Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with connectivity

I can't reach one single website from home. no problem using any other connection. what gives?

krautland — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:54:30 -0800

I can't reach one single website from home. no problem using any other connection. what gives? whenever using my dsl at home, a particular website is either extremely slow to respond or completely unreachable. (site in question: daringfireball.net - it is, my isp assures me, not blocked, which they don't do anyway.)

I have a t-mobile surfstick here: no problem reaching the site. I have an iphone here: no problem reaching the site as long as it's not connected to my wifi network. I have spoken to the owner: no uptime issues. still I can't ping it and traceroutes get lost around uunet in sf. I called the isp to inquire and they assure me they have no problems reaching the site either. their technical staff called me back twice and even came out to check out the line. they were very confused and so am I.

there is not much else to say about this particular dsl connection. it's pretty solid, all ports seem to be open, only ichat has sometimes disconnected and then right again reconnected. I fixed that by changing my wifi channel. nothing else seems out of whack to me and thus I'm asking you. oh yeah, all browsers. I'm running os x.

so what could it be?

IP homeless

EmpressCallipygos — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:59:57 -0800

Out of nowhere I cannot renew my IP address and thus cannot connect to the Internet at home. Please hope me! My problem is very similar to this in terms of symptoms -- cannot connect to the internet, have traced the problem to "cannot renew an IP address." Except I have no earthly idea what precipitated this.

* I am using Windows XP on a Dell Vostro, which I got about 2 years ago.

* I have not installed any new software this month.

* I am connecting via a wireless router connected to my new cable modem connection which I've only had for a couple weeks. My roommate can connect to it without incident.

* I first noticed the problem on Monday -- I brought my laptop out of the house and used it at a coffee shop without incident. I then brought it back home and started having IP address renewal problems. I tried ipconfig/release and ipconfig/renew, as well as powering down the modem and plugging it back in, but no luck.

* Last night I did a full scan on Housecall, a full adaware scan, and a Malware bytes scan; that got it working again.

* Tonight I was using it again fine, but then got a phone call and left the computer unattended and the screen went into hibernate mode -- and when I brought it out of hibernate mode, I'd lost the internet connection, and I'm back to not getting it back because it cannot renew an IP address.

Please help. Right now I am only connecting via the DSL I wanted to get rid of.

(P.S. -- PLEASE, PLEASE no cracks about how I should buy a Mac instead, unless you are willing to give me the money to do so. Thank you.)

Apple is rejecting me

bricoleur — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:16:07 -0800

For the past few days (maybe longer, I'm not sure), I have not been able to connect to apple.com or the iTunes store, nor update software with Software Update, on my 10.4.11 iMac, although I can connect to the rest of the 'net. Apple.com just hangs; iTunes and Software Update tell me that there is something wrong with my network connection. I've had my firewall on, but turning it off has had no effect.

I'd scour the Apple forums but I can't get to them.

Does Zune HD have VPN connectivity option?

omaralarifi — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 11:13:09 -0800

Does Zune HD have VPN connectivity option as iPod touch?

Intermittent connectivity issue

John Smallberries — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:23:56 -0800

How do I know if it is my router that is causing me connection headaches? I have a habit of browsing in Firefox with many open tabs at any time. Lately - and with increasing frequency - when I open the browser, many of the tabs will not load. Constantly hitting refresh will, after reporting eventually load them. Then, intermittently, any particular tab will be unable to follow a link - I get a 404 not found message. Reloading *repeatedly* will, again, eventually fetch the page, but the dead moments seem to be getting longer and longer. (No tabs will actually open links at these times - any link gets a 404 message.)

A few months ago, I made the leap to a wireless home network and bought my first router. The router I am using is the cheapest one I could find, a Belkin MyEssentials Wireless G Router. The desktop computer that is having the issues is actually attached by wire. My netbook and Palm Pilot connect wirelessly without trouble, and I haven't had the same problem with them - but I browse MUCH less often on either of those. I never had this problem before I got the router - but I also didn't have it for four or five months AFTER I got it too.

Should I go ahead and try a better router? I've never understood the differences in function between cheap routers and more expensive models, and the price range is considerable.

Or should my suspicions focus more on my DSL modem? Or my ISP itself? Or a virus? Or...

Sigh. I want this problem to go away. I'm not real resistant to frustration, and my cat is getting tired of being hollered at for no good reason.

What is wrong with my Internet connection?

Houyhnhnm — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 16:47:12 -0800

Every few minutes, my Internet connection drops out. It is a shared DSL connection that I connect to in my apartment (I have no access to the router). If I click the "Renew DHCP Lease" button in my Mac's preferences, it will work just fine for a few more minutes until it just stops again. What is the reasoning behind this, and how can I fix it so I don't have to "renew" my "lease" all the time?

How did people ever get by with laptops before wireless routers?

synecdoche — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:49:00 -0800

My partner's Macbook is having trouble staying connected to our Wireless network. Mine still works fine. Yesterday, my partner started to have trouble connecting to the Internet using her Macbook. The only thing that changed is the latest update to OSX.

Basically, she can connect to our network, but can't get online. Sometimes rebooting helps, and so did resetting the network settings (deleting all the existing network profiles and starting over). She can connect if she plugs in directly to the modem or to the router and my Macbook (albeit an earlier model) still works fine. It also has the latest OSX update. She has tried connecting on another unsecured network she can pick up and the same thing happens: she can get on the network, but can't access the web or her e-mail.

We suspect it is her Airport card. but we're really not sure She does have Applecare. Is this something that needs to go to the Apple Store? If so, how long will the computer be gone for? Alternatively, is the network card very accessible if I wanted to look for a loose connection?

There are no other problems with the computer.

Why internet slow

Citizen Premier — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:56:24 -0800

Frequently, web pages time out and won't load--why is this happening? Now, I have a 512 kbps connection, which isn't that fast, but I'm pretty sure it shouldn't be that slow. I just got this internet service, and I've been able to download torrents fairly quickly. No, that's not the problem--I turn my torrent software off and it's still quite slow.

It's not my firewall. I also already tried opening more ports on firefox.

Oh yes, and I'm on a PC with Windows XP. And I'm not terribly knowledgeable. Any help will help.

macbook wifi degrading connection

mecran01 — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 11:09:56 -0800

My 13" Macbook loses wifi connectivity, but then regains it when I reboot. I'm wondering if I can fix my wifi problems with some sort of software tweak, or whether I need to do the heavy lifting. The connectivity started getting worse when (presumably) the neighbors got new routers. As a result, I can't use my macbook in the east side of the house, but the middle and west side have been ok.

Recently it will lose connectivity even in the middle of the house. When I reboot, I can connect for a while, then it degrades again.

What is happening when I reboot?

I have used Kismac to scope out my neighbors. Some of them have their routers set to automatically choose channels, and I can see them fighting with each other. I have tried changing the channel on my own router, a Linksys wrt110 with upgraded firmware. Unfortunately, it doesn't have an external antenna jack.

Talking with my neighbors about choosing different channels will be hard because a) we don't have that kind of relationship and b) I'm pretty sure that they don't know how to do it.

Our previous router was a linksys 80211b, and if I have to I can connect it to our primary router and place it beneath the dead zone in our house.

I am not averse to just running cat5 to the dead spots in the house. However, given that my connectivity improves when I reboot my machine, I wonder if there is a driver fix, or a replacement wifi card (80211n?) that will rectify the problem. Heck, I'd even use a usb wifi thing if that would help.

Thanks, and sorry for the length of this post.

Oh, and it would appear that this is a common problem, i.e. slow connection that eventually drops.

I have a 2ghz intel core duo macbook with 2gb of ram.

AirPort Card Information:

Wireless Card Type: AirPort Extreme (0x168C, 0x86)
Wireless Card Locale: USA
Wireless Card Firmware Version: 1.4.10.3
Current Wireless Network: thundermonkey
Wireless Channel: 1

System Software Overview:

System Version: Mac OS X 10.5.7 (9J61)
Kernel Version: Darwin 9.7.0

Connectivity issues after IP changes

lholladay — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:42:27 -0800

Our office recently changed ISPs, which meant changing our public IPs. Connectivity issues abound. I'm fairly certain the firewall is at fault, but I'm not sure where to go from here. Background:
We changed ISPs. We now have a new /26 subnet. I've updated all internal servers, and the firewall. (Cisco ASA 5510). All internal office PCs are set to use the firewall as their gateway. The firewall then does dynamic NAT on the internal IPs, translating them to a single public IP.

Problem:
Certain websites we host refuse to load. These sites are hosted at Rackspace. Sometimes I'll get a title, sometimes the progress bar goes a little further, but for the most part, the browser just spins. This doesn't happen with the rest of the internet. Just our hosted sites. I can access the sites just fine from home.

Notes:
Serendipitously, I set up a wireless router on the network yesterday. It gives out its own DHCP and has its own separate public IP. Computers using this router do not experience connectivity issues to our hosted sites.

This makes me think the Cisco firewall is at fault, or misconfigured. I'm wondering if it has some old routing tables which need to be cleared. I have tried 'clear xlate', 'clear local-host', and 'clear route'. The problem still persists.

Any firewall experts out there see an obvious thing I'm missing?

Nokia: Keep WiFi, kill MEdia Net

caution live frogs — Thu, 07 May 2009 06:25:48 -0800

I upgraded my phone. It has WiFi. It also has AT&T's MEdia Net. I don't have a data plan. How can I make sure it's using WiFi? Nokia E71x just landed. It's an S60 phone. I needed an upgrade, so I went for it. WiFi works fine, I can connect to my home network, but balked at setting up email, etc. as I don't want to get hammered by data rates.

In my connections settings, WiFi is set as priority 1 with MEdia Net as priority 2. What I'd like to do is remove MEdia Net as a connection possibility, so the phone won't use it at all.

So, here are my two questions:

1. Is it possible to completely disable MEdia Net as an access point, so I can use WiFi without fear of getting hit by access fees?

2. Is it possible to do so in a way that will allow me to re-enable it, if I do get a data plan in the future?

Lousy connectivity on my new DSL

soviet sleepover — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 11:13:50 -0800

Diagnose my wifi difficulties, please! New DSL installation with intermittent, slow connectivity and occasional weird pings/notifications. I'm somewhat computer savvy, but I'm definitely missing something basic, so assume I'm a beginner with all this!

I just got DSL (with SBC Global) and an inherited modem and linksys router. I followed the instructions on the SBC Global installation cd, installed the phone filters, etc. Connectivity is intermittent (and extremely slow), even though the signal always appears strong, and roommates also have the same problems. I'm usually able to connect to the router (though not reliably). Pings return occasionally weird results (posted below), and every once in a while this error will pop up:
"192.168.1.64 in use by 00:90:4b:b4:ef:dc, DHCP Server 192.168.1.254"

The intermittent connection also seems to happen when I'm connected directly to the modem via an ethernet cable, but I don't think it's a problem with the physical lines: I've already checked the phone box outdoors, and there's no corrosion (plus, I'm pretty sure the previous tenants have had wireless here without complaint).

Here's the last minute-or-so of a ping:

64 bytes from 69.13.72.249: icmp_seq=8227 ttl=55 time=64.149 ms
64 bytes from 69.13.72.249: icmp_seq=8228 ttl=55 time=72.922 ms
64 bytes from 69.13.72.249: icmp_seq=8230 ttl=55 time=72.530 ms
64 bytes from 69.13.72.249: icmp_seq=8233 ttl=55 time=62.075 ms
60 bytes from se5-l0.pltnca.sbcglobal.net (151.164.186.133): Communication prohibited by filter
Vr HL TOS Len ID Flg off TTL Pro cks Src Dst
4 5 00 0054 2cc6 0 0000 3e 01 fff4 192.168.1.64 69.13.72.249

64 bytes from 69.13.72.249: icmp_seq=8612 ttl=55 time=81.776 ms
64 bytes from 69.13.72.249: icmp_seq=8613 ttl=55 time=61.918 ms
64 bytes from 69.13.72.249: icmp_seq=8614 ttl=55 time=61.946 ms

I don't think I've left anything important out, but I'm not sure what to do and ordinary fiddling hasn't seemed to fix anything. Help, metafilter! You're my only hope!

Wireless Networking Dramas

Effigy2000 — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:55:27 -0800

WiFiFilter: My computer can see and connect to my wireless access point. So can my PS3, Wii and iPhone. But unlike my PS3, Wii and iPhone, it can't browse the net. Ping requests are timing out. What am I doing wrong? The Wireless connection can see and connect to my Access Point with no problems (so the connection does establish) but browsing the web, checking my e-mails or even browsing other files on the network dosen't work. Ping requests are timing out.

There is nothing wrong with my Access Point as far as I can tell. My other wireless devices (my PS3, my Wii and my iPhone) all connect to it without a hitch and have done for some time.

