Network Problem - Please Help (Cable Modem)

[Aimster]

I have 3 computers connected to the Internet via cable modem. They are connected using a Linksys Router and a Hub.
The problem is the Internet is very slow.
It comes and goes every minute.
1 minute I have the Internet the next minute the Internet is down.

Could my hub be dying?

 

[Mucman]

Are the lights on the hub flashing, even when none of the computers are in use?

 

[Aimster]

no they just stay green without blinking.

 

[Mucman]

ok... that rules out a trojan or virus... do you get any packet loss when pinging your gateway, or the ISP gateway?

 

[Aimster]

just pinged my gateway, no data loss.

 

[Aimster]

weird, Internet is working fine now. It does this. It works sometimes and then at times it doesn't. I know it's a network problem because when I just connect 1 of the computers to the cable modem without using the network the problem goes away.

 

[Mucman]

ahh... does the Internet become slow for everyone? If so, it could be a flaky cable between the hub and the router, or the router, and the cable modem... I recall some on these forums had dealt with a network that went down everytime the companies photocopier was running because
there was cat5 runs in the wall beside it.

 

[Aimster]

I just changed the wire from the hub to the router with a brand new one. So far so good.
If this doesn't work could it possibly be my hub?
By the way thanks for your help so far, It's appreciated.

 

[Aimster]

Nope didn't work.
I'm stomped.

 

[Mucman]

ok... by slow, how slow is it? Is the only way you see it be slow is browsing the web? Here's a quick test to see if it's
problems with your DNS servers...

I'm sure you've never been to my website, so it shouldn't be cached on your machine.

Trying pinging muc-central.com (or an nslookup). Does it take several seconds for it to resolve? If it does, try it again
and see if it resolves instantly.

Also... I've seen Linksys routers that need a power cycle every now and then to get them back up to snuff. Have you
recently changed the firmware on it?

 

[Aimster]

First Ping:
Reply from 66.51.174.166: bytes=32 time=100ms TTL=46
Reply from 66.51.174.166: bytes=32 time=90ms TTL=46
Reply from 66.51.174.166: bytes=32 time=101ms TTL=46
Reply from 66.51.174.166: bytes=32 time=100ms TTL=46

Ping statistics for 66.51.174.166:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 90ms, Maximum = 101ms, Average = 97ms

Second Ping:
Reply from 66.51.174.166: bytes=32 time=100ms TTL=46
Reply from 66.51.174.166: bytes=32 time=90ms TTL=46
Reply from 66.51.174.166: bytes=32 time=101ms TTL=46
Reply from 66.51.174.166: bytes=32 time=100ms TTL=46

Ping statistics for 66.51.174.166:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 90ms, Maximum = 101ms, Average = 97ms

basically the same, no I havn't changed the firmware on it since I've bought it.

By slow for example:
Downloading on IRC at 300KB/s and all of a sudden it drops to 0KB/s and my download stops.
Playing online games ..It will work for 5-10 , sometimes 45 minutes but then it will drop me.
Webpages work and then they seize to work and I have to wait for my network to get back and running to search the web again. (sometimes 5 seconds, sometimes 5 minutes)

It's really annoying. (Like this reply is taking me 2-3 times)

 

[Kadarin]

Does the problem occur only on this computer, or will it also occur on the others? What happens if you try one machine at a time, disconnecting the others? The idea is to try to eliminate things it could be, like for example a bad NIC in one of the machines.

 

[Mucman]

Ahh ok... the DNS isn't the issue. I think it all comes down to process of elimination. Keep on taking thinks out of the picture
to rule them out as the cause. Going from full network to 1 PC connected to the cable modem won't accomplish this (albeit
it does rule out the ISP being the problem).

If you got a spare hub, it wouldn't hurt to try that. If you have a spare router likewise. It sounds like you have an issue that's
down at the physical layer, and the only way to troubleshoot it (without thousands of $$$ worth of equipement) is to keep
swapping stuff until the problem disappears.

I wish I could be more help! Good luck

 

[tooltime]

pinging only sends a really small packet. pinging a larger packet is a better test.