http://www.bootdisk.com/ 178 August 2004
The BootLIST Welcome to the 178th Edition of The BootLIST
INDEX
1) The Thirty Minute Cable Drill
2) WhoAmI - Internet Connectivity Diagnostic
3) On Cable, But Tech Says My Modem Toasted PC
4) System Reboots When Gently Moving Cables
5) Retainer Clip Missing On RAM Slot
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1) The Thirty Minute Cable DrillBoris wrote - I just bought cable internet service and a linksys router for my three home computers. It worked fine for a week but now I cant use Internet Explorer it seems to contact the pages but never gets a reply. I have checked winipcfg and everything is fine there for example I see the correct host name which means the computers are seeing the router. The cable company said to shut the cable modem off for a minute and then turn it back on but I still am stuck.
Is there anything else I can try before I have to call somebody to come over and fix it?
*** Well the first thing to try is what any good tech will try first if they come over. I call it the thirty minute drill. Your cable support person was on the right track but left a lot out.The Thirty Minute Drill
Turn off all the pcs
Pull the power plug from the cable modem and the router
Unscrew the coax cable from the cable modem
Wait 30 minutes
Screw in the coax first, then put the power plug back into the cable modem
Wait until the cable modem initializes, usually a minute or two
Put the power cable back into the router
Fire up the pcs one at a timeThis will work about 70% of the time.
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2) WhoAmI - Internet Connectivity DiagnosticChris R. suggests:
Great little single screen utility - whoami for Windows from www.mycooltools.com. Also great for quick diagnosis of TCP/IP and connectivity problems, release & renewal of IP, etc. The file is at:
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3) On Cable, But Tech Says My Modem Toasted PCSusan inquires - I'm a housewife with a cable Internet connection and I was online during bad storm. Suddenly my computer went dead so I called a technician I found in the phone book to come over and see what the problem was. I already called my cable internet company and they said my cable modem was OK I guess they can check that from the office.
The technician had to take my pc apart and said that a surge came in through my old phone modem line and broke the dial-up modem and motherboard. How can this be I feel that I am being taking advantage of I am sorry to say I do not know anything about computers and I dont even use my phone line modem anymore.
*** I see this type of problem after every storm in my area. As long as you have a phone line connected to your dial-up modem you can get toasted by a storm, especially if you dont have your dial-up modem line running through a simple surge protector.Easy fix to prevent this kind of thing in the future-pull the phone line from the modem since you're not using it. Or get a surge protector that has a modem circuit or just a phone line surge protector, or just unplug the line and put it in when you want to send a fax, etc.
A surge though your phone line to your internal modem can fry the modem, or EVERYTHING ELSE. My guess is that your tech is right on the money. In most cases tho it only toasts the modem and/or the motherboard. Hard drives generally survive such instances, but often the surge severely corrupts windows and it often has to be redone fresh after you get the bad hardware replaced.
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4) System Reboots When Gently Moving CablesKevin questions - I have been rebuilding computers for friends for about a year, and sometimes I notice on some systems that when the computer is running if I just move the cables around a bit it reboots. I am smart enough to know what I cant do with the power on but I do not understand why touching some cables would make the system reboot.
*** Chances are it's a loose power supply cable to a hard drive. Turn the power off and unplug. See if there is another free/available power cable you can use for the hard drives(s). You want a really snug/tight fit. If the power cable fits in _too_ easily then get a Y power cable splitter. If you get a Y cable eg basically they just connect to a connector and give you two connectors, make sure _it's_ connected tightly also to the source.Loose cables, either IDE or Power can also be a reason for random system reboots on any pc. Whenever you are taking system apart always check the cables to see if they fit in tightly. On any old system I rebuild I always replace the IDE cables with new ones by default and always check all the power cables. If I find one that just seems _too_ loosely fitting, I either find another connector or add a Y splitter.
If you look closely at the metal plugs inside a power connector, they look just like the worm heads from _Dune_, ie the book or movie :) What happens is they loose their outward elasticity.
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5) Retainer Clip Missing On RAM SlotTriangle Man asks - I bought a used PC and the second dimm slot has one of the white retainer clips missing. Can I still use it? I want to add more ram and it wont work in slot 3.
*** Yes you can still use the slot. While the clips are both for retaining the dimm and helping you to remove it, dimms fit in so tight that the chances of one coming out of a slot with only one clip are next to zero.
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