possible sources of the problem.
- Hooked up new router using ethernet connection. It worked! I saw
the Comcast website with all its images for a couple minutes before I
went to the Linksys website to complete installation per their
instructions. They had a drop down where I was to select the "Obtain
an IP Automatically" option and save settings. Upon save, I lost my
connection and was not able to get it back.
- Spent forever on the phone with both Comcast and Linksys. They said
that something was wrong with my ethernet port hardware, since the
system could not pull an IP address. I kept questioning, because it
seemed to me that it pulled an IP address until I saved configuration
settings on the Linksys website. Both said that they were at the
limits of their support.
- Spent time on the phone with Shuttle. Was told that it could be a
problem with the motherboard and that it would need to be returned.
I'll wait for my friend to visit again and look at it himself before
I'm going to let go of my computer.
- Removed the internal phone modem from the Shuttle and replaced it
with the ethernet adapter card provided by Comcast. Hooked this up to
the router, and I am using this connection now to work on the web.
You can talk down to me on this - it wouldn't offend at all. I'm
really just learning and don't get it all. But it seems to me that if
I was able to get a connection, however brief, then my original
ethernet port should be in fine operating condition. It sounds like
some type of configuration setting is messed up. Now you mentioned
something about the config only liking one connection at a time, and
that starting with the USB first may have messed things up, but it
didn't mess things up for the additional ethernet adapter that I
installed.
Everyone else has given up on this. Any ideas to offer? Thanks!
Your modem has a config file that tells it how many computers can be connected to it. If you simply change cables without power-cycling the modem, and it is configured to only allow one connection, then if the
USB port was the first one connected, then that's the only one that will
work.
Some modems, like Motorolas, will allow both the USB and Ethernet ports
to be used at once if the config file allows two or more connections.
Other modems, like RCA's, do not allow both interfaces to be used at once. So
even if you're paying for more than one IP address, you may not be able to
use both interfaces at the same time.
Some RCA modems even resist switching between the two interfaces even
after cold resets. So even if you're only connecting one device at a time,
and you're doing a full, cold reset of the modem, you'll have difficulty switching between interfaces.
There also could be a problem if the USB and the Ethernet network connections have been bridged by the OS. The Ethernet card may have
worked just fine when it was the only network interface, but once you started
using the USB interface for networking, you may have caused a problem.
Borrowing someone else's modem won't help you troubleshoot. The modem
you use needs to be provisioned for your account. If it's provisioned for
their account, and you're on the same network segment, it might work at your house. But if it's provisioned on a different network segment,
connecting it at your house won't work. It may mess-up your friend's account as
well.
-- Warren H.
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