Cable Modem Oddities

[FuzzButt]

Hello,Here is a question I have yet to find a good answer for. My situation is like this.I have 4 PC's. 2 are XP 2 are W2KPro. I also have an IP printer. The 2 XP boxes are my main PC with XP Pro and my wife'c PC with XP Home. The Windows 2000 boxes are my Multimedia Capture box and my companies Laptop that I connect with VPN software to an AT&T VPN server. The IP printer is Lexmark's TCP/IP card set to a static address in my Laser printer. Mostl of this is connected to an 8 port Linksys switch. The Switch and the laptop are connected to a Linksys BEFSR41 Router (was the BEFSXR41 but that is a bit too buggy for me). The Router is connected to a Linksys Cable modem (I was tired of looking at multiple peices of hardware that do not stack neatly) Problem is that sometimes every other day and sometimes every few hours my http and mail connections will not connect to the internet. Most of the time I can still send and recieve requests to Usenet with my newsreader. The Cable modem does not loose connection. I still get a solid cable light. I was having this problem and another issue with signal quality but I have since rewired my entire house with RG6QS with all home runs and the CM on the 1st splitter with only 3.5Db loss. Now the CM will sync and connect to Comcast in reasonable time but the other issue still persists.I have called Comcast and the usual "Have you rebooted the equipment and your PC?" is asked and the problem is that that fixes the problem for a little while. Usually just powering off the CM and Router then powering on the CM till it is synched and the the router fixes the issue. Any ideas?Thanks, Chris

[psacake]

Dollars to donuts it's the Linksys 8 port switch. I've had 3 of them go south. Exact symptoms you describe.

[FuzzButt]

Switch is working great otherwise. I'll put everyhting I can on the Router's 4 port'er and see if it continues.Comcast in my area ihas 7 day lease times but when I go to the linky admin status page it still has 5 day's left or sometimes more. I would really hate having to go back to using just the router's 4 ports for networking since it is a but slow compaired to the stand-alone switch. Moving 1.5GB vid captures across the switch takes 1/4 the time as the router does. Guess I should set up the firewire network between the 2 PC's.Chris

[FuzzButt]

Well Since Monday May 5th I unplugged the 8 port switch from the 4 port router. I have my 2 WinXP PC's, my laptop and my IP pritner atached to the router for the last 5 day's. Usually my connection only lasts a day or so. So it looks like it may have been the 8 port switch screwing up my connection. Now I have a choice. Do I buy another Linksys 8 port switch? Should I call Linksys for a warranty repair? What about buying a different brand switch? I had Netgear equipment before what I am using now. All my requirements are is that it is 100TX Full Duplex capable and has rear ports. I could also slightly re wire and put dual ethernet cards in all my PC's and have seperate LAN and WAN network hookups. Since I have all NT based equipment I think they can all handle dual cards. I have a bunch of Netgear FA310's laying around I could use. I could also pick up some 3COM or Intel based cards. Sure wish I could afford gigabit ethernet cards and a new copper based switch for the 1000TX. :(Chris

[theHammer]

FuzzButt - don't jump too quickly. I ran a BEFSR41V.2 behind a Motorola Surfboard SB4100 for a year connected to Optonline where I regularly downloaded at 6000 to 7500 kb/s. Never recall becoming disconnected. Now moved and forced to go with Comcast. For the same price am getting 1200 to 1400 kb/s (they cap at 1500) for $40. I have become disconnected although Modem appears to still have sync a dozen times in three months (admittedly none in the last two weeks). Must go through the power off Modem and Linksys and immediately comes back.Ed

[FuzzButt]

Well I waited for Linksys to respond to my email but gave up and stopped by CompUSA and bought a new 8 port Linksys Switch. This one is a slightly different version than the V.2 I had. The current V.3 of the EZXS88W has a different power adapter that has a different plug. So let's see if it helps.I gave up on trying the Firewire network and have postponed the addition of the Gigabit ethernet cards in 2 of my PC's till my money situation for play things is a bit brighter. The Switch was $59. The cards are $79 each.Chris

[boomhauer]

I am running into the same problem, with a d-link di-614+ - drops my ip address regularly (I have 3 puters behind it one xp pro and 2 xp home with dhcp - connection to the internet is through a d-link dsl-300g+ to a bt adsl connection) I have 2 options, unplug the router, or go through the hassle of ipconfig /release /renew and then restart my downloads/uploads. My brother has the same router with 2 win2k pro computers and he is having the same problem. Anybody have any ideas??

[Peachy]

I am running into the same problem, with a d-link di-614+ - drops my ip address regularly (I have 3 puters behind it one xp pro and 2 xp home with dhcp - connection to the internet is through a d-link dsl-300g+ to a bt adsl connection) I have 2 options, unplug the router, or go through the hassle of ipconfig /release /renew and then restart my downloads/uploads. My brother has the same router with 2 win2k pro computers and he is having the same problem. Anybody have any ideas??

See if there is a firmware update and apply it to the router.

[boomhauer]

Peachy, I have the latest firmware for the router and the modem, as well as for winXp (for all of the computers). By the way, dlink is pretty much useless for tech support - IMHO.

[Peachy]

Is the DI-614+ a wireless router? You said you have DSL, correct? I assume you're using PPPoE. Also, make sure your router is configured to always stay connected.