Any Comcast techs here? (Internet)

[VenomX]

The other day my internet went down. I tried everything to get back online, from unpluging the modem and my router and leaving them sit for a few minutes to reseting the router. Even tried just pluging the modem into one PC instead of the router. Nothing worked.

I gave the local office a call and got a auto recording stating that there was tech problems and not to leave a message or wait on the line to talk to a rep because I would be hung up on(yes it actually said that!). This was about 5PM. When I got up in the morning it was still down, so I called again and got throuh. The person tried to tell me it was my router and that I had to call them to get it working again. I told the rep I tried just the one PC and it still didnt work. He did something and it came back but he insists it was my router and gave me an 800 number for Linksys and told me to call them.

How come everytime I call because of internet problems the answer is always "its your router"? I never change settings on the router, so if it works today shouldnt it work tomorrow?

[Der Cute]

Ok.

Have you tried connecting the pc directly to the Cable Modem? Bypass the router, to troubleshoot.

Once you do that - cablemodem ---pc ...do this:

start menu, Run, TYPE IN CMD
black box pops up with a line and >.
Type in IPCONFIG /ALL (just like that)

What's your IP address?
Is it a 192.168 or a 169.254 ?
If those are visible, type this:

IPCONFIG /release

this releases the IP address from the pc.

once the cursor is back up, type this:

ipconfig /renew

this pulls a new ip address from the cable modem.

Now do the IPCONFIG /all again.

What's the addy? If it's NOT 192.168 or a 169.254 you should be able to get online.
Surf around, see the speeds...check if you're able to do stuff.

OK?

Then reconnect router to modem and pc....
and go check the router's config to make sure the username/ pw didn't get tossed.

Cutenoob

[gunsage]

I forget...is Comcast cable or DSL? I used to do DSL tech support and I'm currently doing cable support. They're fairly similar when troubleshooting, minus the error codes (DSL). Often tech support will blame your router if it's customer owned, meaning we did not supply it personally. This is simply because all we have to do is verify our equipment is working. However, there's something I should note here. This does NOT mean your equipment is necessarily faulty, it means that we cannot support it.

The difference here is we often do not have knowledge of specific routers as far as their inner workings, diagnostics, etc. Those that we do, we support, because they're ours! Anyway, what I would do is this...

1. Take the router completely out of the equation (humor me here). Obviously that means having the computer directly connected to the modem.

2. Disconnect the power cord from the modem and turn off the computer.

3. After everything's completely off, give it about 30 seconds, then plug in just the modem.

4. Wait for the lights to fully sync up, then turn on the computer (this is known as a powercycle and it seems like you know how to do it, so sorry for the repeat step).

5. When the PC comes up, Start -> Run -> "CMD"

6. In the DOS window, do "IPCONFIG". If it's 169.254.x.x (APIPA address), it means contact could not be made successfully with the DHCP server for some reason. If it's 192.168.x.x even though your router isn't hooked up, it STILL means it didn't contact the server correctly OR your modem isn't receiving the signal correctly.

7. If it's not one of those, no biggie. If not, read on. Now then, if you have Windows XP/Vista, you don't typically need to worry about release/renew because there's another more effective way.

8. Go to your Control Panel. Depending on how your taskbar's set up, you may be able to just hit Start -> Control Panel, but sometimes you have to do Start -> Settings -> Control Panel (typically in Classic Mode).

9. You need to get to the Device Manager. Switch to Classic View. Go to System. On Vista, there should be a task on the left for it, but in XP, click on the Hardware tab, then click the button for it.

10. Since you're using a router, I'm assuming you're using an ethernet connection, not USB. Find your Network Adapters in the list. Open up the plus. Some machines have multiple ones. You need to find the one that isn't wireless and that is definitely in use. Select it and go into Properties.

11. Now, down toward the bottom, it should say "Device is working properly." If not, it should be a quick fix. Either re-enable or update driver. If it does say it's working properly, though, go to the Driver tab and Uninstall. In Vista, don't check the box to delete the drivers and it will uninstall then automatically reinstall.

12. In XP, the NIC should be removed from the list. Disconnect the ethernet cord, restart the computer. When it comes up, it should notify you that it found the NIC and it will automatically reinstall it. Once that box goes away, plug back in the ethernet cable. You should be able to browse now.

13. If for ANY REASON you cannot browse now, contact your ISP. Reason being, you have proven that when connected directly to the modem, even after some basic troubleshooting steps, you cannot connect. They should be able to elaborate further on these steps, but if not, they'll probably RTV...but hopefully not.

Now, let's assume you were able to get connected. Okay, include the router in the mix exactly the way you want it, multiple computers and all. Disconnect the power cord from the modem and also from the router. Turn off all connected computers. Give everything 30 seconds off. Plug in the modem, wait for sync. Plug in the router, watch closely for sync, bad diagnostics, etc. If anything negative happens with the router, it may very well be the router. If not, turn on one computer to test.

Now, a tech support agent could argue that it's one of the OTHER ports giving you problems and contact Linksys, but you get the idea.

Edit: More of a P.S. than anything. No, I'm not a Comcast tech.

[F&R Computer Man]

Your router is probably fine, the comcast tech. guy might have reset the modem remotely ???

[VenomX]

Its been fine since I called.

What I find kind of funny is this is the second router I have had. First one needed replaced because my 2 year old nephew dropped it and broke it. The same thing happened with that one. It would go down and after waiting to see if it would come back, a few hours or even overnight, I would get the same reply... Its your router!