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Can one of you computer geeks give a clue to what happened

68.115.204.170
Posted on May 2, 2006 at 11:03:56
DAT


 
I lost my DSL connection the other night, called the phone co. and went through the process, but got a message on my computer that there was no modem hooked up, which, of course there was. Suspected culprit, the cable.

I was talking to a friend today who live 20 miles away, and he relayed having the same problem at the same time.

Stopped in at the local Rat Shack and the owner said I was the third or forth person in the last two days with that problem.

So, WTF happened? And should the phone company be responsible? (PS, we were not having an electrical storm at that time).

 

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With our Comcast cable modem Comcast kept telling us..., posted on May 2, 2006 at 16:16:56
Hi-Fi Nut


 
it checked out perfect on their end. Only after several days of nagging did we get someone out who changed out their box and everything has worked fine for the past several years. The installer said that this wasn't his first replacement.

I know this is cable rather than DSL but hope this helps.

Can't live w/o either broadband or music even under clear White Center/Seattle skies, Gill

 

Just a lurch hunch are you by any chance lived nearby the area 51 corridor?..., posted on May 2, 2006 at 12:02:30
millen
 I’ve heard from some people that there were some strange goings on around there like flying object appears from nowhere cutting phone lines and such.

 

I'm glad I wasn't on this cite the day my glass stereo cabinet exploded, posted on May 2, 2006 at 14:14:47
DAT


 
You guys would have had a field day with that one. Although, at least with that I have a plausible hypothesis.

Why modem cables apparently simultaneously fail all over a tiny county in NC, I have no clue.

My buddy said the power blinked at his house before his went out, but I did not experience that at mine.

However I did go out to the phone box/power meter this weekend, and there was a 5 foot snake skin hanging from it. I originally thought "molting" but maybe I was voodooed.

 

We're certainly an informative bunch, aren't we?, posted on May 2, 2006 at 14:26:41
Bruce Kendall
Dealer

Posts: 27050
Location: SoCal
Joined: February 4, 2005
 I suspect your problem was really in your modem, and the problem could be cleared by unplugging the cable connections and then reconnecting them. If it were my service (SBC/AT&T Yahoo) I would have also had to shut off the modem and then fire it up again.

I'd get that snake skin replaced if I were you. ;~)

 

A fractured "1" got stuck in your modem's ziggy valve., posted on May 2, 2006 at 11:47:32
Bruce Kendall
Dealer

Posts: 27050
Location: SoCal
Joined: February 4, 2005
 Only kidding. I agree that you provided too little information.

 

Ok…I buy that and what happens to the “0” after you delete them eh?..., posted on May 2, 2006 at 12:07:40
millen
 I know, I know they would probably go to the empty space where “1” used to occupy.

 

If it falls sideways, it will take the place of two digits, posted on May 2, 2006 at 12:14:38
Bruce Kendall
Dealer

Posts: 27050
Location: SoCal
Joined: February 4, 2005
 and cause your screech alarm IC's to freeze.

 

I thought I saw an axolotl a second ago., posted on May 2, 2006 at 14:27:44
Bruce Kendall
Dealer

Posts: 27050
Location: SoCal
Joined: February 4, 2005
 Man, I have to switch allergy meds.

 

Sorry. I'm of two poles today., posted on May 2, 2006 at 16:39:23
axolotl
Audiophile

Posts: 3955
Location: So. California
Joined: September 10, 2002
 Cycling quickly I am. Looking at my post, I apply my only binary algorithm. Is it a 1 or a 0? A 0! Then, it's outta here.

Who knows? It might have been funny. It certainly wasn't informative - that I can tell ya.

If it was the Ed Gein post, I probably reconsidered. Serial killer jokes are so passe for General.


axolotl

 

lost dsl first step, posted on May 2, 2006 at 11:45:58
Daveslater
Audiophile

Posts: 1044
Location: UK
Joined: June 11, 2003
 Before you call anyone power of the adsl modem. Then power on again. 99% of the time it comes back. Could have been lightning on the network or just a bad signal down line. They just lock up. So restart is first step

 

Already did that, to no avail, posted on May 2, 2006 at 11:52:17
DAT


 
I ran through all the usual suspects with the Alltel customer service dude, and he opined that it was the cable.

