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How to Setup and Troubleshoot DSL Modem, Wireless Network and Windows XP Upgrade?Copyright (c) Directron.com
I got my 3M/sec DSL to work at home!!! Oh, well, on one of my computers anyway. After two days of struggling. It's now working on the computer upstairs (Win XP). But the DSL modem has to be downstairs in the study because the DSL phone jacket upstairs is bad. I am now connecting the computer upstairs and the modem downstairs through a 50-ft network cable. Wow, the 3M DSL is fast! Faster than the T1 at office. At least it seems that way for downloading. It means that I'll restart working from home on many web-related tasks. My productivity will get a boost right away. However, I still have a 50-feet cable going through the stairs in the house! I need to fix that. Eventually I want to get the router to work downstairs in my study, where my main work station will be stationed at. Then I'll have a wireless router/entry point so that I'll have Wi-Fi inside the house to be shared by the computer upstairs and my laptop. Here is what happened throughout my odeal with the DSL so far: (1) The modem was received last week. I set it up. There is no manual. No instructions. Only a CD. I connected everything. Everything seems to work except the DSL. The signal was not delivered yet. The DSL light stays off. (2) Yesterday, I noticed that the DSL light is on. Huh! The DSL signal has been delivered. (3) However, during the installation process, the computer can't communicate with the modem. After several tries, I called tech support. It turns out that I connected both Ethernet and USB cables. That's a no-no. So I removed the USB cable. (4) The communication still can't be established. The Ethernet light keeps blinking intermittantly. I called tech support again. They suggested me to turn the Ethernet cable around and try. It did not solve the problem. Then they suggested me to disable the virus auto-detect program. I did. It didn't solve the problem. Another tech suggested that maybe I have an outdated driver for the network card. He suggested me to update the driver. (5) Before I take that suggestion, I thought I would give the USB connection a try. The odd thing is that the USB connection does the same thing! The computer can't communicate with the modem. The USB lights keep blinking. I tried different USB ports, the same. Rebooting the modem and the system - the same. (6) How could both the network and the USB port to be bad at the same time? I haven't used the network on that computer; but I know the USB ports are good. Maybe it is a bad modem? (7) Before calling the tech support again, I thought I would do some investgation myself. I want to test the modem upstairs with a newer XP machine. (8) The Ethernet connection seems to work right away. The light stays solid. However, the DSL light is completely off. That means that there is no DSL signal to the wall phone jack upstairs yet. (9) I removed the phone jack wall mount. Bingo. No wonder. Only two lines are connected to the phone jack! The DSL may need all four. But there are 16 other lines behind that wallmount. How do I know which two to add? I tried all kinds of combination, but can't get the DSL signal to show. The Alltel phone company told me when I ordered the DSL that the DSL should work on all jacks. But obviously not all jacks are the same! (10) Is it time to give up yet? Not quite. The problem is that I have good Ethernet upstairs but bad DSL and I have good DSL downstairs but good DSL. I have to combine them to solve this puzzle. (11) I thought to move the XP computer downstairs to test. However, that means I'll also move the monitor since the downstair monitor uses DVI but the upstair computer does not have it. It's just too much. I don't have a long phone cable either to connect the DSL from downstairs to upstairs. I did find a 50-feet network cable; but it can't be plugged to the phone connection. (12) I almost gave up until I thought another idea: Move the modem downstairs to use the DSL, and connect it to the upstair computer through the 50-feet network cable. So I'll have the computer upstairs but the modem downstairs. (13) Bingo the Ethernet AND DSL lights stayed solid. But still I have problem completing the installation. I rebooted the modem and PC. Wow! The installation went through without any problem! Now I am experiencing the high-speed Internet. Clearly what I experienced in the last two nights show: (1) The modem is actually good. (2) I need to either upgrade the Win 2000 machine to Win XP or update the driver for the network card. However, the odd thing is why the USB port goes bad at the same time? I chatted about this problem with our technology manager. Here is our conversation: ********************************* Michael Chang: hi lee Lee, directronlee: hi Michael Chang: i got the DSL to work upstairs Michael Chang: but the DSL connection is bad upstairs Michael Chang: so i have my router downstairs connected through a 50-feet network cable Michael Chang: obviously, the network driver on the computer upstairs is compatible with the modem Michael Chang: the one downstairs (Win2000) is NOT! Michael Chang: the upstair one is Win XP Lee, directronlee: odd. Same phone jack? Michael Chang: so the modem is okay. Michael Chang: same phone jacket Michael Chang: the jacket upstairs does not work Michael Chang: because the wiring is all wrong inside Michael Chang: i can't fix that Michael Chang: i need the router to work downstairs anyway Michael Chang: because that will be my main computer Lee, directronlee: I see Michael Chang: i have two choice i think Michael Chang: (1) upgrade the OS to Win XP downstairs Michael Chang: (2) download a driver