Connected, but no internet

Depends on what type of internet connection you have. (your post doesn't specify).

While I have a linksys wap/router, xp home on the 3 laptops, and a PDA, when at work (Northern Idaho) I had a shared DSL and/or Cable connection, that went direct to the wap/router, but now am south for the winter (Las Vegas.. Woo Hoo! New Years eve was a blast!) and use dial-up/cellphone/WiFi/and sattelite in my winter apartment (all of which run on nodes on the network and require ICS to share the connection.(I have a free Hotspot here, ssid PPinLV on Boulder hiway across from Samstown).

Point being that all sorts of people connect to my wap/router with various types of cards/built-ins etc. A Hotspot basically doen't care what connects, the biggie is whether the internet connection goes direct to the wap/router or is something else that runs on one of the network nodes (and is shared).

On vacation/off for the next few months, and don't have a whole lot to do. Feel free to ask q's.

I would turn off the computer, router, and cable modem.

Turn on the cable modem and allow it to come up full.

Next, turn on the router.

Finally, turn on your computer.

Any luck???

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Yup- seems to be working now. I've let it sit idle for over an hour now- and it's still connected. I'll post back if it starts in it again. Thanks again guys!!! D

Not sure what you have at the pc end. I used to have probs with the router and had to do the power off/back on thing, and now I get that (disco's etc) on my laptops (with sp2), when they sit for awhile.. But interstingly enuf, even though a program like explorer or search doesn't see the device on the network, If I copy a link (c drive on another machine) to the desktop, or use a printer on another machine (that doesn't show), they work just fine and I can see whats on the machines using the link, that don't show in regular windows progs. Since it still works, but doesn't show, only happens with sp2, and two different programs (both search and explorer (explorer.exe in the windows directory, not used anymore cus people confuse it with Windows Explorer) show it as not there, but in fact it is when I try and use them in other ways. It does disappear after a while of being on, but immediately shows again when I reboot. The other thing is I use a PDA (iPAQ built in wireless) and it see the machines on the router, even if the search/explorer progs don't show em.

Sort of goes back to what I learned many years ago (on mainframes).. Don't justify, don't assume, turn the power off on absolutely everything. (yes, I used to power off mainframes too). Solves about 90% of the problems. Think about it.. If there is a power failure, absolutely everything should restart correctly. If it doesn't restart correctly, you have a way different problem.

D wrote:

Well, it's been idle (the other PC) for a few hours now, and it's still connected. So, rebooting the router seemed to work thus far.

To answer your questions- I have a direct cable connection to my cable modem, then to the wireless router, then to the PC. Nothing fancy other than that. Any reason as to why it was either not giving me internet even tho it was connected to the SSID, or, would disconnect if the PC sat idle for a little while? Thanks D

D,

If you were running this wireless connection in an office environment, I would strongly suggest turning those security settings ON. Devices like your Linksys router can be "reached" by other people in your area; maybe people who are trustworthy, and maybe people who aren't. At least turn on WEP settings, first on the Linksys and then in the D-link software. If you've never done this before there are some step-by-step tutorials that may be of use to you.

Regards, Justin

Unless you're > Well, it's been idle (the other PC) for a few hours now, and it's still

Two things, one how is your internet settings set for lan? And secondly when you do ipconfig /all at a command prompt what information do you get?

Could be just internet settings, or could be dns.

Daniel

Justin- I used to have all those settings turned on- I think I turned them all off when trying to install my laptop. Can you give a little refresher as to the best settings? WEP or WPA? 68 or 128bit (I assume 128 on that one)- etc... Thanks! D

D wrote:

Oh no Curtis, you let the secret out! Many network consultants depend on the extra income from billing for repairing stuff that simply requires power off and then back on!... Do you realize how many people couldn't afford their second homes/rv's/racecars/planes etc if people start turning suff off and back on, instead of calling for help and get billed big time!?!?! :)

No, that's not why you need to power cycle and turn on in a specific order and possibly wait forever for a connections. There are three possible problems.