 

DSL modem may have stalled., posted on May 2, 2006 at 11:39:55
garth
 A "cold" reset (unplug/replug) would reset it and/or perhaps changing out the cable to PC, either USB or Ethernet (usually).

What cable was changed, from modem to PC and/or router? If find it hard to believe it was the cable.

 

restarting everthing from scratch did nada, posted on May 2, 2006 at 11:51:02
DAT


 
The cable is the one between the modem to the pc. I haven't even tried the cable switch yet, but my friend who lost his exactly when I did was able to switch right then, and it came back on. Don't know if he tried just pulling and plugging it in again.

 

Wait a minute...you haven't changed the cable but know that's it?, posted on May 2, 2006 at 13:42:55
garth
 Did I understand you correctly? There is also a cable from junction box to modem.

As noted before by someone cables just don't break in a second unless you drive over them or something like that.

 

Re: Wait a minute...you haven't changed the cable but know that's it?, posted on May 2, 2006 at 14:02:03
DAT


 
I don't know that's it. It WAS what fixed it for my friend, and I was told it WAS it the most likely culprit by the phone company since the modem registered correct.

Why it would just stop working while I was logged on, I have no idea, but its now six confirmed that had this happen at the same time.

 

if it's still not working, then you can figure out what is wrong, posted on May 2, 2006 at 15:20:07
tunenut
Audiophile

Posts: 9161
Joined: July 18, 2000
 but it won't be easy. You can use a packet sniffer like Ethereal to see whether you actually have anything going out from your Ethernet card to your modem. If you don't, there is something dead in your own computer. Think spyware and viruses. This actually happened to me, so I know it can kill a DSL connection from the computer side. If however, you have the right stuff going out to the modem, it's either the modem or a cable or something on the phone company side. Again, the fact that the same thing happened to other people may be interesting, but it doesn't help solving your own problem. If I were betting, I would bet more on the computer than a modem or the phone company. Do you have access to a laptop that you could try to see if the connection is alive? That would be a good first start.

 

not enough information, posted on May 2, 2006 at 11:09:51
tunenut
Audiophile

Posts: 9161
Joined: July 18, 2000
 If a new cable fixed the problem, then it's hard to blame anything but the cable. But cables don't usually go bad suddenly, unless they are abused. If everything is working, it is awfully hard to go back and figure out what might have gone wrong in the past. And the fact that a friend or a few people at Radio Shack also had problems doesn't really give you any information you can use. Something could have died on the phone company side...if you are really worried, call them up, tell them your DSL service was out for X hours and they will probably credit you for the loss of service.

 

That must be interesting., posted on May 2, 2006 at 18:22:58
Bruce Kendall
Dealer

Posts: 27050
Location: SoCal
Joined: February 4, 2005
 Two poles, eh? At least I know I am not going nuts. I wouldn't want a bunch of invisible axolotl's running around. ;~)

 

Well the new cable works, posted on May 2, 2006 at 20:17:31
DAT


 
But do I want to risk it plugging the old one back in to see if it would also now be working? Probably not.

 

strange, posted on May 3, 2006 at 18:48:01
tunenut
Audiophile

Posts: 9161
Joined: July 18, 2000
 The scenario you describe is frankly quite strange. At least 6 people had problems with their modem cables at the same time and the problems went away when they changed cables? Very doubtful.

Here is one possible explanation. Something went wrong in the phone company. People called and were told their cables were bad. They went out and bought new cables. Meanwhile, the phone company fixed the problem. It's a guess. But I don't believe a bunch of cables went bad at the same time.

 

Re: With our Comcast cable modem Comcast kept telling us..., posted on May 24, 2006 at 16:12:34
real_jj
 Well, there was the time I called up comcast to report we hadn't had DNS for a while. The lady on the other end said "your modem is up, you probably have a virus, so wipe your system and start over".

To which we replied: Um, let's see, the two XP boxes, the W2000 Box, the W89SE box and the linux box all got exactly the same virus at the same time?

And she replied: It's not on our end, so probably you did.

When I asked for her supe, she stalled me and hung up.

Half an hour later, they got their DNS up again.

We also had our modem go fubar once. But a trip to the office with the old modem got us a new one immediately. Home, plug in, off we went.

 

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