Internet problems... need help

[mcantar18c]

Internet was working fine when I left for dinner around 6, no issues at all. I got back at 9 and now I have no internet other than my phone and my neighbors slow-as-hell (took 5 min to navigate the 2 mouse clicks it takes to get to this page), unprotected wifi network. I don't know a damn thing about this stuff, hoping somebody on here does... only option left is calling Comcast in the AM and I really don't want to start out my day interpreting Indian.

Router is a Linksys Model WRT54G.
Modem is a Scientific Atlanta DPC2100, says Comcast on it.
Internet provider is Comcast... high speed.

My computer was recognizing and connecting to my network, but when I'd try and go to a web page or download email it said it couldn't connect to the internet. Can't connect to Xbox LIVE either so it ain't a problem with the computer.
Now my computer won't auto-connect or even recognize the network, and when I manually search for it and enter the password it'll start to connect and then say "connection timeout" :banghead:

I've tried resetting both the router and the modem (tried just pressing the button and also held it in for 5, 15, and 30 sec), I've tried unplugging them both from the wall at the same time and individually, I've tried disconnecting the boxes from each other... nothing's worked.
I also noticed that all 5 lights on the modem were periodically going completely solid, not one of them would blink for a few min, which I've never seen it do before (could be a symptom, or that I've just never paid attention to it... which I haven't).


Any ideas?

 

[Ralph]

I'm sorry you have Comcast. Their service sucks. Sounds like the problem is with your carrier but try a few things first.

Make sure your cable modem is not paused. There is a pause button on there that can accidentally get pressed.

Take your router out of the equation by connecting your computer directly to the cable modem.

If neither of those things work. Call service and be patient.

 

[mcantar18c]

Yeah, definitely not a big fan of Comcast

Plugging it into the modem didn't work.
There's no pause button... I looked over both the modem and the router pretty closely, like TSA-style closely, and I didn't see any pause buttons.

 

[CherBear]

Well considering you can't even connect to your network, seems like you have narrowed down the problem to the router itself.

Could simply be a hardware failure, I had one of the exact same model go out a few months ago, albeit it had different symptoms.

 

[ChiXJeff]

TSA style? You went and looked at your refrigerator, didn't you?

If the lights on the modem are going on solid, going out, then starting up again, I'd bet on 1 of 2 conditions. Either your cable internet service is out and the modem is trying to find the signal, or your modem is shot.

 

[bdahlg]

I'm sorry you have Comcast. Their service sucks.

Never had a problem with Comcast, but Verizon, their service sucks some nutbag. Can't switch the router's IP address to work remotely on my work network. Had to piggy back another router off of theirs.

Excellent customer service and user-friendly menus though; I don't know if that makes up for their on demand working 25% of the time

 

[87manche]

Yeah, definitely not a big fan of Comcast

Plugging it into the modem didn't work.
There's no pause button... I looked over both the modem and the router pretty closely, like TSA-style closely, and I didn't see any pause buttons.

If you plugged it into your PC you'll have to power cycle the modem to get it to work. They're MAC address linked.

Did you try to reset your router back to defaults? There should be a tiny reset switch on the back, hold it in for 10 seconds or so until the lights on the front blink, that will reset the router back to factory defaults. Yes, it sucks setting up the wifi again, but sometimes it's the only way to bring a linksys back when it has a freak out.

if you get it working put DD-WRT on it, as it does not suck nearly as bad as the linksys firmware. You can go tomoto as wll if you want an easier to use interface, the DD-WRT interface is not terribly user friendly, but it will let your router do things that it couldn't before (QoS, proper port forwarding, bandwidth monitoring/logging)

 

[casm]

I also noticed that all 5 lights on the modem were periodically going completely solid, not one of them would blink for a few min, which I've never seen it do before (could be a symptom, or that I've just never paid attention to it... which I haven't).

From the way you're describing things, it's most likely either a problem on Comcast's end or a blown cable modem. The router could also have died, but the cable modem really sounds more likely in this case.

Disconnect the cable modem, take it down to your local Comcast billing office, and make them swap it out for a new one. Yeah, it means a trip to the billing office, but at least it beats a service call.

'New' is key here: Comcast recycles cable modems from one customer to the next. This would be fine except that I've personally seen them receive a modem, physically throw it into a drawer, then try to give it to the next person in line who asks for one.

Good luck. I f***ing hate dealing with Comcast.

If you plugged it into your PC you'll have to power cycle the modem to get it to work. They're MAC address linked.

FWIW, the newer (read: DOCSIS 3.0) cable modems that Comcast's handing out no longer do this - I've got the Arris WBM760A, and it works the same as any switch. That SciAtl garbage will definitely need a power cycle, though.

You can go tomoto as wll if you want an easier to use interface

Tomato I'll second that recommendation, btw. DD-WRT is great as well, but probably overkill for standard home usage.

 

[87manche]

FWIW, the newer (read: DOCSIS 3.0) cable modems that Comcast's handing out no longer do this - I've got the Arris WBM760A, and it works the same as any switch. That SciAtl garbage will definitely need a power cycle, though.



Tomato I'll second that recommendation, btw. DD-WRT is great as well, but probably overkill for standard home usage.