1. The router will try to login or authenticate with the ISP on power up. If the modem is not ready, it may take a while for it to try again. Usually that's about 30 seconds, but there were some firmware versions of early PPPoE dialers that used the idle-out timer interval, which can be much longer.
2. Juggling hardware changes the MAC address presented to the modem (bridge). If it still has the computers MAC address in its bridging table, the connection will fail. Most modems/bridges/routers are smart enough to flush the table when the CAT5 cable is unplugged, but I keep running into older boxes that aren't so smart. The easist fix is to power cycle when juggling hardware.
3. Juggling hardware often presents a new MAC address to the ISP. If the ISP authenticates by MAC address, then it will take a while for it to expire the ARP cache and accept the new MAC address. These days, it only takes about a minute, but back in the stone age of PacBell DSL, it would often take 30 minutes. Some cable ISP's (Charter) never seem to flush the ARP cache. One has to either clone the PC's MAC address into the WAN port of the router, or call their tech support number and have them flush it manually.

Yeah, but my reply was funnier! (at least I think it is funnier)

WPA-PSK is the latest and most secure. 128 is more secure than 64 but takes more system resources to encode and decode so the throughput may suffers some.

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True. I threw it in for the DSL PPPoE users.

(Mediacom authentication) Try:

Not from here. It asks for the Mediacom account number and registration code.

I think they're just trying to prevent you from logging on from more than one location.

I have installed about 15 wireless networks over the past year...the first two times, when things wouldn't work, I just couldn't figure it out.....once I figured out the very important power-up sequence, installing the networks has been easy money!!

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Cable modem in this thread. I don't think there is any login or PPoE.

That seems to happen. Whether it helps with your cable ISP varies.

Mediacom specifically authorizes a MAC address at their headend. If you are connected directly, you get a splash page asking if you want to authorize the new MAC, and unauthorize the old MAC. If you are connected via a router, you don't get that splash page. My cable modem accepts multiple MACs in the "learned" section, but nothing seems to change the mind of the headend other than manual intervention.

(I wonder why the splash page doesn't work through a router. If the simplest method is a fake DNS server that provides the address of the authentication page for any web page lookup, then that ought to work through a router as well.)

I can reach the page while properly authenticated at https://12.223.4.8/sa/prot/admin/euser/activate.jsp and it tells me that I am properly authenticated.

If I am not properly authenticated (I set the router back to its default, instead of the cloned address), access to the internet fails by name or IP, but I can still go to the authentication page by IP, and it asks me if I want to replace my existing address with this address. It even tracks the addresses that I have enabled in the past in a drop down list by names that I have given to them. I couldn't access this page immediately after changing the router, so there is also some learning required in the cable modem. The cable modem now "knows" four addresses. "Self" and three "learned", which would be my PC, my old router and my new router.

(The ADD option pops up a window telling me I can't ADD to my account.)

https://12.223.4.8/sa/prot/admin/euser/activate.jsp " CLARENCE DOLD: Your computer (or if it is connected to a router then your " router) is not registered with your Mediacom Online account. " " To add this computer or router to your account, click ADD. To replace an " already registered computer or router on your account with the one you are " currently using, please select its name from the drop down menu below and " click REPLACE. " " Device to be replaced: Laptop, Desktop " " If you have replaced an Ethernet Device (i.e. NIC or USB adapter), please " select the computer on which you have replaced the device from the drop " down menu above and click REPLACE. "

Ack! Another FREE hint given out to people, in an attempt to send us poor consultants into bankrupty!

Actually, I don't recall where it is anymore (if even on the web, maybe someone here knows), but I saw a great "Network Debugging List - Try these before calling for support" list somewhere.. Actually it was a a freebie some enterprising consultant was giving out. At the bottom, it said if these suggestions don't work, call us at (and had his consulting firms name and phone number)

ok- here's the latest...

Left it on for about a day now- came back in, and NO INTERNET. I had to go back into D-Link's connection program, hit connect, and then got it back. What's with this thing? Why's it keep disconnecting the internet? Damn wireless. LOL...

Anyways- anyone know any solutions for this? I have already powered on/off, and that helped, but it seems to me that it should ALWAYS stay connected. ALWAYS. I shouldn't have to go back in and tell it to reconnect each time I want to use the computer. I've tried changing channels, and still doing it. Any ideas? Thanks guys! D

Actually, the first thing I do when it says I'm connected to the internet but I have no access is to run from the DOS prompt the command "ipconfig /release all" and then "ipconfig /renew all".

This usually works, even more so than powering off.

Alanb

Just out of curiosity, have you upgraded to SP2? I did and my wirelss is doing the same thing (disco-ing on it's own after a while, but immedialy reconnects when I hit connect). Haven't found a solution yet, but if others are having the same problem, a solution is more likely,,,