internet networking issue

I had a 6Mb cable internet connection, a Motorola router that ran to a nextech router that in turn sent the connection to two computers, then a month after I replaced my old computer with a new one, the connection slowed to aroung 1/8 of its normal speed. after a few days and some calls to the ISP (who said all was well on their end), the connection dropped completely, at best showing a "limited or no connectivity ", and at worst, not seeing it at all. I grabbed a linksys network switch from the local electronics store, but after much work, I found I could only get a connection on one computer at a time, the other displaying the "limited or no connectivity" message. Both computers (a Dell and a home-built) use the motherboard LAN for internet. I've restarted everything in every possible order, but I can't get both computers to receive internet at the same time. It's been several days and I'm all out of ideas.

 

OK - a shot in the dark. How many network cables do you have? I think you may have a fault network cable. If you only have two network cables, it may be that reason you can only connect to the internet with one PC at a time is that the other is connected to the fault cable.

 

My question is "Why the two Routers? "

You should only need one Router with each machine plugged into it. If the Router has more than one input port then you should not need a switch. Cables should go from each machine to the Router. Then the Router to the Modem.

But one thing that I learned ( the bad language making way ) is to set up only ONE MACHINE at a time with the others off.

I do not understand that at all. Right now I have three machines online and one of them is even using the Printer which is also plugged into the Router.

BillyBob

 

Sorry, not two routers, a modem and a router. my bad.

I know it's not a problem with the cables for two resons. One, I've replaced all of them, some multiple times, and second, it's either-or: sometimes one computer has the connection, sometimes the other. It appears to depend on which port on the switch the cable is plugged into. additionally, I had tried plugging the second computer in after everything's up, but to no avail. Normally the Local Area Connection Status thingie claims the computer wasn't given an IP adress, but I don't know what to do with that. A few times I tried manually putting in TCP/IP settings, but only the first computer I would do this with would receive internet. Could the problem be in the way the switch is handling the data?

 

I had the identical situation. Switched cables, ports, computers (within network) yet the problem just continued to move around. Finally figured it out ... router was dying a slow death. Replaced the router, problem stopped.

 

I agree with Dennis L. If the cables are OK and with your description of the fault, the most likely cause is hardware: router/switch.

 

I've now replaced the switch with the same model, and apparently the first one was indeed broken since several problems went away. Alas, not all. I can still only recieve internet on one computer at a time, only there is a definite hierarchy. if there is only one computer hooked up to the switch, it gets internet, but when I plug in the secong computer, the second computer doesn't recieve it. Otherwise, when both are plugged in and regardless of which computer is plugged into which port, my home-built computer gets internet and the Dell doesn't. I haven't replaced the modem, but as far as I can tell, it's working fine. I'll replace it if nothing else works.
Also, The Dell always displays a "limited connectivity" notification, while the home-built claims to be connected, but never receives packets.

 

What are the IP addresses of the two PCs? You can find this information by using ipconfig at the command prompt. The addresses should be different. If they are the same that might account for your problem.

 

The IP adresses are completely different. I'm kinda hazy on this, but shouldn't they have something in common?

in ipconfig, on the Dell, the Default Gateway and Connection-specific DNS Suffix are both empty. additionally, instead of IP Adress, it says Autoconfiguration IP Adress.

I think I should also mention that this is now beyond my technical experience, i.e. DNS is to me as LAN is to my grandmother.

 

OK - You can get your IP address details by running ipconfig at a command prompt. To do this:

Select "Run" from your Start menu.
Enter cmd in the "Open" text box and click OK. This will open a command shell window.
Now enter ipconfig /all at the command prompt. This will output a listing of you IP settings.

You call also do ipconfig /all > output.txt which will send the output to a text file called output.txt rather than to the screen.

If you post the ipconfig output for both PC here, we should be able to move forward with this problem.

 

I couldn't get the "> output.txt" thing to work, despite trying every possible setup of space characters.

Info for dell, internet working:
Windows IP Configuration
Host Name..: DELL-P4
Primary Dns Suffix..:
Node Type..:Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled..: No
WINS Proxy Enabled..: No
DNS Suffix Search List..: hsd1.wa.comcast.net.

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection
Connection-specific DNS Suffix..: hsd1.wa.comcast.net.
Description..: Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Controller
Physical Address..:00-0D-56-07-97-C1
Dhcp Enabled..: Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled..: Yes
IP Address..: 71.231.98.203
Subnet Mask..: 255.255.252.0
Default Gateway..: 71.231.96.1
DHCP Server..: 68.87.69.10
DNS Servers..: 68.87.69.146
68.87.85.98
Lease Obtained..: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 4:25:23 PM
Lease Expires..: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 5:25:23


Info for Homebuilt, internet not working:
Windows IP Configuration
Host Name..: mmd0 [name of the computer, fyi]
Primary Dns Suffix..:
Node Type..: unknown
IP Routing Enabled..: No
WINS Proxy Enabled..: No


Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection
Connection-specific DNS Suffix..:
Description..: NVIDIA nForce Network Controller [plugged into motherboard LAN port]
Physical Address..: 00-E0-4C-48-35-69
Dhcp Enabled..: Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled..: Yes
Autoconfiguration IP Address..: 169.254.45.178
Default Gateway..: 255.255.0.0

Well, there you have it. I'll leave everything set up the same as right now, as I assume you'll need pingable addresses and such.

Hmm. I pinged 169.254.45.178 out of curiosity and all four requests timed out.

Also, thanks to everyone who's helped so far. ^_^

 

That's a public internet address and not a private network address. It looks like the address I would expect you'd use when using a modem only to connect to the internet.

It looks like your routers aren't set up correctly.

A modem is a point to point device. It allows one device to be connected via a single line to another device. If you are only using a modem, only one PC will be able to use the internet connection at a time.

A router allows a network of devices to share a single modem connection. They use a system call Network Address Translation (NAT) to allow you to share a small number of IP addresses (or one address) with many computers.

I think you need to reconfigure you network. It needs to be set up like this:

[computers]====[switch]====[router]====[modem]====[internet]

I think you need to start by chosing a single router, resetting it to factory defaults and then setting it up to work with the modem. Enable NAT to allow you to share internet addresses, and DHCP to automatically assign internal IP addresses. To start with, I would connect a single PC directly to the router. Get the router set up and the internet connection working for the single PC. Then add in the switch and extra computers.

 

If only two PCs then why is a switch needed. ?

My Linksys Router has room for 4 connections.

BillyBob