Might be a stupid question

[IllusionalKnight]

Ok, I'm a complete newbie when it comes to high speed internet. I got cable through Insight in northern IL at the end of Jan. I use the following setup:

Linksys BEFCMU10 ver 2 Cable modem.
Linksys BEFSX41 Router

They are hooked to three computers. The one with the cable company's software is a Gateway (I know, don't ask) with some generic NIC. Mine uses a netgear and the third uses some generic one that came in a bundle. All of them are running XP home with all updates installed, not enough time/money to go to Pro yet.

Now here is my problem. About once a day, some times much more often, I am forced to restart the main system and power down the modem and router. When I restart the system it comes right back up.

So, is this normal? Is there something wrong? Any help is appreciated, this is driving me nuts.

 

[amdskip]

What does the software do exactly? Is it just a web browser that they want you to use?

Also, they just authorize you to use the internet through a mac address correct? (A mac address is like a permanent number assigned to every network card.) What they do is clone (copy) a mac address of a computer to the router and it works that way. BTW, did you or them set the router up?

 

[Lord Evermore]

I don't know if it's normal. However you shouldn't need to run the software at all, and the Gateway computer shouldn't have anything to do with the access of the other machines.

This page http://help.insightbb.com/general/networking_info.html gives you detailed instructions for setting up the router. Once you have a single machine able to access the Internet through the router, the other machines can be plugged in and should work fine. The networking configuration on each of the machines should be set to obtain an IP address automatically, and Internet Connection Sharing and Internet Connection Firewall should all be disabled.

What exactly makes you need to restart the equipment? Do all the machines lose Internet access?

You can verify what the computers are using as their gateway by opening a command prompt (open the Run dialog and type "cmd" and hit OK), then type ipconfig /all. They should all show essentially the same data. The Default Gateway should be 192.1.x.1 (either 0 or 1 replacing the x), and the IP address on each machine should be the same as the gateway but with the last number being something 100 or above. Each should have the same IPs for the DNS servers.

 

[IllusionalKnight]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
I don't know if it's normal. However you shouldn't need to run the software at all, and the Gateway computer shouldn't have anything to do with the access of the other machines.

>>>I was told by the cable company that the software had to run to verify my subscription or something to that effect. I'm such a n00b I don't know wether to believe them or not. I am starting to pine for my 2400 and my Prodigy account.

This page http://help.insightbb.com/general/networking_info.html gives you detailed instructions for setting up the router. Once you have a single machine able to access the Internet through the router, the other machines can be plugged in and should work fine. The networking configuration on each of the machines should be set to obtain an IP address automatically, and Internet Connection Sharing and Internet Connection Firewall should all be disabled.

>>>I am almost positive it is not the router. Already reconfigured it exactly as shown three times.

What exactly makes you need to restart the equipment? Do all the machines lose Internet access?

>>>Access on all machine goes teats-up. Occasionally, if I let it sit long enough, it'll come back.

You can verify what the computers are using as their gateway by opening a command prompt (open the Run dialog and type "cmd" and hit OK), then type ipconfig /all. They should all show essentially the same data. The Default Gateway should be 192.1.x.1 (either 0 or 1 replacing the x), and the IP address on each machine should be the same as the gateway but with the last number being something 100 or above. Each should have the same IPs for the DNS servers.

>>>That all seems correct.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Do you have a username and password for the account? (Not an email account, for the cable access itself.) I've never heard of a cable provider using PPPoE, but that is the ONLY reason they would require certain software being installed. However, I doubt that's the issue, since the router wouldn't even be able to get online in order to SEND the username and password in the first place nor would it be able to receive an IP address and access if one of your computers was doing the login.

What exactly is the software that they require you to have installed? If that computer is not turned on, do the other machines get access? If they all use the router's IP for their default gateway, then the Gateway brand computer should not be able to affect their Internet access.

I think what may be happening is your IP address lease is running out quite often. Some ISPs started using 1 hour lease times in order to "save" IP space, when all it really does is make people have to regain their IP way more often. If your modem and router have to regain an IP, it might cause this sort of a problem. The fact that it comes back on its own makes it seem like it's not an issue with anything on your network.

Log into your router's web interface and look at the status screen. Copy and paste the information for the WAN and LAN.

 

[IllusionalKnight]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
Do you have a username and password for the account? (Not an email account, for the cable access itself.) I've never heard of a cable provider using PPPoE, but that is the ONLY reason they would require certain software being installed. However, I doubt that's the issue, since the router wouldn't even be able to get online in order to SEND the username and password in the first place nor would it be able to receive an IP address and access if one of your computers was doing the login.

>>> I have an account number and subscription ID but no user name/password.

What exactly is the software that they require you to have installed? If that computer is not turned on, do the other machines get access? If they all use the router's IP for their default gateway, then the Gateway brand computer should not be able to affect their Internet access.

>>>The software is a mystery. It was here when I got home after the cable guy put the line in (I won't allow people to touch my systems other than my family). It says it is some sort of "Authenticator" or some such, but I did have to install it in order to get the thing working the first time.

I think what may be happening is your IP address lease is running out quite often. Some ISPs started using 1 hour lease times in order to "save" IP space, when all it really does is make people have to regain their IP way more often. If your modem and router have to regain an IP, it might cause this sort of a problem. The fact that it comes back on its own makes it seem like it's not an issue with anything on your network.

>>> Should have clarified. It does not always come back on its own.

Log into your router's web interface and look at the status screen. Copy and paste the information for the WAN and LAN.

(MAC Address: 00-06-25-9F-2B-E8)
IP Address: 192.168.1.1
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
DHCP server: Enabled


WAN:
(MAC Address: 00-04-5A-70-F5-10)
IP Address: 12.221.178.76
Subnet Mask: 255.255.252.0
Default Gateway: 12.221.176.1
DNS: 63.240.76.4
204.127.198.4
0.0.0.0
DHCP Remaining Time: 3 days 23:21:15

 

[Lord Evermore]

Your router seems to be getting an IP just fine, and it's unlikely that your computer's software is what's making it work. I suppose possibly the authenticator software sends out a connection attempt and the PPPoE authentication, which the router forwards, then the router gets the IP information once your connection is enabled.

You should at least be able to look at the software and see what settings it's using, whether it's a password or something. However I can't really say what is actually causing the failures. Possibly the ISP attempts to reauthenticate your service once in a while, and the router doesn't know the authentication info so the connection gets dropped. But that wouldn't explain why it comes back online on its own sometimes, unless the authenticator software is sometimes reconnecting.

If there IS a password of any sort, then you should be able to enter it into the settings of the router, so that the Gateway computer doesn't need to be used for it and you can disable the authenticator software.

You might need to contact their support center and find out whether there is PPPoE in use or something like it. Or they may have an online page that allows you to look at such settings for your account.