for that network card, load it and try again Michael Chang: the odd thing is that the USB connection does not work either Michael Chang: the DSL 3M is fast!!!!! Michael Chang: it is much faster than the T1 at home for downloads Lee, directronlee: Maybe try taking the upstairs computer, down stairs and see if it works. If it does you know it's XP, if not then the wiring downstairs is bad Michael Chang: you mean the DSL wiring? Michael Chang: I am now using the DSL wiring downstairs!!!!!!!!!! Lee, directronlee: The phone jack and line filter Lee, directronlee: oh. I think you have me confused Michael Chang: the DSL wiring downstairs is working Michael Chang: the modem is downstairs so it is close to the good DSL phone line Michael Chang: it's connected to the Xp machine upstairs through a long LAN cable. Lee, directronlee: I see Michael Chang: and the ethernet light stayed solid! Michael Chang: it just means that the modem is good Michael Chang: and both the ethernet and USB connection downstairs are bad Lee, directronlee: ok so it's just the downstairs PC that's bad? Lee, directronlee: As far as the speed goes: Lee, directronlee: At work we have the airband connection which is 3MBs both ways, and the xpedius connection which is 1.5MB. The problem has been the latency and down time on airband is pretty bad. We made a PC do routing so that if airband goes down or gets too slow it pushes everyone to Xpedius ( the 1.5mb connection ) Lee, directronlee: At work right now it ends up that about 30% of the time you end up using the xpedius connection Lee, directronlee: When you use xpedius, the connection to the page is faster, but download is slower ... and everyone is using it so it's slower Lee, directronlee: We're something like 80 - 85% saturated on Xpedius Michael Chang: is it easy to upgrade from 2000 to XP? Lee, directronlee: and 40 - 50% on airband when it's up Lee, directronlee: Sorta Lee, directronlee: The process is pretty simple – you just put in the Windows XP Cd, while booted into 2K Lee, directronlee: it asks if you want to upgrade or do a new install Lee, directronlee: for upgrade it's pretty straight forward Lee, directronlee: it's smart enough to get most stuff working, but you might have to reinstall a few programs Michael Chang: okay. Lee, directronlee: The other option ( new install ) actually gives you the boot menu thing when you start the PC so you can load XP or 2K Michael Chang: i think XP is good for multiusers on the same computer Lee, directronlee: yeah, if you've got more than 1 person on a PC XP is quite a bit better Michael Chang: once upgraded, i don't need 2K Michael Chang: yeah, i noticed that Michael Chang: should i try to get the network driver updated? Lee, directronlee: worth a shot, but it worries me a bit that USB didn't work either Michael Chang: that computer was not booted for 2 years Michael Chang: i just recently restarted it Lee, directronlee: ahhh Lee, directronlee: Ahh. Lee, directronlee: Maybe USB is a little odd on that system anyway then Lee, directronlee: I've still got a couple PCs here at the house on W2K Lee, directronlee: they probably need a couple of windows service packs too Michael Chang: how do i do that? Lee, directronlee: That's done via Windows Update, but to load Windows update you have to be connected to the Internet -- Catch 22 Lee, directronlee: The other way is to get a Service Pack Redistributable file burned to a CD Lee, directronlee: I have one at the office if I recall correctly Lee, directronlee: basically it's just a CD with one program on it that you run Michael Chang: okay. Lee, directronlee: Actually, If you have a CD burner I could tell you where to download the patch to burn Michael Chang: still upgrade to Win Xp maybe a better solution Lee, directronlee: yeah, that's true Michael Chang: since i want to use XP anyway Michael Chang: will i have to reload some drivers in XP? Lee, directronlee: It's a mixed bag Lee, directronlee: Most have to be downloaded and installed Lee, directronlee: but the older the hardware is, the less likely you are to need to install a driver Lee, directronlee: XP has a lot of built in drivers Michael Chang: okay. Michael Chang: are my data safe? Lee, directronlee: it won't delete anything, but some programs you have installed on the PC might not work right after the upgrade and need to be put back on Lee, directronlee: So for example if you did this on a PC with peachtree, peachtree might not run, but all the data files associated with the program would still be there so you could reinstall it and still open everything Lee, directronlee: same goes for stuff like Word, Excel etc Lee, directronlee: not sure what email is like. I think it tries to do a somewhat graceful copy of it, but it's good to back it up first Lee, directronlee: last time Michael Chang: ok ******************************* Well, I'll try to do the Win XP upgrade soon then. You may wonder why I didn't have DSL at the first place. Well, I did before. Then the DSL Internet connection was becoming a distraction for my teen-age daughters. So I decided to canceled it. That was about one year ago. Now, the girls are older (and hopefully wiser), and I need to be able to work from home, so I got the DSL reactivated. The price is unbelievable these days. I get 3M/sec download speed for only $29.95 a month! Where I live only Alltel serves the DSL. It’s a monopoly; but the price has come down quite a bit. They sent me the DSL modem for free since I signed up for one year. The modem was made by Siemens, called SpeedStream. My first goal is to hook up the downstair computer to DSL first. Then, my second phase of the project is to set up a wireless network so all my computers at home can access to the Internet.
