help me solve my mysterious cable problem

July 11, 2007 10:12 AM

The internet connection to my computer goes out about once hour. It happens with varying frequency (sometimes more than 10 times within the hour) and doesn't happen to any of the other computers on my network. Fixing it is easy, but very frustrating. I have to unplug then plug back in the cable to my computer for it to recognize the connection. It also WITHOUT fail happens whenever I try and download a torrent. I'm not sure if they are related or separate issues. please help!
posted by nyu2 to computers & internet (10 comments total)

A couple thoughts:

1. Have you updated the driver for your network card?

2. Have you updated the firmware on your router?

3. Have you tried telling your bittorrent client to use less connections?
posted by damn dirty ape at 10:17 AM on July 11, 2007

1) my network card was not working. I have been using a usb network adapter for the past year.

2) yes, I tried updating the firmware on the router. I think I succeeded, but not exactly sure how to double check that it worked.

3) I haven't tried that, but will when I get home. Just curious, does this lead to slower download/upload speeds?

thanks
posted by nyu2 at 10:20 AM on July 11, 2007

I had a very similar issue (and torrents seemed to be the culprit), and replacing my cable modem (which was just a rental, so the swap was free and easy) fixed it.

I'm not sure if it was a faulty cable modem or the type of cable modem (the new one was a different make/model).

You could test what is to blame by bypassing the router, if it doesn't put the other network people out too much.
posted by backwards guitar at 11:18 AM on July 11, 2007

Has the USB ethernet adapter every worked properly? Ive only had experience with USB wireless and its all been 100% terrible. Also, just because its USB doesnt mean it doesnt have a driver. Check the vendors website.

Usually the router has a status or admin page that displays the firmware version.

I recetnly cut the global connections on utorrent to something like 1/3rd or 1/2 the default and didnt notice a slowdown in upload or download speeds. Of course YMMV, but its something to play with.
posted by damn dirty ape at 11:36 AM on July 11, 2007

What is the other end connected to? It could be a bad port on that device. Try a different port, or better yet, try bypassing that device entirely (if it is possible).
posted by Chuckles at 12:06 PM on July 11, 2007

One thing to try would be limiting the upload speed on bittorrent. Sometimes upload speeds will get up near 60 kb/s which is enough to completely choke my cable internet to the point where I can't load a webpage. I would limit it to around 30 kb/s.
posted by rancidchickn at 12:31 PM on July 11, 2007

I'd be willing to bet something small and unvaluable that you're trying to create more simulteneous connections than either A) the computer or B)(more likely) the router can handle.

Most routers choke above 200, they say 255, but it's 200.

Basically, the router is booting you. You disconnect and reconnect and it reconfigures you. It's doing this to prevent crashing the network.

You never need more than 100 global connections MAX, more like 50, so change your settings. Send me an email if you need help w/ configuring BT to supreme settings, I ar3 teh g00d at eet.

;-)
posted by TomMelee at 2:00 PM on July 11, 2007

Also be aware that some cable internet providers will intentionally throttle the number of connections. I was having the same trouble with a router/modem mismatch, and ultimately I had to ditch both to get bt to work. (Linksys and whatever the fuck shitty modem Comcast had provided a couple years back).
posted by klangklangston at 2:20 PM on July 11, 2007

I had the same thing happen with my motorola surfboard cable modem & torrents. It only happened when I used the ethernet port. totally went away when i tried using the usb port. I still don't know what was up, but it seems like it was a hardware problem.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 3:38 PM on July 11, 2007

Oh, hahaha -- do you live at Cliff or Water? I just love RCN. Living here for the last two years, I've been going through the same crap (although without torrent trouble).

Unfortunately I don't have any suggestions. Every time it happens to me, I call RCN's help line (1-800-756-4726). It hasn't done anything yet, but if they're wasting my time, I'm going to waste theirs keep them updated about problems with their service.
posted by booksandlibretti at 10:43 PM on July 11, 2007