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Troubleshooting Your High Speed Internet Connection

What a mess...

photo credit: geo462rge

This tip needs to come back to the front page again. I’ve helped many more people the last few weeks with this issue.

Please print it and hang it by your computer…and send it your friends as well.

I posted this tip many moons ago, but wanted to bring it back to the front page because we have so many new high speed Internet users. Click the Printer Friendly option at the bottom of this tip, print it out and post it next to your computer…you will be glad you did.

Routers take high speed Internet signals and then distribute the signal (route) to multiple computers. Sometimes, however, the signal gets lost and an Internet connection cannot be made. This can be due to multiple reasons, but most can be rectified the same way. Before you reach for the phone or grumble under your breath, follow this simple and highly effective procedure to get your system(s) up and running again.

  1. Shut off all computers.

  2. Unplug the power from the high speed modem.

  3. Unplug the power from the router (if you have one).

  4. Wait at least 3 minutes.

  5. Plug in the high speed modem.

  6. Wait at least 90 seconds.

  7. Plug in the router.

  8. Wait at least 90 seconds

  9. Turn on your computers

  10. Open your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc) to test your connection.

This method works to restore your Internet connection a vast majority of the time.

IF, you still don’t have an Internet connection after performing this procedure, AND you haven’t added or subtracted any software or hardware on your computer, it could be just a temporary problem with your provider. Wait and try again in an hour or so.

IF you have changed settings or added/subtracted software or hardware from your computer, that could be the culprit. Try and reverse what you did, then test your connection.

For you impatient types, you can try simply unplugging the router and/or modem while leaving the computers on, but I find the above method works more consistently.

Related articles:

  1. Routers gone bad
  2. Watch the lights
  3. Never assume it’s your problem
  4. Traveling with wireless Internet
  5. A word for our Dial-up readers (and our high speed Internet emailers)

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 8:26 am and is filed under Internet Tips, Riding Shotgun with Rick. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.

11 comments

  1. John Wilkenson
    August 15, 2009 at 10:41 am

    Your initial advice to me worked fine, Rick. I did nothing at all, but just waited. Today (Saturday) Bresnan is back on, and everything appears to be normal. Of course I will organize your and Adam’s articles and Adam’s video so I can get to them immediately and easily from now on! I even subscribed to Adam’s relatively new YouTube channel and “favorited” his video. (I hope he uses his “Talking Digital” channel to do more computer videos along the lines of the HelpMeRick.com videos, instead of walking the dog type stuff, which, IMHO might be better located on another channel, since YouTube is free.)

    Reply
  2. Dave Violette
    November 10, 2009 at 7:19 am

    We use Cox cable for our high speed Internet service and I have learned that the first step I should do if I am not getting a connection is to check the Cable light on the front of the cable modem.
    - If not lighted then the problem is with the Cox service.
    - If lighted then I would use the steps you described.

    Reply
  3. Charles Simcox
    November 10, 2009 at 12:06 pm

    FYI
    Had Qwest DSL for a few years & @ one time had problems with it dropping more & more frequently.

    They sent a new modem overnight but no better & it turned out to be the plug in cube transformer was flaky not maintaining the proper voltage/amperage& a new transformer Brick took care of that.

    Just last week My son had the same problem with the same cure.

    Poor quality Chinese product!!!

    Reply
  4. Claare Rasmussen
    November 11, 2009 at 10:33 am

    When I try to print the item I get pages and pages but not the item I am asking for.

    Reply
  5. USSROVER
    November 12, 2009 at 12:55 am

    Rick,
    also open a command prompt window
    type ipconfig (ifconfig for linux) don’t know the
    MAC command
    look at gateway eg 192.168.1.1
    then type ping 192.168.1.1
    if you get a response then check DLS modem
    if not then check router & computer
    and double check ethernet (cat5) connections
    the connectors might come loose (very rare) but check anyway

    Rover

    Reply
  6. Computer Repair
    November 17, 2009 at 2:45 pm

    This method has worked for me many times before. I find it humorous when users think there is some software or complicated process that needs to be done to speed up there connection. You have offered up and easy solution and its free!

    Reply

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