Cable connection dropped

[Peter Stahl]

Anyone know why I would loose my connection by putting my cable modem in standby? Just started doing this over the last couple weeks. I have Comcast and when I'm done using the computer in the morning I'll turn off the monitor and put the modem in standby. When I go to use it again and it doesn't always happen but I can't connect to the internet. Using a Pentium II machine with a Motorola Cable Modem.

thanks, Pete

[Chris Padilla]

Peter,

The cable modem, upon losing a connection, will attempt to search for a new connection/IP address. I don't know what state the cm goes into upon putting in standby mode (why do this, by the way?) but it may lose its connection when you do this. I had a similar problem with my cable modem (Linksys) until I just plugged it into a router. The router "fools" the cable modem into thinking it is always connected to a live IP address and therefore it remains alive always. The router could care less if anything is plugged into it.

I also have Comcast and before the router, I always had problems with the cm connecting to my computer. My wife and I have laptops that we take to work and so we don't have a computer at home that the cm could always be linked to. We come home, bring the laptops, then plug in. In that situation, the cm would be problematic connecting up. However, once I put a router in the mix, hooking up is instantaneous and presents no issues since we now plug into the router and the cm stays plugged into the router.

Hopefully this makes some sense and helps you out.

[Peter Stahl]

Peter,

The cable modem, upon losing a connection, will attempt to search for a new connection/IP address. I don't know what state the cm goes into upon putting in standby mode (why do this, by the way?)

Just always had and never remember having a problem. Guess I just leave it on and see how it goes. Hoping someone knew how to reinitialize it without rebooting. Thanks for the reply Chris!

Pete

[Vaughn McMillan]

Peter,

The cable modem, upon losing a connection, will attempt to search for a new connection/IP address. I don't know what state the cm goes into upon putting in standby mode (why do this, by the way?) but it may lose its connection when you do this. I had a similar problem with my cable modem (Linksys) until I just plugged it into a router. The router "fools" the cable modem into thinking it is always connected to a live IP address and therefore it remains alive always. The router could care less if anything is plugged into it.

I also have Comcast and before the router, I always had problems with the cm connecting to my computer. My wife and I have laptops that we take to work and so we don't have a computer at home that the cm could always be linked to. We come home, bring the laptops, then plug in. In that situation, the cm would be problematic connecting up. However, once I put a router in the mix, hooking up is instantaneous and presents no issues since we now plug into the router and the cm stays plugged into the router.

Hopefully this makes some sense and helps you out.
Chris, are you using the Porter Cable router or Makita? Also, the 1/2" collet has better bandwith, right? It's a pain running the CAT-5 out to the shop and back into the home office, but worth it. :D

Kidding aside, I second the suggestion for using a broadband router for the cable (or DSL) connection. Not only, as Chris mentioned, does the cable (or DSL) modem think it's hooked up all the time, it can add another substantial layer of protection between the bad guys and your computer. I noticed when I added a router to my system a couple years ago, all of a sudden ZoneAlarm was no longer blocking any intrusion attempts. Nobody was making it past the router to even get to ZoneAlarm. Even if you only have a single computer, the router is worth the 30 bucks or so.

- Vaughn

[Peter Stahl]

Chris, are you using the Porter Cable router or Makita? Also, the 1/2" collet has better bandwith, right? It's a pain running the CAT-5 out to the shop and back into the home office, but worth it. :D

Kidding aside, I second the suggestion for using a broadband router for the cable (or DSL) connection. Not only, as Chris mentioned, does the cable (or DSL) modem think it's hooked up all the time, it can add another substantial layer of protection between the bad guys and your computer. I noticed when I added a router to my system a couple years ago, all of a sudden ZoneAlarm was no longer blocking any intrusion attempts. Nobody was making it past the router to even get to ZoneAlarm. Even if you only have a single computer, the router is worth the 30 bucks or so.

- Vaughn

I left the modem on and the avtivity light is going but turn the monitor off as I don't like using a screen saver. Came back tonight after it setting for about 8 hours and could not connect without rebooting again. Is there a way to re-initialize my connection without rebooting?

[Lee DeRaud]

I left the modem on and the avtivity light is going but turn the monitor off as I don't like using a screen saver. Came back tonight after it setting for about 8 hours and could not connect without rebooting again. Is there a way to re-initialize my connection without rebooting?Check your power management settings, it may be going into standby after 2-3 hours of inactivity. With the monitor off, you probably wouldn't know it unless you deliberately turned it back on without jiggling the mouse.

As far as reinitializing the modem, dunno about DSL, but powering down my cable modem for 20-30 seconds forces it to renegotiate its connection. Can't hurt to try, it's faster than rebooting.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Peter, I've had the same experience as Lee...power cycling the DSL modem (with about a 20 or 30 second pause) will usually get the modem reconnected. I say "usually", because I've had times when it didn't work for me, and I did have to reboot the whole computer. In my case, the DSL connection would drop even when I left the system running 24/7. Never did figure out the cause, and I don't recall if the problem went away after adding the router or after one of my periodic "format the system disk and reinstall everything" weekends.