I've tried manually assigning IP addresses and that didn't work.

Although this computer is located at the other end of the house, signal strength is still classed as 'Very Good', likely due to the massive antenna I have to broadcast with. Infact, my iPhone works flawlessly over WiFi right next to the computer in question, so signal strength is probably not a factor here.

I've also tried turning off the firewall (I use Sygate) on the computer running the Access Point, but the other computer still won't let me use the web or browse the network.

The only reason I can think of for this not to work is that the computer that I'm trying to connect to my access point is using an older ASUS Wifi @ Home 802.11b Wireless LAN Card, while my Access Point is an 802.11g. However my Google searching suggests that while this was once a problem, newer drivers and updates to WinXP have ensured that it no longer is. That said, I'm using WinXP and have SP3 installed. Drivers for my LAN Card are all up to date. And still it connects to my Access Point but provides me no internet access.

I'm using the LAN Card's own software to configure the connection to my Access Point. Window's own connection manager has been pretty useless in connecting to my AP for some reason.

Help me Metafilter! You're my only hope. Please make connecting my two PCs as easy as it was to connect my other wireless devices!

How do I get iTunes to recognize my deactivated iPhone?

chowflap — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:25:52 -0800

How do I get iTunes to "see" my hand-me-down iPhone? I'm on a mac, if that matters. My boyfriend gave me his old iPhone when he upgraded to a 3G model. I've been using it as an iPod Touch, mainly just for playing games and using Safari and Twitter, etc. I would love to put podcasts and music onto it, if I could only get my iTunes to recognize it when I plug it into my laptop. The iphone is definitely connected, as the phone buzzes and the "charging" screen pops up. I have googled the issue to see if others have had the issue, but they just suggest restarting the computer, and re-installing the newest version of iTunes -- which I did, but no dice. Can anyone help me? I am only semi-computer-literate... Thanks!

My DSL woes, in verse. Hopefully I won't have to progress to haiku.

EmpressCallipygos — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:17:03 -0800

An appeal to you all so I don't run up the wall/Or beat on my desk with my forehead./For when my DSL is good, the connection's very good -- But when I use the phone, it is horrid. ....In other words.

I have a DSL account with AT&T which I can confirm is properly set up (a friend who was the head of IT for Bloomberg.com for ten years saw to that), and I also have my phone -- an old-ish cordless phone -- plugged into it, and yes, I am using a filter for that. No other electronic device is plugged into this DSL box.

Now. Whenever I use the phone, the DSL box drops its connection to the Internet, and the only way to get the internet connection BACK is to do a hard reset of the DSL box by unplugging and replugging the power cord into the DSL box. Sometimes, even so, it takes up to a half hour. Everything else is fine -- the DSL, LAN, and other lights are on, just the Internet craps out.

Now, I thought that that was the whole point of DSL, that you could use phone and internet simultaneously. We've tried calling AT&T, but all the tech support said is that "sometimes cordless phones interrupt the service". She did not say why, nor have any idea how to rectify that.

...Suggestions? Thoughts? I do have a newer phone I just haven't broken out of the box yet, might that help? (The phone I have now is about 4 years old.)

Countdown to disconnect...

SpacemanStix — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:17:20 -0800

My laptop wireless keeps dropping. I have two other computers in the same apartment that are connecting wirelessly through the same router, in the same proximity, so I don't think it's environmental interference. How do I best troubleshoot the likely cause? It was working fine a few weeks ago. The only thing I've done in the meantime is connect to the router with an ethernet cable, and although the timing seems to coincide with this, I can't figure out why it would make a difference. When it drops the signal, I'm able to reconnect immediately without issue, and it generally holds for up to 10 minutes until it drops again.

Any troubleshooting tips I've searched out haven't been very helpful. I'd be very appreciative if anyone has any good ideas, based on the details I've provided.

Windows XP, XP64, Vista, and Linux machines refuse to play nicely together.

Nixie Pixel — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:02:09 -0800

Windows XP, XP64, Vista, and Linux machines refuse to play nicely together - Why can't I get them to ping each other? I am trying to hook up a mixed network for file/print sharing, network gaming and the like, but I seem to be having basic IP issues and I'm pulling my hair out trying to figure out the problem! I am attempting to set up a mixed wired/wireless network spread out across multiple rooms. Currently I am using a D-Link DGL-4300 wireless router to share the (single) IP address given by my ISP through NAT to the wired/wireless network. To be thorough I'll give you the network topology (though I have already ruled out hardware issues):

Three rooms are wired back to the network closet using the T568B standard, and connected via cat-5 cables to the DGL-4300. In room A one Windows XP64 Pro SP2 computer (for security Windows Defender only) is connected directly from the wall jack.

