Help - Sudden Cable Gateway Failure

I am stumped

[Mardi_Gras]

Okay - Monday morning, we came in and found ourselves unable to access the Internet( four station peer-to-peer network, Linksys four port router gateway, cable modem).

The network was - and continues to - work fine. Just no Internet. However, direct PC connection to the cable modem works fine, so I know the problem is on my side.

What we have done:

Checked, double checked, triplechecked all settings

replaced ethernet cable between modem and router

replaced router/gateway

removed all machines from network, and tried hooking different machines (one at a time) to router

Nothing has worked. The network is fine, every machine talks to every other machine, just no Internet.

I am stumped, and I have wasted hours on this. Any suggestions?

Don

[ScottM]

I've had similar problems. This seems to work:

at the "c" prompt type: ipconfig /release

And when it releases type ipconfig /renew

That works on my cable internet..

(Using Window XP pc and 4 port wireless router to 3 seperate pcs)

[ScottM]

The second thing that worked also was to type the ipconfig /release, let it release and then shut everything down- all computers...everything.

Then unplug the power from both the cable modem and the linksys router. Wait 30 seconds. Plug in the cable modem. Wait 30 seconds, then plug in the linksys router. Wait another 30 seconds and then go ahead and fire up all the computers.

[edited by: ScottM at 5:30 pm (utc) on July 17, 2002]

[Grumpus]

Before you do what the above message suggests (Yup, it'll work, but...) do this. The order that you do this in is the key!

1) Shut everything down.
2) Fire up the modem and wait
3) Once you get all three green lights going (i.e. the modem is connected to the internet) plug-in your hub and give it a good 60 seconds to kick in.
4) Turn on the server. Once it's booted, follow the steps in the above message.
5) Test your internet connection.
6) If everything is working, fire up the other machines and you should be good. If it's not working, lather, rinse, and repeat.

G.

[Grumpus]

Ahhh, Scott - you type faster than me!!!!

Sometimes modems take longer than a minute to boot (mine takes as many a 3). Make sure it's fully booted before you plug the router back in.

G.

[Mardi_Gras]

Thanks guys - I will try now.

Your suggestions are appreciated.

[Mardi_Gras]

Okay, tried everything. In order. No joy. But I do appreciate the effort.

[stlouislouis]

Hi,

I had similar problems recently.

What I did that fixed it:

1) Replaced the "regular" i.e. "patch" Ethernet
cable between the cable modem and gateway/router
with a cross-over cable. You can get them at office
and computer stores.

2) Went into the control panel for the router/gateway
and set the network card MAC address the router was giving to
the cable modem to be that of one PC client on the
network. I think in Windows 2000, you can get this
with the IPCONFIG command, IIRC.

As soon as I did step 2, all worked fine.

One other point. A tech suggested to me I "drain"
the EPROM on the cable modem by pushing in and holding
the reset button (thru a small hole with a straightened
paper clip) for at least 30 seconds after I
**disconnected, not just shut off** power to the
cable modem. Then I powered up similar to
comments above -- first the cable modem....
let it just sit for about three minutes after the
lights are blinking correctly to be "served" an
IP from the cable company...
then power up the gateway/router....and let it
sit for up to 3 minutes to "initialize" itself...
then power up the individual PCs, which are set
to get their IP dynamically from the gateway/router.

Note I did the EPROM drain/reset to both the cable
modem and the gateway/router early in the process,
but don't know if that helped or not. Just wanted
to mention it as something you might want to also
try. If you do, disconnect the power, don't just
turn off the power by the on/off switch.

What I think happened was this....even though the
cable company said they didn't do it, they check
the MAC address somehow, and use that in their
authentification/communication protocol. As soon
as I set the gateway/router to "spoof" my main
computer's network card's MAC address all worked fine.

Hope this helps you an others.

Louis

[Mardi_Gras]

After two weeks, two service calls from Cox, and a service call from an independent network consultant (not to mention hours of my time) we are finally back up.

The problem - the modem was not releasing its cache and was somehow not passing the mac address properly to the router (although it worked fine when hooked directly to a computer). Every attempt to reset the modem failed; finally Cox just replaced it.

Thanks to all who tried to help. It is appreciated.

Don