network problem

[beaker]

Hello

I apologize from the beginning for the length of this post. I'm not sure if i'm in the right place but I need some help and it looks like you all have way more knowledge than I do.

About 3 months ago our system all of a sudden got really slow. Then about two weeks ago our system blew. I didn't know computers could spew out that much smoke!! My IT guy from work got us a new computer and said the surge came from the cable since the network card was fried.

So, we got a new computer with Windows XP. My IT guy installs it and it doesn't work. He uninstalls and installs again, no go. So I call our internet provider. They say it's a problem with the network card or something on our system. My IT guy says it's the internet provider.

The day (at lunch) after getting the new computer (and 3 calls to the internet provider) all of a sudden our computer is working. I come home after work and I can't get in ("cannot find server"). I call again to the internet provider and go thru the usual routine questions with them. They have me unplug the cable from the computer and wall and their system shows that my IP address is still in use.

As you can see, the system is working again which it usually is after 1:00 am. My question is, does this sound like someone else is using our IP address? Can they over-ride our system so we can't get on or get kicked out when they get on? How do I correct this and then stop it from happening again?

Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
beaker

[EaseZE]

If you are using a cable internet provider i do not believe it is possible for someone to be stealing your service or overiding your ip, so as you could'nt use it. This sounds to me like it may be a configuration problem. Make sure your network card is set to use dhcp. The open a dos prompt and type ipconfig /renew. This will lease a new ip from your provider.
Also some things to check.
Make sure your network card is properly installed.
Make sure the right cables are in the correct places.
If you are using an old cat 5 cable replace it with a new patch cable

[Cemetric]

They have me unplug the cable from the computer and wall and their system shows that my IP address is still in use.

Offcourse it's still in use if they use DHCP this can be normal ...probably they have DHCP installed with the option a lease stays active for a few days.

Like EaseZE says you can try to do a release and refresh of your IP-address (you can do this in a MS-dos prompt ... You press start ... Run ... type "CMD" and press enter ... then you have the prompt ...here you type "ipconfig /release" (you might have to give an adapter here a) and press enter ...after this type "ipconfig /renew" ..you should get a new ip-address.

It is strange though that you can access the net after 1 am but not during the day... it means that your ip is in use but is this because your pc still holds that ip and can only access the net after the other person with the same ip logs off or is it because someone spoofs your IP that's a good question ... Maybe someone else here on this board might know a solution.

Hope this helps a bit ?

C.

There's something that just came to mind ... you don't have a account where the option is enabled that you cannot get on the internet at certain times (because you told us the admin installed your pc it might be he accidentally enabled this feature).
Or that you have a firewall enabled with some sort of feature??

Maybe your Administrator can give some advice on these features ... if not let us know please so we can try to help you with some other advice

[beaker]

Thank you for the replies, however I've already done the ipconfig/release & renew when I was talking to the IP people. It didn't give me a new IP # though and they didn't say it should have.

Just to give a little more info....I have a Lancity modem and the IT guy has installed and uninstalled the network card.

The IP guys sent someone out to test our line. He came in with a laptop and connected it to our modem and could connect to the Internet and surf. He unplugged his laptop and our system wouldn't connect to the Internet. Would he have a different IP address, which is why he could connect?

If it was a network card problem wouldn't it happen all the time? Why is it we can only get in sometimes? As you can see, we're on now and it's 11:00 am eastern time here. Friday morning, we got kicked off at around 9:30 and couldn't get back in until around 5 pm. Thursday after work (5:30 pm) we couldn't get on. The times vary.

Also, when we can't get on....we still get popups. If our system doesn't connect (can't get IE, Netscape or ICQ) how is it that popups still come up?

I'm sorry my questions are not more technical...I'm not that computer lingo savvy. I only know the cmd/ipconfig thing because I've been it through it with IP guys like 5 times *grin*. Past that i'm lost.

