No internet at home

[Night Train]

My internet has stopped working, two days now!

The wireless is fine and I've reinstalled everything to see if it will find the internet but to no avail.
The error messages say that it maybe the service providers server gone down.

I'm still on AOL's broadband with Talk Talk and their help line is costly so I don't want to use that unless I have to.

Any suggestions?

Cheers.

 

[Bman]

AOL, I assume thats ADSL....

What router do you have?

If its a netgear, it will (or should) have an indicator light in the shape of an I with a circle below it.

Is that lit (or flashing)?

 

[Night Train]

Yes, that's the one and it is on with the opccasional flicker and showing internet but as far as the pc is concerned there is nothing.
I even tried dial up and that didn't work either.

 

[Bman]

Ok, well that suggests the router IS connected to the internet.

Is your PC connected by a wire or wirelessly? If its the later, can you try it with a wire?

Either way, the next step will be to do an "IPconfig". Assuming you have windows XP, Go to Start > Run and type CMD

In the black box, type IPCONFIG and press enter. What I need now is your IP address and more importantly, your DEFAULT GATEWAY. It should be something like this :

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1

 

[nigelb]

In the command window, something like :-
tracert 158.152.1.43
can be quite revealing too.

 

[meenaghman]

Assuming you do have an IP address locally, then next step would be to log into the router ?
Its entirely possible you have connectivity via the Copper back up to the ADSL DSLAM (thats the equipment in the exchange) but you've not got authentication to the RADIUS or TACACS server [Userid/Password server] your ISP require. This happened to my mother in law with Post Office. She had ID and password from them, however her router was installed "automatically" by the Post office.. and came with a different userid and password. That was fine, until the other person left the service - probably couldn't get connectivity !!!, resulting in the configuration being stripped and no IP connectivity over the ADSL line. Try arguing with a help desk person when you know the problem and its solution, but they won't accept your answer .. until its gone through 10 layers of management ARGGGHH!!

 

[Night Train]

I have tried wireless and wired to the router using both my desktop and my laptop and neither is able to find the internet.
The passwords are the same and even reinstalling and setting up the wireless name and password again doesn't get me any further.

It says that I have a good connection to the router but no connection from the router to the internet even though the router light is on.

This has happened a few times before but previously it would only be for the night or just a couple of hours and then it would be fine again if I reinstalled the AOL router.

 

[meenaghman]

I'll give a brief desc of BT settings.
Your encaps will most likely be PPP over ATM using vpi/vci of 0/38 (although this may change from company to company).
Can you remember if you require a uid and password on the ADSL line ? .. most firms do require authentication. There should be some fields filled in and buttons ticked.
Most likely you'll obtain a leased IP (non-static) address, and obtain any DNS servers automatically.
If you log onto the Modem you should be able to check these. Also in Router Status there should be some information about line attenuation, and downstream/upstream connection speeds. check in the logs for messages also. If you see something about CHAP authentication failure, then this would seem to indicate a problem with userid and password.

 

[rh100]

Follow Bongman's last post, when you get the gateway ip address, type this into your address bar of your internet browser, see if the homepage for the router itself comes up, you will need to login to this to see any further details, such as connection status.

also try from the command line :

ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /flushdns


then:

find the master socket for the phone line - normally the one that has a half face plate that comes off the front - disconnect everything else, you should be able to take off the half face plate, leaving a test socket exposed - plug the router into this, without the filter also. then try it. this will prove/disprove any problems with extension cables and the like. A guide for this is here: http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/troubleshooting.htm

 

[Norm]

find the master socket for the phone line - normally the one that has a half face plate that comes off the front - disconnect everything else, you should be able to take off the half face plate, leaving a test socket exposed - plug the router into this, without the filter also. then try it. this will prove/disprove any problems with extension cables and the like. A guide for this is here: http://www.kitz.co.uk/adsl/troubleshooting.htm

+1.

I'm about 7.5km from the exchange, which is close to the limit of ADSL, and I had years of trouble with the line dropping at peak periods. Disconnecting stuff and plugging straight into the incoming line (behind the master socket) showed that electrical interference in my home was creating enough noise to lose me the signal.

I got an I-Plate filter from BT (only suitable for newer sockets, search for more information) about 2 years ago and everything has been fine since.

 

[gaz]

2 Days without internet! OH MY GOD how are you alive.
i have two internet connections at home 50mb and 20mb

 

[Night Train]

Update.

Still no broadband at home. Apparently I was cut off for non payment. Haven't figured out why the payment wasn't sent as it was on my CC and I can only check it online.

AOL have agreed to sort it out and get me a faster and cheaper connection and a better router when I told them I was leaving and wanted a MAC code.

It will take a few days though so I have now got an Orange dongle to go online with.

Gaz, the problem with not having an internet connection at home is that I am unable to upload work to my college students. It is all done online nowadays and if I can upload at home it saves me a 70 mile round trip with a memory stick.

I will still need to go in to college tomorrow as the dongle has limited capacity and my uploads are big.

Also, I've missed this place.

 

[gaz]

Gaz, the problem with not having an internet connection at home is that I am unable to upload work to my college students. It is all done online nowadays and if I can upload at home it saves me a 70 mile round trip with a memory stick.

Reading back on it. my comment doesn't come across right. it wasn't ment to be sarcy. i seriously want to know how you have been surriving. if my connection goes down i know 5mins later. and find i have nothing to do :'(

 

[rh100]

2 Days without internet! OH MY GOD how are you alive.
i have two internet connections at home 50mb and 20mb

 

[Night Train]

Reading back on it. my comment doesn't come across right. it wasn't ment to be sarcy. i seriously want to know how you have been surriving. if my connection goes down i know 5mins later. and find i have nothing to do :'(

Yeah, I figured that. I thought from the first line that it was a bit 'sarcy' but then I reads your second line and decided you are adicted!

I do manage quite well without the internet but not if I am in the middle of something. Once I am done I am fine and can manage for many hours without worrying that I might be missing something.