MaryL - the cable guy even told you to disconnect those protectors. Your best hope for a solution here tells you to never reconnect those protectors. How many others also tell you to remove those protectors? If you don't want the problem solved, then reconnect those protectors and stop venting here. The problem is not those offering help. You keep making a solution impossible by 'knowing' otherwise. If you want a solution, then remove those protectors and never connect them again. Protectors also complicate any solution. If you don't like what so many have recommended, then do not ask for help in any newsgroup.
How many computers have you built by hand by literally soldering wires to the semiconductors? I have. My knowledged and experience is that significant. So many others - even the cable guy - say to remove those protectors. Those protectors even make it hard to find a problem if even located elsewhere.
Do you want help or are you only venting? Never climb back under that heavy desk. Never reconnect those protectors until long after the problem is solved. Or bettter - never reconnect them. Now. Which one of us has greater technical knowledge? Your choice. If you are so technically knowledgeable, then reconnect those protectors - that do not even claim to do what you bought them for.
You have an intermittent. Therefore if you bypass the router - connect direct to the cable box - well that intermittent is not causing failure. Therefore the test says nothing useful.
He had baseband numbers. Almost nobody here knows what is being measured - probably not even the technician. Numbers that mean nothing to him (other than they must be so large) or to you, also means that the next reply could be massively informative to the only person here who knows what they mean. If you short your help of information, then you get useless replies based in speculation.
Ok. TV cuts out periodically. You did not list which channel numbers cut out and which do not. So little is learned there.
No, the TV does not cut out. It works even when I have this problem with the Internet.
Only Eudora fails on the internet? You mean another Window on that computer using Internet Explorer still accesses web sites while the first Window with Eudora does not? Yes, have multiple Windows open simultaneously (multitasking) so that both tasks access the internet at the same time. Then we have a serious fact to isolate the intermittent and make a useful reply.
Again, no. The problem occurs most often when I attempt to send a large message through Eudora, but then I cannot access anything on the Internet. Moreover, although I see it more frequently with Eudora than elsewhere, the problem also crops when I am doing something simple on IE -- for example, when I click on a link within CNN.com. It also happens on some occasions when I am reading or sending messages in newsgroups. I'll try what you said (cannot predict when it will happen), but I think that essentially is what has been occurring anyway because I sometimes have IE open when I use Eudora and sometimes not. In either case, once the "drop" occurs, I cannot use either Eudora or IE.
Previous posts suggested using Ping. This is a test that even a 10 year old has performed. Open another Windows using Command Prompt. Enter the ping command as recommended to constantly ping that laptop (obviously laptop also connected to your network).
Exactly how is that done? What do you mean by "as recommended"?
Do same on the laptop to ping the Desktop. Leave those Windows open and pinging constantly. When Eudora does not access the internet, do those two pinging programs see a failure or do they still work constantly.
We must break an intermittent down into what works during failure and what does not. Ping tests when the intermittent is not happening tell us nothing. Everything in this post and in my previous posts is routinely performed by any adult. But some adults have never done it before - therefore assume it is too complex. It is not too complex even for a teenager. No fancy equipment is required. Anybody can do what was posted. But many so love to fear as to fear to even try. Ping comes on all computers. Set it up and do the test. The idea that you cannot only comes from silly fear - the reason why so many cannot learn.
You have right here the best help you could ever want. But you are shorting your help of facts. And leaving your help with gapping holes that result in replies based upon assumptions. If we must add assumptions, then the reply can be completely misguided. If you want to solve this, then every question - especially the ones you fear most
- must be answered.
I am not deliberately leaving out any facts. You are undoubtedly correct, but I can't give any facts if I don't know what they are.
As posted previously, setup the desktop and laptop to ping each other constantly so they will be pinging (or failing) during the intermittent. List the TV channels that fail and do not fail intermittently - also no tools required. UPS does nothing for this problem. Its only function is to provide power during a blackout as posted previously. UPS and protectors do not solve anything related to your current frustration and, if connected to the cable, may even make problems worse. As posted previously and which is why the cable company so accurately recommends it, remove those protectors.