Thanks!
beaker

Oh yes, a few more things....how do I know if something was enable to only let us in at certain times? That would be something on our computer not from the IP side right? The IP guys didn't say anything about our system only being able to log in at certain times. And like I said above, the times vary so I'm not sure that's it.

Also, on Friday we installed a personal firewall thinking we could help the problem. We were up and running all weekend so we thought it was fixed. But then, I came come yesterday after work and we couldn't get on all night until after midnight.

Thanks again
beaker

[thehorse13]

OK, firt things first:

1) When you drop to a command prompt, type ipconfig. You should get a non public IP address such as 192.168.1.100. You are drawing a DHCP address from your DSL modem, not the provider. If you want to see your routable IP, then you have to open a console session with the DSL modem. It will have a table where you will see LAN address and WAN address. The WAN address is obtained from your provider.
2) Check to see if the WAN IP is good. Your provider can assist you with this.
3) Check and see if your configs are good on the DSL modem first and then look at the PC
4) If all configs are good on the DSL modem, move on to the PC.

It is not uncommon to have a flakey DSL modem. I had one that would drop connections for no reason at all. Once I verified that everything was good, I called my ISP and asked them for a new DSL modem. Since then, I ahve had no issues.

Another quick way to test your PC is to pop a hub or switch behind the DSL modem and see if you can network another PC on your local LAN. This should quickly clear up any suspect PC issues.

--TH13

[Cemetric]

Hmmm,

You have a very strange thing going on.

As the times vary this means someone or something is using your connection or IP-address and you can't connect because you are ( figure of speach) allready connected ...so it could be that someone is hijacking your connection (I think).
What can you do against it .... mmm

What I think is that it is tstrange that your provider doesn't help you any further they tested out your line ..ok but the problem is not the line because sometimes you can connect...the problem is also not your networkcard because of the same reason.

Can't you ask your provider to give you another call in-id and another number or something...maybe that helps.

As for the pop-ups ...these can even come when your offline ... most of the time these are stored on your hard disk in the temp map of your browser.
Get the Adaware program (it's free) and let it run , it's bound to find some malware and tracking cookies and might solve the popup things.

Hope to be of help,

C.

[Maestr0]

hmmm, You say that ipconfig always gives you the same IP and you still get pop-ups as well as well as the fact the laptop worked fine, so one thing that comes to my mind is that maybe your IP is fine and the pop-ups are coming from the messenger service(you didnt say say which 'pop-ups', this is just a stab) perhaps your problem is a DNS one(although why the ISP wouldnt notice I dont know). Use the command line to run ping and see if you are able to ping yourself(127.0.0.1) any other internal systems and then try to ping somewhere on the web. You can also see if NSLOOKUP can properly resovle names for you. Check all your DNS configurations and make sure they are correct and have at least 2 entries(if you're relying on only 1 DNS server you can experience outages if the server is un-reachable or too busy)

-Maestr0

[IKnowNot]

I have seen both cable modems cause such problems and the providers.

to expound on what Maestr0 said,

I would first get a list of known IP addresses ( use nslookup if you have to, get a list, like yahoo.com, 66.218.71.98 etc. )

Then check your DNS server IP addresses on the machine, you should have at least a primary and secondary.

Next time it goes off, try to ping the IP list. If you can ping them in a command prompt, but can not connect with browser the problem might be with the DNS server. Try to ping the DNS server.

That’s where I would start.

[yusufali]

It looks that you have a router that is not releasing the ISP IP. You said that the Technician came with a Laptop and was able to brows the internet. That tells that your Modem is working fine. If you are Using a router such as D-Links you need to renew the IP address on the router. This is only the case if you had a Router/switch between your modem and your PC.

Hope that helps

[dcongram]

It is possible your 'cable modem' is busted. (if you are on cable)
or your 'DSL modem' is busted. (if you are on DSL)

Some DSL providers require you to log in and 'register' your network card before you can
surf the net.

Don't know your situation.......