Last night, I got the Windows XP Professional SP2 CD home to do the upgrade. After I put the CD in and get ready to upgrade, I got this message: "Upgrading from Windows 2000 Professional to Windows XP Professional is not available" It can't be done! That was it. I will have to either build another PC, do a fresh XP Pro install, or find the latest driver for my network card in the old computer.
That is indeed true. There is no upgrade path from Windows 2000 to XP. You'll be a lot happier trying to use a home router, etc. with Windows XP. It just works better.
Thanks Steve. You may have typed the magic word - "home router." But I promise that I didn't read your post before doing the futher diagnosis and troubleshooting and came aross a solution. Sorry other readers, I have been away on vacation for two weeks and didn't have any chance to struggle with this problem until now. Here is an update. I have had a DSL router for a while since the last time I tried to get a home network/multi Internet access point going a few years ago. I never finished that project. The Linksys router cover came off into two pieces. Last night I found the router and put the covers back on. I want to give it another try before getting a new one. The router works also as a switch. So it is ideal for my home network. When I am ready for a wireless signal, all I'll need to do is to add a wireless entry point. I connected the router to the DSL modem through the UPLINK port and the upstairs computer to the router through a regular link. It didn't work. I didn't give up. I switched the connection - connecting the moden to the regular port and the PC to the UPLINK. Bingo. The Ethernet light on the moden lit up. I went upstairs, I got Internet access!!! Then I thought I may be able to solve the "network card driver" problem on the downstairs Win 2000 machine by connecting it to the router instead to the DSL moden. But I ran out of network cables to test that idea. Damn! I should have kept a few network cables around for moments like this. I was all excited to get this problem resolved without upgrading the OS or the driver. BTW, Lee actually suggested to use the "UPGRADE" version of the XP to upgrade the Win 2000. I didn't have a chance to try that yet.
Fast forward to tonight! I brought back a couple of network cables from the office. I connected the Win 2000 machine to the router. No Internet connection. The network connection keeps saying that the network cable is unplugged. I called Lee for ideas. He suggested to try my laptop on the same router to see if that works to decide whether the network adapter on the Win 2000 is defective. I know my laptop network adapter is working because I just used it last week during my trip. That is an excellent suggestion. Well, my laptop, which runs Win XP, didn't work either on the router. No network connection. So the problem is NOT the network adapter on the Win 2000 machine then. what else could be wrong? I didn't give up. I first switched the laptop with the XP machine upstairs - connecting the laptop to the UPLINK port of the router. BINGO, I got the laptop connected to the Internet. The network connection started to work! One other idea that I haven't try it yet, is to connect the Win 2000 machine to the router through the UPLINK port to replace the upstairs win XP machine (or the XP laptop). DADADADADADADADAAAAAAAAAAAAAA The network connection started to work on the Win 2000 machine downstairs!!! So the network adapter is good. However, I noticed that the Explorer can't find any webpages. I rebooted the machine. Same problem. Yahoo IM can't log on either. I thought the LAN settings may be set wrong on the IE. Yeah. It did. I unchecked the Proxy server option. Clicked OK. Wow, I got Internet! The long struggle is over (well almost...since I still have yet to get the wireless network to work) You know the first thing I did after I got the Internet access on the old machine that I haven't used for over one year? Typing these two updates on this post!!!! I am actually typing this message on this machine, right now. The next things I did was downloading some updates on this machine.
