Computer Tips -Tech Info

I had a machine that I picked up to test internet connectivity. They were able to do email, but not visit web pages. My first thought was that internet explorer may have been a bit sideways, but when I got it to the workbench I figured I had solved the problem. No ethernet port. They’ve been using USB then to connect to their DSL modem. So, I plugged in a network card and tested and everything worked fine and scheduled the redelivery. But, when I got it onsite things didn’t quite work out as smoothly. Here’s the setup. A DSL modem with built in switch had a laptop hooked up via ethernet (with absolutely NO connectivity problems) and this desktop which was hooked up first via USB and now via ethernet.

What was really peculiar is SOME websites came up, others didn’t. Mozilla.com came up, google.com came up, crucial.com mostly came up (page content loaded with one or two items missing.) MSN.com wouldn’t come up. bankofamerica.com, dell.com were missing in action too. They would act like they were going to load and then take minutes trying.

I checked firewalls, disabled the entire security suite. That made no difference. I checked DNS settings – no difference. I tuned the system for performance as best I could. No difference. I went through all the settings related to internet explorer and reset to defaults, no good.

It just didn’t make sense, they were going through the same router yet one was clearly not working the other was. The one that was not working had worked fine on another network. So, I switched the network cables, no joy. Finally, not knowing what else to try (and not having the password for the dsl router/modem) I decided to just unplug the dsl router/modem and let it reset.

Uhm…

Right.

Everything perked up and started working.

The SCREWIEST DSL modem situation i think I’ve seen.

Two pc’s hooked up to the same router, the same way and one could pull up every single site mentioned above with no problems, the other could just pull up some of them and rebooting the router fixed it. I’m wondering if there may have been some sort of ip address that the pc had maintained through the usb/ethernet cable switch over, but I really have no CLUE why that would be an issue.

Actiontec is the brand name on the modem btw. Actiontec GT704AWG

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 9th, 2009 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Tech Support. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.