The chances of me seeing a Docsis 3 modem from my provider in the next decade are slim, but good to know.


tomato, tomoto, google would have fixed it. AT least we can all agree that the factory Linksys firmware brings the suck.

 

[casm]

The chances of me seeing a Docsis 3 modem from my provider in the next decade are slim, but good to know.

Yeah, I was surprised when they handed it to me simply because we're nowhere near a DOCSIS 3 area. We'd had something like four cable modems die in six months and I basically refused to leave the business office until I got a new (not recycled) modem; that was what they gave out.

AT least we can all agree that the factory Linksys firmware brings the suck.

Indeed.

 

[coldoath]

Well the very first thing we need to know is the light status of the modem. Need to know what the lights are doing i.e. solid green, solid red, flashing, strobing, etc. Depending on the light status Comcast could just be in an outage. If your modem is in working order is should read: Solid green power, flashing data send, flashing data receive, and a solid green cable light.

If your cable light is flashing: Unplug the power AND unplug the coax from the back and let it sit for about 20 seconds. Plug coax then power back in, wait for it to boot up. Hopefully this will fix the cable sync issue. If not give them a call and see if they can see an outage in the area or any issues on the line.

If all lights check out but you still can't connect: Connect your PC to your modem again, via ethernet cable, PC light should be solid when you do this. Now I assume you are running Windows. Go to START > ALL PROGRAMS > ACCESSORIES > COMMAND PROMPT. Double click command prompt and that will bring up a black box where you can type. Type the following: ipconfig This will bring up a list. Need to know what IP or IPv4 you are getting. It SHOULD be something like a 192.168.xxx.xxx DON'T POST your Gateway IP!! If you want you can PM me your IP if that would be better. This will let us know if your Computer is getting and IP from the modem or not.

Sorry in a hurry to get to class.....let us know how it goes! GL

 

[kastein]

if you get confused by the menus coldoath listed, just hold down the windows key and press the R key at the same time, then type CMD and hit enter. The rest of the instructions after the black box part are the same. I use this shortcut because it's faster than using the mouse and menus.

After the black box comes up, type "tracert 4.2.2.4" into it and paste the results here.

 

[CherBear]

TSA style? You went and looked at your refrigerator, didn't you?

If the lights on the modem are going on solid, going out, then starting up again, I'd bet on 1 of 2 conditions. Either your cable internet service is out and the modem is trying to find the signal, or your modem is shot.

If your cable service was out, you should still be able to connect to the router.

 

[casm]

After the black box comes up, type "tracert 4.2.2.4" into it and paste the results here.

God bless the gtei DNS servers Funnily enough, they see more use from me for traceroute or ping than they do as actual failovers for Comcast's DNS even though pretty much everything on my network is set to use them.

Hijack over...

 

[coldoath]

if you get confused by the menus coldoath listed, just hold down the windows key and press the R key at the same time, then type CMD and hit enter. The rest of the instructions after the black box part are the same. I use this shortcut because it's faster than using the mouse and menus.

After the black box comes up, type "tracert 4.2.2.4" into it and paste the results here.

:thumbup: Totally forgot about that. Nice.

 

[mcantar18c]

Lights on the modem are:
Power: solid green
Receive: flickering green, mostly solid though
Send: solid green
Cable: solid green
PC: flickering/strobing green

Didn't get a chance to call comcast or bring the modem in today, so hopefully I can fix this tonight.
Oh I have a MacBook by the way, not a PC. Running whatever the latest OS is.
About the IP thing... when my computer connects to the network it does give me an IP...

 

[kastein]

the IP you get when your computer connects to the network is your LAN IP, you'll always get that if your system and router are configured properly. What we want to know is if your router is getting an IP from the cable modem correctly. For instance my network:
* laptop (IP is in the 192.168.x.x RFC1918 range, assigned by the LAN side of the router)
* router (has an IP on the LAN side, we don't care, its IP on the cable modem side is 68.116.193.x, assigned by my ISP, Charter, to the modem when it connected to their central station equipment)

Since you're on Comcast your router/modem will probably get an IP in the 10.x.x.x, 192.168.x.x, 172.16.x.x through 172.31.x.x ranges. Comcast (at least a few years ago) put all the customer systems in the LAN IP ranges as part of their routing/traffic shaping/security setup, not sure if that has changed.

Basically we just want to know if your router is getting a proper IP from your ISP. If it is, it obviously can communicate at least well enough to get its DHCP request through, and the response back. Past that point, you need to log directly into the modem itself and check your uplink and downlink signal strength to figure out what's going wrong.

 

[mcantar18c]

Ok, that makes sense... so how do I get the modem IP on a Mac?

 

[casm]

Ok, that makes sense... so how do I get the modem IP on a Mac?

Try http://192.168.100.1 - that's been the default on the last half-dozen Comcast-issued cable modems I've had from various manufacturers. Depending on your model and how sharp they are about configuration in your area, an administrative password or login may be required.

If you're looking for the router's IP address, go to System Preferences | Network, highlight whichever interface on the left is marked as 'Connected', click 'Advanced', and go to TCP/IP. You'll see it listed in there.

 

[mcantar18c]

That'd work if I could connect to my network... but it still says "connection timeout" when I try. My Xbox can read the network, but still can't connect to it.... computer doesn't even see it.