In room B one Windows XP SP2 computer (Comodo Firewall) is connected via a 5-Port Linksys hub.

In room C one Xbox 360 and one Windows XP Home SP2 computer (Norton 360 installed) are connected to the wall jack via a Dynex 10/100 5-Port fast ethernet switch, and chained to that is a Netgear 8-Port 10/100 fast ethernet switch. Connected to this are one Windows XP64 Pro SP2 machine (Comodo Firewall), one Windows XP Home SP2 machine (Comodo Firewall), and usually one D-Link wireless router (with DHCP server turned off, to extend the wireless network) though this is currently disconnected to help troubleshoot the wired network problems.

Also in the building are another Xbox 360 connected wirelessly and three laptops. One is XP Home SP2 (norton), one Vista Home Premium (Norton), and the last one is the laptop I have been using to test the physical connections and hardware - I'm dual booting Vista Home Premium (Comodo) and Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex (8.10).

Here is the problem: Every single machine sees the internet without problems. They all ping the router, see web sites, reach the DNS server and sites by both name & IP address, and generally are happy when it comes to things outside of the trusted network. However, only one computer on the network is able to be pinged, by every other computer - the XP64 machine in room A. I can't test outgoing pings from the Xbox 360s, but they cannot be pinged.

The only exception to this is my Vista/Linux laptop - when booting to Linux, the Linux machine is able to be pinged by any computer on the network (and it happily and easily sees the PC in room A, far less painfully than networks setup on Windows...). However, booting it to Vista makes it unreachable. It makes no difference if the machine is connected wirelessly or through a wire.

I've played with the network hardware and cabling, and none of it makes a difference. The machines themselves (and more properly, their OSs) are having problems seeing each other. It doesn't matter if I put them on the same workgroup or not (which I have,) or if NetBIOS over TCP/IP is turned on (which it is). I have also tried both defining "trusted zones" and completely shutting off firewall protection for the PCs, without any change in this behavior. I have tried setting static IPs on the same address range, with no luck.

The computers/Xbox 360s are all on the same IP address range (192.168.0.x), with no IP conflicts due to static IPs being set (when setting these I put them on a range outside of the DHCP range), and all are set to subnet mask 255.255.255.0. All have the proper gateway set.

The affected PCs can ping themselves, ping the router, and ping the PC in room A (and, if it is booting to Ubuntu, the Linux laptop), but not ping each other. The PC in room A and the Linux laptop can ping each other, but cannot ping any of the affected devices on the network. I have two gaming PCs in room C which can see network games such as Sins of a Solar Empire and Neverwinter Nights 2 which each other host, but not ping each other.

(While previewing the message, I had an idea, and tried an Ubuntu Live CD on the PC in room B - sure enough, upon boot it was reachable by other PCs on the network. So the problem is Windows-specific, and definitely not hardware/location-specific)

Can anyone help me figure out why they can't ping? I can probably figure out the rest, once this basic question is resolved.

Sorry for the length of this question, but I figured I ought to be thorough. By the way, if someone has a suggestion for a forum where I can get personal help from a more targetted user base, I am happy to try that as well.

Thank you so much!

only connect

grumblebee — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 07:37:58 -0800

Two Macbook Pros, same model, same room, one gets a lot of bars and a strong connection via airport; the other gets just a couple of bars and a low connection. I recently acquired a slightly-used (as in used for one day) Macbook Pro (15" -- not one of the models Apple just released).

I tried it in my apartment next to my old Macbook Pro (also 15", about a year older than my new-used one).

My older one got a good wireless signal. My newer one got a crappy wireless signal. They were both equidistant from my
Linksys router.

I thought maybe the older one was somehow interfering with the newer one, but I tried the newer one by itself, in a different location. In this new location, everyone else (some on similar macs) got a good signal. I still got a crappy one.

The previous owner told me that he had the same problem with it, and he took it into the Apple Store. They ran some kind of diagnostic program on it and insisted that nothing was wrong. The previous owner concluded that the signal was just weak where he was trying to use it. But unlike me, he didn't test it next to another computer.