Again, no problem with the TV. There actually was a problem with the TV when all this started, but the SuddenLink technician solved that. I have not had any further problems with the TV.
Never got back under the heavy desk to reconnect them. They do nothing useful. Never again connect them (against advise from every technically knowledgeable poster) only after the problem is solved. They can only make things worse. So once they are disconnected, you never again need to go behind the desk.
I would need a power strip if not a surge suppressor because the outlet does not have space for all the plugs involved.
Finally, when Eudora does not work, does another Window on the same computer still access a web site?
No, everything is gone.
Another important question (and test) so that the best help you could ever ask for can post something helpful. No reason to go anywhere else. The problem is not 'where' you are posting. The problem: you are shorting your help of facts - not answering every question. If you don't answer all those questions, then the only replies will be from others who know only by wild speculation. And if you don't understand the question, then ask. Some recommendations are intentionally posted short so that your help can judge whether or not your really want to solve the problem. You don't ask for clarification, then you only want the wizard of Oz - not a solution.
You have an intermittent. Therefore the easiest recommendation typically solves nothing. That is the nature of intermittents. Your tech even saw the problem - and could not identify it? Well, he did only what techs understand. He did not have someone like me to talk him through the next obvious steps.
BTW, is your cable grounded to the same earthing electrode as the AC electric?
Both are grounded where they enter the building, but I don't know what an "earthing electrode" is.
Connected where both enter the building. Again, that observation is easily performed by anyone. If not, then that can contribute to your problem AND is a safety code violation. Remember that previously posted expression 'canary in the coalmine'? A human safety problem. Just another concept that cable techs either forget to check or never learned.
You posted:
I keep saying you are shorting your help of facts. You never said that before. Now I must assume you are not sure or ... well look. What exactly was connected to what when the cable guy saw the intermittent happen? Suddenly we discovered the router was not connected when failure happened? If that was true, then the cable guy did not suspect the router. Why did he suspect the router when it was not connected during the failure? You did not say why which means we are all adding assumptions to your posts. Just another reason why useful replies are not forthcoming.
I may not have expressed that well. I meant that the failure happened once while the cable guy was here. *Then* he had me bypass the router, but it did not cure anything. I don't know the answer to "why," and I even asked him that.
You said you tried everything you could think of. But one who has far more technical knowledge than you, the cable guy, or most other responders said to check the cable and AC electric share a common ground. Why do you ignore that suggestion? Because you 'know' that could not be a problem? Again, stop shorting your help of necessary facts.
No, the cable guy did not tell me to check that they share a common ground. If he had asked me to do that, I would have asked him to show me how. However, he made a couple of trips out to where the ground is and told me that everything is okay. He also changed out the splitters even though he said they were not causing a problem.
Provided again are things that you next post should answer such as the pinging test, never connecting that UPS or protectors until long after the problem is identified (yes identified - because fixing it comes later), and list of TV channels.
Look. You only think the surge protectors are doing anything because they are entitled 'surge protectors'. As posted previously - they do not even claim to provide surge protection. They are only protectors
- not protection. How many people keep posting to remove all those protectors and UPS - and never connect them again until the problem is solved? The problem is not your replies. Problem starts by you making conclusions that only make a solution impossible - such as reconnecting those surge protectors. The fact that you have those surge protectors says you don't have the necessary basic knowledge. Stop shorting your help of facts. Stop making the problem potentially worse and impossible to solve by reconnecting those protectors and UPS.
Earlier in this post are numerous tests, list of numbers, and inspections. All must be done. If you really want to solve the problem, then you never reconnect those protection AND you do what is posted. You do it because it makes no sense to you ? which means it is probably the best solution you have.
Some of the instructons don't "make sense" to me in the sense that I have no idea how to follow through on them. It's like reading Greek.
MaryL - the cable guy even told you to disconnect those protectors.
