strong connection, no internet:(

Waar · Post by **Waar** » 14 Oct 2009, 13:37

okay, so my chicks computer is running windows vista with only SP2. lately she said she's tried to connect to the internet but with no luck. she says her connection is strong and shes tried to reestablish the connection with also no luck. I've thought about the possibilit of her having spyware and the laptop is currently doing a scan. Am i on the right path? another thing i should mention is, she tried to set up a connection for the university she goes to (well their technicians tried) it worked for a day and stopped working, could this have effected her at home connection?

bozotheclown138 · Post by **bozotheclown138** » 14 Oct 2009, 13:46

have you tried resetting the modem? because on my wireless about every 3 days i lose all connection and have to reset my modem for it to work

Post by **bad_brain** » 14 Oct 2009, 14:01

um, was the same laptop used for both connections? (home and university)
if yes, it must be a problem with the laptop, first check if the settings displayed in ipconfig are right, also try to ping the router.

but yeah, it is kinda odd when a proper connection is displayed without really having one, using TCPView (from our downloads) might clear that up.

Post by **floodhound2** » 14 Oct 2009, 14:08

Might want to click on the Icon and see if you can refresh the connection. I think that the home modem should be rebooted also. If it works at the university then it may be the home network.

Post by **DNR** » 14 Oct 2009, 14:36

it is likely the settings for the network - the uni changed the gateway and DNS IP from the old ISP settings.

Vista sp2 would be the latest.

For vista:

Network and Sharing >>> Manage Network Connections and see if they left the old settings there - "local area connection"

If they did just - disable the current one (likely the uni one) and select another local area network icon

can't find it?
Control Panel\Network Connections works too

DNR

Post by **DNR** » 14 Oct 2009, 18:49

we have to watch - so far we got them messing with the modem, AVP, and browser - three separate things that is going to take the customer away from the area they should check first.

BB is in the right direction as he is checking network settings and connectivity. He points to ipconfig - it will show what the IPs are for the network gateway and DNS. Ping is a simple test to bypass a browser problem. The only problem with ipconfig and clueless customers > they might not know what IPs is needed by the ISP.

Reading carefully you always can catch the little slip of valuable info (its almost always near the end of their statement)

another thing i should mention is, she tried to set up a connection for the university she goes to (well their technicians tried)

This tells us that everything was fine until she let the university tech change her network settings. They likely changed it from her home LAN settings (that works only with the ISP at home) to the settings needed for the university.

Also, while NO WHERE in the post - did they mention it - they are likely trying to access both networks via WIRELESS. So resetting the ISP modem will not help - the laptop is likely set for the wifi router that is ATTACHED to the ISP modem. I suspect that their statement of:

she says her connection is strong

is referring to her SIGNAL STRENGTH detected by the wifi card. (just because you can detect the signal it doesn't mean you are connected. Cabled customers don't talk about 'strong connections'.

To bring the customer back to the likely solution, I think they need to go step by step - check the network settings and try to ping outside the network. I still believe they have the network settings for the university wifi, and not the home wifi. In Vista, - if the techs did it right - should have icons in the Network Connections window - one for the old settings for the home LAN.

We need to point these people to a basic check list

DNR

Waar · Post by **Waar** » 17 Oct 2009, 11:22

well there is no icon for the network for the university, they installed secureW2_EAP_suite_113, now i've just read some txt off a website (http://www.eur.nl/english/campus_facili ... print.html) as to what this does. but would it effect the at home performance, or completely alter the ability of the computer to access the internet at home? now i have not pinged outside the network yet but am wondering if this may be the porblem?

Post by **DNR** » 17 Oct 2009, 12:23

Well, under Network connections should be icons or selections to select which network you want to access. I have two, one for VZ wireless, another for my home network, and some left over from other wifi networks I accessed in the past. It pisses me off that the techs would setup the laptop for the uni and erase the settings needed for her to access her home network!

It is possible the software they installed for the uni network will not let the computer use windows network connections to establish a wifi network - it is stupid because a mobile device like a laptop needs to be able to locate and access other public or private networks.

Do not use thier software to connect to the home network, you have to use windows network connection setup to re establish the connection to her home network. At worst case - you need to contact the ISP that provides her internet access at home to get the IPs to reset up the Windows network connections to the home router/dsl router.

Under Vista they have 'manage your network connections' a logical network tech would have left the old 'home' network settings there, so the user could access that network when at home! It sounds like she had some real fuckups work on her computer, they might have just erased her old settings and now you need to set it up again. All you need is the IP for the router at home(router is the gateway!), and set the IP for the DNS.

The laptop is not broken, it just needs the settings for the home ISP/network.

DNR