I can sometimes get a good signal by turning airport off and on or by going into Network Preferences and hitting Renew DHCP Lease. But the boost in connectivity only lasts a few minutes. (This also might be my imagination. The signal waxes and wanes, so maybe I'm seeing a cause/effect where there isn't one.)

I have also been able to get a strong signal by placing my Macbook right next to the router. If I move even a few feet away, the signal degrades.

Vitals:
- Mac OS X Version 10.5.4
- Processor 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- Memory 4GB 667 NHz DDR2 SDRAM

Diagnosing intermittent connectivity problems

ottereroticist — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:03:11 -0800

I'm experiencing intermittent periods (several hours every couple of days) where web pages are extremely slow to load and/or hang while partially loaded. How do I figure out what's causing the problem and fix it, ideally without wasting a lot of time on the phone with my ISP? Specs:
Mac OS X 10.4.11
Firefox 3.0.1 (Safari 3.1.2 and iTunes 8.0 are also affected)
Netgear mr814v2 wireless router with 64 bit WEP encryption
Motorola SB5120 cable modem
Comcast internet service

Thanks for any clues, Internet superfriends!

I have 2 routers, 1 wired and 1 wireless, can I get devices connected to the wireless router to see eachother?

anglaise — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:27:31 -0800

I have two routers, one wired one wireless. The wired router is connected to the internet and the wireless router is connected to the wired router. My iPhone and MacBook are both connected to the internet via the wireless router and in turn the wired router. I'm trying to get them to see each other. How? Router (wired) has ip address 192.168.0.3 and router (wireless) has ip address 192.168.0.86 . The iPhone and MacBook are both connected to the wireless router. However iPhone apps such as remote, files and things can't see the other device over the wireless network and I'm forced to disconnect from the internet and create a computer to computer network using the MacBook in order to use these applications. For a number of complicated reasons the router setup needs to stay like this (1 wired 1 wireless) so I'm afraid that changing that isn't an option. I'm clueless when it comes to all this. Is what I'm trying to do possible? Thanks for any guidance that anyone can provide. I can give more information if needed!

WRT54GL Woes

Alterscape — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:15:43 -0800

My Linksys WRT54GL has stopped connecting to some (but not all) websites. Help! I have a Linksys WRT54GL 1.1 set up as a wireless router in my home, with four macs and one Windows XP system connected. Starting about three days ago, certain websites refused to load on any of the connected machines -- Firefox pauses on "Connecting to [url]..." and then eventually displays a "cannot connect" error. There doesn't seem to be a pattern to whic websites are OK and which are not -- Google's whole family of sites are OK, as is HowardForums and all the various instant messenger services (AIM, ICQ, MSN, GTalk); Metafilter, Wikipedia and xkcd, among many others, are not. If I connect any of the machines directly to the cable modem (via an ethernet cable), there are no problems, so I know the problem is the router configuration. I was running Tomato 1.21 on the router; I just reflashed to the stock Linksys firmware. However, it looks like some data on the router persisted. I think my next step is a -FULL- reset of the router. Can anyone point out how to do this? I was hoping a firmware reflash + a reset would restore factory defaults, but it doesn't appear to. The only configuration changes I've made to my router recently are (1) reconfiguring from WPA2 to WPA to allow a new roommate with an older wireless card to connect, and (2) configuring dyndns and port forwarding to forward SSH to one of my desktops from outside the apartment. The problem did not begin occuring at the time I made either of these changes; rather, things were OK for about a week and then this happened.

Any thoughts on how to isolate the cause of this problem? I'm relatively technically saavy but I can't think of what factors might cause whole swaths of the internet to vanish to my router.

Help me get an internet connection!

Cat Pie Hurts — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:19:21 -0800

Desperate for a quick solution for internet connectivity. I head up IT at my company. The company is moving to a new building tomorrow morning. The telecom company that we signed up with has royally screwed us, so we will have no internet (DS3) for 3 more weeks (we ordered this back in April). We have already delayed our move twice due to this issue and we can't delay anymore. The wireless provider we are currently with could move our dish in a few hours, but the new location has no line of sight to their tower. This also rules out any Pringles can wireless (too many TALL trees) so, screwed there too. This area has exceptionally poor cell service (all providers), so using EVDO or 3G to bridge the gap won't work. That leaves me with the only live communication ports available in the building: 2 POTS lines. Does anyone know of a dialup ISP that will provision a static IP? Or, some way to get DSL turned up FAST? If I can't get a static, I'll just setup dynamic dns.