Actually, he did not. He did not even mention it until I asked him about quality of surge protectors. Then he said that the cable company actually preferred that we not use any but just sort of "shrugged" when I asked why and said they are ineffective. He did not say they cause damage or problems.
Your best hope for a solution here tells you to never reconnect those protectors. How many others also tell you to remove those protectors?
What about power strips (although some of those also seem to have surge protectors)? As I said in response to your other message, I would have to have at least a power strip because there are too many plugs for the outlets.
If you don't want the problem solved, then reconnect those protectors and stop venting here. The problem is not those offering help. You keep making a solution impossible by 'knowing' otherwise. If you want a solution, then remove those protectors and never connect them again. Protectors also complicate any solution. If you don't like what so many have recommended, then do not ask for help in any newsgroup.
How many computers have you built by hand by literally soldering wires to the semiconductors? I have. My knowledged and experience is that significant. So many others - even the cable guy - say to remove those protectors. Those protectors even make it hard to find a problem if even located elsewhere.
NO, he did not say to remove them.
Do you want help or are you only venting? Never climb back under that heavy desk. Never reconnect those protectors until long after the problem is solved. Or bettter - never reconnect them. Now. Which one of us has greater technical knowledge? Your choice. If you are so technically knowledgeable, then reconnect those protectors - that do not even claim to do what you bought them for.
I suppose you have been all over websites to address the problem, but here are a couple of things. One page has a table for features, and mentions Linksys G not compatible with crowded residential complexes with lots of wireless networks:
It's been a long time since I've seen such a whacko thread and an OP that apparently is clueless. Some key points:
You think point of use surge protectors have something to do with it, so why the hell not just remove them all. If the problem still continues, it's not them. No need to speculate on surge protectors, what the tech said about surge protectors, what anyone here thinks about them etc. End of story. And I'll bet surge protectors have nothing to do with the problem.
Get rid of wireless everything and the router and go to a simple system. One pc connected to a cable modem. Does the problem still exist? If it does, then it's not the router, nothing to do with wireless, etc.
I asked in my first post what the freaking lights on the freaking cable modem do when you have the connection loss. If the online, receive, transmit, lights go out, then come back on one at a time, it's a freaking cable modem or cable problem. The freakin cable modem has a freakin log of errors which will show when it lost connection rebooted, etc. Any tech with half a brain can read it remotely and you can read it yourself if you spend an hour googling and/or reading the manual and learning how the freakin modem works.
I guess I'm like HehBub, I've just lost my patience.
Yes they are ineffective. Also can degrade cable signals, cause intermittent dropouts, and complicate a solution. Therefore the tech is told what the company recommends - don't use them and remove them.
Get a $3 power strip. It should only have one thing necessary for human safety - a 15 amp circuit breaker.
It is an intermittent. Therefore one analysis is to remove everything - break the problem down into parts - so that the problem is not seen. That means testing for no intermittent failures for days. If the intermittent never happens, what (in detail) connects to what. That means even what cables connect to, what does everything share for power, and what is happening on the TV. Of course, you are using three prong power connections - no three prong to two prong converters.
What is connected when failure happens. That does not say anything else is good. But first we must find the defect - long before even considering a solution. I am still only assuming the Linksys router connected to some kind of cable box. It was not specifically stated so I had to make an assumption.
Another tact. Not provided is a list of channels that do and do not work on the TV. Another possible fact that helps ID the problem.
Another useful test - have two computers pinging each other constantly through the router. Then see what happens to that pinging when the intermittent failure occurs. What does work when another failure happens. Again, not a solution. But we are way too far away for a solution. First ID the problem.
Another important inspection - is the cable earthed by the same electrode that earths AC electric.
Another useful fact - those baseband numbers that mean nothing to you and little to the tech may mean everything out here.
Does Eurora only fail or does another Window accessing a web site also fail? Even better, does a constant piing to cox also fail? ping -t
formatting link
Does that pining continue when Eudora locks? Again, both Windows must be open (even if minimized) simultaneously.
