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Sun 27 Oct, 2002 07:18 am
Why do cable internet connections sometimes go kerflooey? I have Roadrunner, which I love. Once in awhile, I can't connect to the internet. Usually, just unplugging the modem ad replugging it after 90 secs. will do the trick. If that does not work, I go to winipcfg, and adjust the settings.
This morning, both of these things did not work. I called Road Runner, and the tech put me thru a lot of stuff, one of which included using my WIN98SE disc. At that point, I did not have the foggiest notion of what she was doing, but it worked!
I asked her what went wrong, and she was very vague, mumbled something about "a lot of different things".
Can any of you provide a simple answer?
In MOST cases the IP address, DNS address or some other address has changed or been "lost".
AT&T/Roadrunner use DHCP so that your system "picks up" an IP address and other needed network information when you start you system up. If they reset thier servers or a portion of the network goes down then the addresses can get scrambled and you run into connection problems.
Those types of problems can usually be fixed pretty easily by powering off/on your cable modem or runing "winipcfg". Doing either of those will cause your end to request new addresses from the DHCP server.
This is a VERY common thing with most of the AT&T/Roadrunner cable access users I've talked to.
Without knowing what they had you do with you're Win98 disks it's hard to say why they had you go that route.
I have Road Runner also and here in Orange County, CA, I do get problems of congestion and errors which, when you call their tech help, they try to pass off as your own computer problems. Not. I also am getting a perculiar search problem when I hit a link to log onto a site from quick launch and sometimes it will start pilling up one error search screen over another. I try to use the task monitor to shut it down and sometimes it will finally put up an "end task" popup and will stop it. Sometimes it will just crash the browser. I don't know if this is the quick launch and favorites links misbehaving when used from the desktop or if it is Road Runner.