We're moving all of our servers tomorrow. Mail is hosted in house. I would leave the mail server in the old facility until we have the new data line in, but the Exchange server needs the PDC for authentication, and I need to bring the PDC with me I'm a *nix guy thrown into the WIndows Server world, so I'm terrified of destroying the AD structure). So, I need SOME type of net connection so that we can, at the very least, get email flowing.

Sorry for the frantic nature of this, but this move is killing me.

Connected to Ask.Me ... Waiting for reply

Gyan — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 03:50:21 -0800

I can't connect to a couple of sites from any browser. One of them being Wikipedia. In FF3, I type "en.wikipedia.org" and press go. The status bar gets stuck on "Waiting for en.wiki.....". It never actually times out (at least, not within the first couple of minutes before my patience runs out). Similar outcome in IE6. This occasionally happens with Metafilter as well. The first time this happened was 6 months ago. It soon got back to normal and remained that way till mid-June. Oddly, when Wikipedia is OK, Metafilter doesn't load, and vice versa. But mostly it's Wikipedia which is down for the past 2-3 days. I can ping both sites successfully. My hosts file has no entries besides localhost. I'm using OpenDNS alongwith my ISP's.

I'm in Mumbai, India on Metro Ethernet and my (local) ISP techs know squat except their script. OS is XP SP2. No other site gives me problems, except for one, but that seems a server-side issue.

mp3 player, incommunicado!

nicolas léonard sadi carnot — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:26:57 -0800

I just reinstalled XP, and on first plugging in my little mp3 player / USB stick (a Samsung YP-U3), I declined to go through any of the "install new hardware" process, figuring it would just show up as an external HD and I could manage my files like that. Well, it doesn't - the display on the stick reads "connecting", then it connects, then straightaway the display assures me that the USB is safely disconnected. As far as my computer's concerned, it's invisible. Running the bundled software does no good either - the stick's just as invisible through the Samsung media manager program as through Explorer. On any other computer than mine, it works perfectly, and I can see it no trouble. So - is there any way to render my poor stick visible?

Getting snookered trying to connect a new laptop running Vista Home Basic to our fully functional home WLAN!

kairab — Mon, 26 May 2008 12:40:00 -0800

I have recently received a brand new HP530 laptop sporting an Intel Celeron M chip at 1.6GHz running a pre-installed version of Microsoft Windows Home Basic. Lovely to look at, but I rapidly came to grief attempting to connect to my BT HomeHub WLAN which works just fine for my iMac and another laptop PC. (1) Following the recommended route of going "Control Panel>Network & Sharing Center>Connect to a network" I get the message "Windows cannot find any network". Going to the submenu "Sharing & Discovery" I see that Network discovery is switched OFF. Clicking on "Turn on network discovery" then "Apply" then, in the User Account Control pop-up window, "Continue", I find that Network discovery is STILL switched OFF!
(2) I then attempt to "Manually connect to a wireless network" only to get told "An unexpected error occurred" (no error type specified, so no help there)!
(3) When clicking on Windows Network Diagnostics, I am told that "The network adapter 'Wireless Network Connection' is not connected" and that "Windows found a problem that cannot be repaired automatically".
(4) I then attempt to connect to my modem router using a USB cable. This prompts an instruction to insert the CD-ROM which came with the modem router. As this is not readily to hand, I downloaded the relevant driver from the ISP website using a different laptop PC (loaded with Windows XP Professional) onto a USB memory stick. On inserting the stick and opening up the contents on the new HP laptop I discover that the driver file is zipped. Despite Vista supposedly having a built-in zipper/unzipper subprogramme, I cannot find it. I therefore go back to the other machine and download a free zipper/unzipper programme onto the same memory stick, only to find that, before it will open, it requires the prospective user to access the website in turn (as it's free, they employ marketing tools). Snookered!
(5) As it's a Bank holiday over here, the telephone support I am entitled to for 90 days will not be available for another 12 hours. Aaarrrghh!
Surely this issue must have cropped up before? A quick googletrawl doesn't throw up immediate answers, and the Microsoft website Q&As are notably unhelpful, even regarding unzipping in Vista.
Any solutions, anyone?