Solved! desktop internet connectivity problem

[anneaone878]

Last spring there was a big lightning strike very close and the next day my computer came on but the monitor was blank. I ordered a refurbished computer off of Ebay and relocated it to another room and used a tv for the monitor. The new computer would not connect to the internet. The guy I bought it from sent me a new NIC card and I still couldn't get on the internet. I called my ISP and they sent a guy who said my ARRIS thing (modem?) was getting a good signal. I finally sent that computer back and ordered another one off of Ebay. The second computer connected to the internet right off but, within an hour, it started losing its connection on and off. There's 3 tvs in the house connected with wifi and they are always fine - it's just the wired computer that has the problem. Both computers said I needed to plug in an ethernet cable when I ran Network Diagnostics - which, of course, was already in place and was in good working order. Network Diagnostics always says "detected a network change" or "connection interrupted" or "resetting wifi adapter" along with the message about plugging in the ethernet cable. I have reset the ARRIS modem dozens of times. The problem continued and became more frequent until it was almost constant. This went on for about 2 months and then about 2 weeks ago, it was suddenly just fine one day. I didn't lose connection even once for at least a week or 10 days. Then a couple days ago it started again. Yesterday I couldn't get on at all - where before it would always reconnect when I ran the Diagnostics but, it didn't work yesterday. Today, I didn't even try to get on the internet until I decided I'd see if I could get to this forum to post and I haven't lost connection once. I found one old post on here about like this one and the guy had sent his whole network connectivity stuff with his post. I'm not as smart as he was and I didn't understand the suggestions he was given - "get close to the access point" was one and I'm afraid that's over my head................. but, I hope somebody can help me. I kinda feel like it's this ARRIS thing even though the service guy said it was "getting a good signal". It probably was - until it wasn't. But calling their customer service is like spending a day in hell and they charged me $60 for it so I don't want to pay again if its not the ARRIS thing. I think that lightning strike did something to it. Anyway, I wondered if anybody might know what it is. I would try to send the network info if I need to. Haven't done that before but I can probably figure it out. Have also had problems connecting to my printer sometimes and sometimes messaging has been difficult but, right now it's working fine.................... Thanks for any advice anyone might have for me!

 

[raykneale]

Sounds like a bad connection at your end
First up I would replace the ethernet cable
Reseat the NIC in the motherboard or try using the on board LAN if available
As for the lightning strike ,your wifi works OK so outside influences would affect both wifi and LAN
Try waggling the LAN plug connecters at both ends to see if connections are interupted or improved

 

[AlHuneke]

It could also be a problem with the modem. Just because it is "getting a good connection" does not mean the ethernet output works well. You could try a usb wireless adapter in your PC (unless there is some other reason wireless won't work there).