- Vaughn

[Peter Stahl]

Peter, I've had the same experience as Lee...power cycling the DSL modem (with about a 20 or 30 second pause) will usually get the modem reconnected. I say "usually", because I've had times when it didn't work for me, and I did have to reboot the whole computer. In my case, the DSL connection would drop even when I left the system running 24/7. Never did figure out the cause, and I don't recall if the problem went away after adding the router or after one of my periodic "format the system disk and reinstall everything" weekends.

- Vaughn

Lee & Vaughn,

I'll give that a try. Is power cycling unplugging the modem then waiting 20 to 30 secs? Thanks for the replys I'll give this a try when it does it again. Left it on overnight but was still connected this morning. Sent a email to Comcast and the said there were no outages and they also said to I quote: make sure your computer is configured DHCP, checked this and it was.

[Peter Stahl]

After using my PC yesterday I turned off the monitor and left the modem on. Came back later that day and lost the connection. Unplugged the modem, waited > 30 sec., plugged it back in and still nothing. Had to reboot as usual. Going to call Comcast but I don't have much hope there.

Pete

[Jim Becker]

Before you reboot next time, bring up a Command prompt window (Start --> Run --> Command) and then type in the following: ipconfig /renew {enter}

Cable modem service changes your IP address "a lot" and your PC may just not be resyncing when it goes to sleep.

[Peter Stahl]

Before you reboot next time, bring up a Command prompt window (Start --> Run --> Command) and then type in the following: ipconfig /renew {enter}

Cable modem service changes your IP address "a lot" and your PC may just not be resyncing when it goes to sleep.


Thanks Jim, I'll give that a try next time.

[Peter Stahl]

Before you reboot next time, bring up a Command prompt window (Start --> Run --> Command) and then type in the following: ipconfig /renew {enter}

Cable modem service changes your IP address "a lot" and your PC may just not be resyncing when it goes to sleep.

I'm running Windows 2000 so I had to find where ipconfig.exe was living on my harddrive as the command didn't work as above. I guess the default dir is Windows. After I tried it no worky. Did a Google search for ipconfig.exe and it had a page from MS Support with parameters for ipconfig. When I used ipconfig.exe /release I lost my connection. So now I tried /renew again and it reconnected. I guess when I would loose it, it doesn't release or totally disconnect it. Thank you Jim for the help and everyone else who posted a reply. You can get more useful info off this site than most PC boards.

[Peter Stahl]

Now that I know how to get my connection back does anyone know how to write a prog file that I could execute the following 2 lines in. To get my connection back first I have to run: C:\WINNT\system32\ipconfig.exe /release then I have to run C:\WINNT\system32\ipconfig.exe /renew Would be nice to have a icon on the desktop I could click and it would run both. The only programming I have done is a little MS Excel Visual Basic, don't think this would work here.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Peter, the little program you need should be a real simple little batch procedure...but I'm not sure exactly how to make it work. I work for a software company, but I write the manuals and help files nobody reads. ;) I don't do code, I do words. I'll see if I can get any of my software engineer buddies at work to edumacate me tomorrow.

- Vaughn

[Peter Stahl]

Peter, the little program you need should be a real simple little batch procedure...but I'm not sure exactly how to make it work. I work for a software company, but I write the manuals and help files nobody reads. ;) I don't do code, I do words. I'll see if I can get any of my software engineer buddies at work to edumacate me tomorrow.

- Vaughn

Thanks Vaughn, would really appreciate that.

[Bob Johnson]

Now that I know how to get my connection back does anyone know how to write a prog file that I could execute the following 2 lines in. To get my connection back first I have to run: C:\WINNT\system32\ipconfig.exe /release then I have to run C:\WINNT\system32\ipconfig.exe /renew Would be nice to have a icon on the desktop I could click and it would run both. The only programming I have done is a little MS Excel Visual Basic, don't think this would work here.

Use notepad or some other text editor to create a batch file named something like "fixthings.bat". Put your two command lines in the file and save it.

On your desktop, right click and select new, shortcut, browse to the file you saved, select it, click OK, click next, name it, click finish. This should create a shortcut on your desktop.

Bob

[Jim Becker]

Peter, in all honesty, the script is just a quick fix. Your computer really should be reconnecting automatically, including pulling a new IP address if the lease expired or was dropped.

[Boyd Gathwright]

..........;)

[Peter Stahl]

Use notepad or some other text editor to create a batch file named something like "fixthings.bat". Put your two command lines in the file and save it.

On your desktop, right click and select new, shortcut, browse to the file you saved, select it, click OK, click next, name it, click finish. This should create a shortcut on your desktop.

Bob

Thanks Bob I'll give that a try.

[Peter Stahl]

Peter, in all honesty, the script is just a quick fix. Your computer really should be reconnecting automatically, including pulling a new IP address if the lease expired or was dropped.

Jim,

I know now that there's got to be something on my PC doing this but being able to relogin without rebooting is easier. I'm getting lots of pop ups, I ran Norton Anti Virus, Spybot, NoAdware and a couple others that are going to get tried. IF I can't get them to stop I'll reformatt the drive and start over. I get pop ups without surfing a site period. This is very frustrating! Thanks for the reply Jim.

Pete

[Peter Stahl]

..........;)


OK............... :rolleyes: