Internet Router Troubles

[spankey_joe]

Hi first post here so thanks for clicking on this and I hope you can help.

Basically I don't know great details, but I'm pretty sure I have a speedy broadband connection (I'm downloading at 112 kb/sec usually) which is run from a router in the lower part of my house. And all has been well, until suddenly my computer changed its start up habits (I have XP) and decided instead of going straight to the windows page, it asked me to click on the "default" log in button.
It seems ever since then, when I connect to the router it has said something along the lines of "limited connection some or few programs may work etc" and I dont really know what the transmitting and receiving packets thing is all about, but I usually transmitted 16000 and received 10000 and since it has gone as low as 1000:10. Has this got anything to do with the log in and me not being logged in as the administrator? Thing is its happened to the other computers around my house too, they are all MUCH slower than usual. Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks!

[z1p]

Hey Joe, welcome aboard!

In my opinion, when a PC changes how it behaves when you don't change anything on it that is bad news. Have you done an update to SP2 recently? The 'limited connection' message is something that does show up after an SP2 update on some systems.

Have you run a bandwidth test from someplace like http://bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/ ? That way you have a more concrete idea on how your connection is working.

Lastly, do you a firewall running (on the router or all the PCs) ? Is your virus software up to date and have you run a scan recently? Also, do you scan for spyware?

[Chris_Carlyle]

One thing I did not get from your question is if your network works at all. Based on what you have said it sounds like your router is not handling DHCP properly. Usually that error means that there is layer2 connectivity but layer 3 is not working. I assume that you have tried to reset the router? If you have not, try it. If you reset and the problem persists go to each machine and release then renew it's IP address.
start
Run
command
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
You should pull a new TCP/IP stack config automatically from your router. Typically this will be a class C (192.168.1.0) depending on your router manufacturer and how it is configured. I have a sneaking suspicion that this is your trouble. Let us know how it comes out.

[spankey_joe]

First, thanks for the speedy reply.

I did the Service Pack 2 update a couple of months back, and it didn’t seem to effect my connection, but I tried the bandwidth test and it came up with this:

Communications: 86.4 kilobits per second
Storage: 10.5 kilobytes per second
1MB file download: 1.6 minutes
Subjective rating: Slow


86.4 kb/sec isn’t that far off my usual rate, but as you suggested, when I installed some scanning and spyware protection, whilst it was downloading updates it was working at 1.6kb/sec and then went up to 7kb/sec. (I’m using “Spybot – Search and Destroy” , “Adaware 6” and “SpywareBlaster” are these recommended?) Also when I first got my Dell computer about 6 months ago, it had Norton Anti Virus installed, but since then, the free subscription has run out, so will the programs I mentioned cover this? I’m not totally sure on this subject.

After this I went to my “wireless configuration utility” and it had the option “repair”, I tried this and it started working through tasks, when it got to “renewing ip” the repair stopped and a windows message said “Repair could not be completed due to not be able to complete the following task: Renewing ip”

So when I tried to run the commands like you said, when I hit enter after typing command the black box came up but then an error message came up:


“16 bit MS-DOS Subsystem

C:\WINDOWS\system32\command.com

C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\AUTOEXEC.NT. The system file is not suitable for running MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows applications. Choose “Close” to terminate the application.”

It said that exactly. Can you help? P.S. Whats DHCP?

[Chris_Carlyle]

If you are able to get out to the internet, then you are getting a valid IP from your router. Those speeds are horrendous for a broadband connection unless you are the very, very outer reaches on a DSL and even then that is really bad. Have you contacted your ISP on this? What is the connection, cable or dsl? The Anti spyware software you mentioned are all good ones but they will NOT replace your Norton. You should either renew your subscription or download something else. I use CA eTrust and like it alot. I know there are some free ones out there but I have not had any experience with any of them. It is possible that your machine is infected with some type of virus that is saturating your network with garbage. Are the activity lights on your router pegged all the time? A couple of other possibilites are:

-bad cabling, how does the broadband connection get to the modem? How does it get from the modem to the router, then to the PCs? Junky cabling can cause you all kinds of troubles
- As previously stated, have you contacted your ISP? You could have hardware issue with your modem or even a facilities problem with the wire coming to your house.

I know I have covered alot here. If you suspect that cabling could be the issue, assuming it is good to the modem, bypass your router and plug directly into your modem with a crossover cable from your PC NIC to see if your issue goes away. If it does, well you have just eliminated alot. If you are using DSL this could be complicated as you will likely need to install software to establist the PoE connection.

DHCP- dynamic host control protocol - assigns TCP/IP stack configuration automatically to network hosts. A DHCP server assigns this config to clients based on a DHCP pool or scope that contains the parameters that it will hand out. A DHCP server can be a Server, a router, or a switch.

[z1p]

Chris is right, you should have a good AV program running and up to date. The other tools you mentioned are good, but they just address spy and adware and don't provide virus protection.

Also, your bandwidth seems low. You should talk to your provider, they should be able to at verify if there is a problem up to the modem.

Lets try fixing the basics then we can move onto to any bandwidth problem. Ipconfig should work. Let's get it to work.

Do each of the following, trying ipconfig/all after each step. Stop when ipconfig works.




Download and run lspfix (http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm)
Follow the instruction here ( http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;811259)
Post back with any questions and let us know how it goes.