Cable company says (recommends) to not use them. He also said (in indirect terms) that he did not know why. Well, he is only a cable tech. He only does what he is told to do; rarely knows why. Why do power strips degrade signals? Because inside components have capacitance - act like low pass filters that eat cable signals. He does not know this. He only knows the company recommends not using them which means remove them; especially when having troubles.
The surge protectors the tech referred to could be lightning arrestors that are in line on the cable. Quite often I'm confronted with people who don't know the correct terminology when talking about a piece of equipment. A surge suppressor or lightning arrestor or protector could interfere with the "T" channels used for cable Internet. A kink in the cable can kill some parts of the frequency band. We had to have about 70 feet of coax replaced at our office because the Internet was down but the TV worked. A protector in line with the cable could unintentionally act as a high pass or band pass filter blocking the frequencies used by a cable modem.
I had similar problems at my last house. The cable TV connection was fine, even for HD, but the Internet connection kept dropping.
My 25 years in the IT business gave me a good background for doing my own troubleshooting, and I eliminated all my own equipment as the cause of the trouble, but tech support at the cable company had to run me through their scripts every time I called. Even telling them I was a pro and used to run helpdesks myself didn't cut any mustard, so don't be frustrated by the endless rechecking when you call. It's just the way they have to do it.
My problem turned out to be cable company equipment faults.
Here's a handwaving description: You know that router you have in your closet? If you follow your cable wire through the wall and down the block, you'll find that the cable company has a bigger router in a metal box somewhere in your neighborhood, and it controls Internet access for you and your several hundred closest neighbors. It does more than split one line 500 ways, but for your needs, that's all you have to think about.
If you follow the big wire out the back of the bigger router, you'll find that it goes to an even bigger router that handles your whole chunk of town. This scheme continues in multiple levels until the wire gets back to headquarters where there're many racks of routers that connect everybody in the region to the Internet backbone.
In my case, one of the upstream devices was faulty and dropped off line regularly. I had to keep turning in complaints and having techs come to my house until one of them could justify kicking the problem up the chain to the next level of techs who were authorized to look at the upstream equipment.
The techs on the phone could do remote diagnostics on my cable modem, but they couldn't look at the other equipment. Only the authorized techs could do that, and they couldn't do anything until there were enough trouble tickets to justify it. (Yeah, I know. It's stupid, but that's corporate rules for ya.) Keep after the cable company.
By the way, I had really poor throughput when I lived in Michigan. After many complaints, a tech figured out that the buried line to my house had water in it. A contractor buried a new line from my house all the way to the big green box at the end of the block, putting in a metal-jacketed cable as big as my thumb. (I'm sure somebody will jump in here and tell us the code name for the stuff.) I was the second guy in the neighborhood to get data service, and the first guy thanked me for the improvement--he didn't know he was having a problem until it went away.
I NEVER lost my patience with my ex-wife! I was always kind, considerate, and ever so understanding.
After she told me I had to sleep eventually.
She finally left me. Ran off with a skinny dance instructor with shiny, pointy-toed shoes and a pencil-thin mustache. Last I heard, they were trying to make a go of a Clown College in Beaumont.
I, on the other hand, prospered throughout our estrangement. Since women fight with "words" (except for the occasional baseball bat in the dark of a moonless and dreary night), I decided to equip myself with the tools of the wordsmith. Since I mastered the language, it's no longer "(grunt)" or "Yes, dear." It's more along the lines of "I'll give your suggestion all the attention it deserves." (This is after I hook 'em with statements like: "Good lord, woman, you're not beautiful, you're an Audrey Hepburn movie" or "The best thing in life to hold onto is each other" or "I was born with a terrible need to give affection.")
I don't think this is the reason I've remained single...
Mary - for what it's worth - when you respond to google groups postings, you need to type something to make your response differentiated from the posting. It's really hard to figure out what you've posted and what you are reaponding to.
I've never figured out why google group postings fail to be properly marked when I respond to them.
Thanks. Most messages are marked (as yours are here), and I did not understand why a few did not include those markers (usually marked with >). Now I understand: watch for google group postings, and maybe some others.
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