ethernet issues

[slimbo]

so heres the rub.
i have a medion laptop and its been a good machine for general use.
and now i need to live stream on Friday nights .
i need to use the Ethernet connection.
but the fekking thing keeps dropping out and i keep losing connection.
now the wireless works well but only connects at 48mbps
whereas the Ethernet connection is 100mbps..
any ideas will be gratefully recieved..
and i cant replace the unit cos im skint!!!

 

[shugie]

Try a different cable
Check there is no grot in the ethernet hole. At both ends.

What is on the other end of the cable from the laptop?

 

[wessie]

New cable first, as shugie says. Then, if that does not work, can you try the laptop at a friend or neighbour's place to see if the problem is in the laptop or the switch/router box?

 

[slimbo]

cheers chaps. i have tried another two cables..
i have also cleaned the terminals on the pooter and it seems to be tother end!!!

the signal comes from a cable router going to a wireless hub and i use one of the Ethernet connections from that hub.
problem is its connected then its not, then its connected then its its not!! all fekkin night!!!

this could explain why most pooters in this house are poor runners as any disconnection could be disguised by the buffers?? thus giving the impression that they are a bit slow!!!

 

[wessie]

So, I take it you have a cable modem supplied by your ISP. This then goes into a wireless router.

My assumption is that the cable modem has an ethernet output which feeds the router.

What happens when you plug the laptop directly into the cable modem?

Have you tried blagging a free router from Virgin (must be them as nobody else does cable in Wales)? Simply suggest Sky/BT/O2 are offering you a free router plus an attractive deal if you go ADSL. You might get a reduction in your monthly sub and will definitely get a new Netgear router.

 

[Rasher]

Do you need faster than 48Mpbs?

Assuming your browsing the internet and such like that is plenty fast enough so although the wired connection should not drop it probably is not the end of the world if it is not functioning.

Also what are you plugging into, it could be the switch / hub you are connecting to, or just a dodgy port on it, try different cable and into different port if you can.

Could be network card in computer in which case your gonna be stuck with wireless.

 

[roddy]

as well as whats been mentioned, it maybe worth a try with this

http://www.speedguide.net/downloads.php

TCPoptimizer it'll optimise the connections incase your running some odd packet size, it's free and easy to use, worked on my laptop to sort out a poor wireless connection.

 

[shugie]

You said that the wireless connection seemed fine, which implies that the cable modem and ADSL are working properly. If this is true, and the problem is just on the cable connection, I wonder how the IP addresses are being set, might be some sort of quirk in the wireless router and DHCP maybe?

When the connection fails, or is very slow, go into a DOS box (type cmd in the search box on the start menu) then type ping XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX replacing the Xs with the IP address of the wireless router. If no one has changed it from the factory default it may be 192.168.1.1

Look at the time the responses take, and if any errors are shown. Let me know what you see.

 

[IainMac]

could be the laptop network port and router trying to auto-negociate the speed and duplex setting. This can be a problem for even corporate kit never mind low end home stuff. The hub/router probably isnt that configurable but the ethernet adapter on the laptop should be , you need to get to the netowork settings to configure the ethernet adapter , and find where link speed /duplex mode is listed then set to 100mbs/Full Duplex. If you cant find that (varies from one operating system to another ) then get an expert to help.

 

[turbine_2]

Going through the comments and what you've said.
1. Is the streaming by wireless ok on its own?
2. If it is, and you've tried different cables / ports on the router (or switch) my guess is that the switch is either faulty or the power supply to it is underrated for the use (more common than you'd like to think).
3. If it's not, try disabling the wireless when you're plugged in (actually, may be worth trying that anyway)

 

[Clive]

Which O/S?

Easy to bridge them with Windows 7 - can't remember if XP had that facility.

 

[slimbo]

whoooooosh!!!!

did you see that chaps?

it went right over my head!!

im sorry , its all fekkin greek to me!!

 

[shugie]

whoooooosh!!!!

did you see that chaps?

it went right over my head!!

im sorry , its all fekkin greek to me!!

It's hard to explain technical issues in a way that can be understood by people who don't know the technology very well, and clearly we've failed again.

I don't know what else to suggest, if you were nearer I'd have a shufti for you, but my Welsh visa in my passport is out of date.

 

[IainMac]

if broken , replace , repeat untill until no longer broken or get an expert, what u do if something else (white goods/car? etc) you dont have the knowledge/skills to fix goes on the fritz? sorry not meant to be sarky just asking for a reference/reality check.

 

[alistairl]

Nobody seems to have mentioned it so far, but, have you checked the link indicator lights on the ports that you are plugging in to ?

Most ports have two small leds on them that change from steady to flashing etc when there is activity. And check that they illuminate when you plug both ends in.

Then watch them to see if they change when you lose connectivity. If they don't go out then you don't have a physical connection issue.

A.

 

[Womble]

OK, let's try to unwhoosh it a bit.

I guess that you're concerned about solid streaming performance for your internet radio slot. If that's the case, you aren't so much worried about speed as reliability. In this case, the difference in speed between the wired and the wireless connections won't matter because you won't want much more than approx 256kbit/s and a perfect wireless connection at 48Mbit/s would be 200 times that speed. The wired and wireless connections should not be the bottleneck here.

You say that your connection keeps getting lost - what is it that tells you the connection is being lost? Is there a little message on the PC screen, or is there just a sudden gap in the sound? If not, what is telling you that there is a problem?

Also, is there anyone else in the house who is using the Internet while you are on line? If someone is trying to use iPlayer, download movies or sometimes just generally surf the net, this could be enough to break your session.

 

[Clive]

Are you microwaving snacks while broadcasting

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_interference_at_2.4_GHz

 

[Clive]

cheers chaps. i have tried another two cables..
i have also cleaned the terminals on the pooter and it seems to be tother end!!!

the signal comes from a cable router going to a wireless hub and i use one of the Ethernet connections from that hub.
problem is its connected then its not, then its connected then its its not!! all fekkin night!!!

this could explain why most pooters in this house are poor runners as any disconnection could be disguised by the buffers?? thus giving the impression that they are a bit slow!!!

On your laptop are you able to reach this page http://192.168.100.1/

if so check the "Logs" section and the "Signal" section - what sort of numbers do you see in "Signal to Noise Ratio" and "Power Level"

 

[Ste]

Try turning your wireless connection off on your PC and then use the ethernet cable only (or the other way around). If you use them both at the same time you will get two IP address' from DHCP and your network traffic will get confused.