My initial problem was that I lost all connectivity with my router connected to the DSL modem. this was after my setup worked consistently for over 9 months. I was on the phone for over 4 hours total (2 sessions, the first one blamed it on an outage). The ISP technicians can "see" the modem when I was having this problem and confirmed my setup of the router. All the LEDs were positive (green). The ISP technician then asked for me to connect the modem directly to the computer. Various things were tried, including powering down the modem and computer. Still no connection (ping would not work). The last thing tried was to force the computer to talk to the mode at 1/2 duplex 10 base T and try to connect. This seemed to kickstart everything and everything now works with the router or directly to the PC. This may also seem to be a coincidence, but this problem happened about a week and a half after changing the terms on my DSL service (cheaper bundle). It is looking like the solution is one of the following: 1) Buy a new DSL modem that sopports 10 and 100 base T (I think I saw one at best buy, mine only supports 10 base T) 2) Buy a router that I can put linux on so that I can configure the router for 10 base T.this sounds like fun, but the likelyhood of eventually breaking it is great. 3) Buy both a new modem and router. I am confident that my equipment predated the gigabit standard release, so this is not a totally irrational solution (based on the autonegotiation standards). 4) Ignore the issue and kickstart the connection again if the problem re-occurs. My guess is on #4 for now, but #1 then #2 or #3 is still a possibility. Thank you everybody for your help. My biggest issue was not realizing that this kind of autonegotiation issue is not very unusual. I REALLY dislike it when I call tech support and my equipment is at fault. On Mon, 3 Dec 2007 12:18:24 -0500, "John Stoffel" <john@stoffel.org> said:
kstratton> Thank you everybody for your replies. I now know that this kstratton> autonegotiation issue can be potentially be a much bigger kstratton> problem with 100 base T than I thought. Specifically, kstratton> there is no defined mechanism in the spec to autonegotiate kstratton> for 100 base T cards. If I actually have time for this, I kstratton> guess I will have to find the spec and read it...
Don't bother, it's not going to help you really. Just recognize that you can see auto-neg issues and keep it in mind when trouble shooting problems.
kstratton> My network driver (windows) is a "NVIDIA nForce MCP kstratton> Networking Controller". It is an integrated network kstratton> connector on a HP pavilion. I do not know of a windows kstratton> equivalent to lspci, so I cannot get the actual reported kstratton> hardware rev. Maybe I have to get a good live CD distro.
Hmm... I thought you were having auto-neg problems between your PC and the cable modem, you never said you had a Router in there. At least I don't remember and it's monday and I'm not good at memory... :]
kstratton> In this case, resetting the cable modem did not fix the kstratton> problem, although it may have fixed it in the past.
kstratton> My router is a four port Linksys Router about 5 to 8 years kstratton> old. My modem is a Speedstream 5280. I am sufficiently kstratton> annoyed by this problem to consider buying a new router if kstratton> this router has a force 10 base T option for the WAN. I am kstratton> willing to listen to any suggestions.
So just to rehash the problem, you are seeing problems between the router and the cable modem, or between the router and the PC?
Ok, so I just re-read your initial post and it sounds like you pulled the Router out of the mix when debugging with your ISP. What was the initial problem that had you remove the Router? What were the symptoms?
It could simply be that one of the hardware boxes is getting flaky and starting to fail. But we need more information to really help.
I've got an old Motorola Cable Modem (bought my own replacement) which I'd be willing sell/lend if need be. I think it's a 3200 something or other. Don't remember off hand. I'm with Charter, which might be an issue.
Good luck, John _______________________________________________ Wlug mailing list Wlug@mail.wlug.org http://mail.wlug.org/mailman/listinfo/wlug
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