I just did some further testing. The ports on Channel 1 and UPLINK are interchangeable. I can connect the modem to the UPLINK and the Win 2000 machine to the Channel 1, the Internet access still works. However, none of the other Channels (2-4) or the WAN port work. Could I have a defective router that only Channel 1 and UPLINK port work? I guess I'll need some further testing.
I actually brought back a Microsoft wireless router. It doubles as a 4-port router too. I thought I would use it in tandan with the Linksys router. But since the Linksys seems to have only two ports to work, it's time to see if I can get the wireless one to work by itself. Earlier I tried to connect the wireless router through the working ports on the Linksys, and it didn't work. My wireless laptop did detect the WiFi signal though, although no connection yet. I got the manual out for the wireless router. It actually has some software that I need to install (not like the Linksys, which is all hardware without requiring installing any software). It came with a CD. I loaded the CD and went through the wizard. The procedure is straightforward. The questions are easy to answer. It tried to detect Internet access first, which is kind of dumb since I need to get the router configured first to have Internet access. After disconnecting and re-starting the router, I got it to work! I got the desktop (Win 2000 machine downstairs) to work first. Then I tested it with my wireless laptop. It detected a singal. But it asked for a keycode to get connected. I didn't remember seeing or setting up the keycode. I went back to the desktop machine and figured out what the keycode is (a long random number and letters). WOW. I got the wireless laptop to work with the wireless router!!! I guess I can forget about the Linksys router now. My next tasks would be to install a PCI wireless card to the upstair computer so that has Internet access too. I'll also test a wireless PCMCIA card on another laptop. I will gain more experience on the wireless network and report it here later. I am typing this message on my laptop computer while laying in my bed at 3:36AM. It's time to go back to sleep. What a wonderful feeling to get the wireless network to work!
I got a little time this weekend to work on this wireless network project. I tried to use the Upgrade version of Windows XP to upgrade the OS from Windows 2000 to Windows XP Professional, which will make the downstair P4 2.0GHz computer more convenient for multi-users. The Upgrade version did the trick. It completed the upgrade in about 60 minutes. The process itself is relatively simple. However, it did miss the driver for the Intel network card. Fortunately, the Internet access on the upstair computer still works when the downstairs computer was not working. I identified the correct driver and downloaded it from Intel's website. Installed it. Now, I have completed the upgrade!!! The upgrade process also missed a driver or file for Microsoft Office. I didn't test that program yet. So, that is yet to be determined. During the past week of usage of the Wi-Fi, I noticed that my laptop Internet connection is 54Mbps when it is close to the wireless switch. When I am using it in my bedroom, it is only 11Mbps and the strength of the signal is weak. Therefore, as part of the project, I need to find a way to optimize the signal around the house. The best way maybe to relocate the wireless switch to upstairs, near the center of the house. That should make the signal evenly distributed. Well, I'll continue to share this experience with you. I know you can read it somewhere else about such problem-solving process. But I found myself enjoying the process. So, I am trying to do most of the problem solving by myself through common-sense and trial and error instead of doing much online research first.
Well, upgrading the OS to XP instead of a fresh install has its prices. Ever since I did the upgrade, I have encountered the following problems so far: (1) The Skype is having an inconsistent problem. It keeps giving an error message when I used MSN IM at the same time when chatting on Skype. The solution I found so far is not to use the MSN IM when chatting on Skype. (2) During the upgrading process, Windows XP warned me that the CD burning software I have on this machine is not compatible with XP. It means that I'll have to do an upgrade on that later. (3) The IE keeps having difficulties and shuts itself down for no reason or because I am switching among too many windows. (4) The MSN IM didn't work initially. I had to repair the software first. Who knows what other problems I may encounter later. I haven't used even a quarter of the software that are on this machine yet. However, I do like XP allot better than 2K though. Many of the features on XP give me a more modern feeling. About technology. And about myself.
.....and those would be some of the reasons I hate to upgrade OSs. "Sluge Hammers: For when things don't work!"
Also there is a pop-up window of ads keeping popping up all the time. This has happened before the upgrade. The contents of the ad keeps changing, selling all kinds of products (luckily not sexually oriented ones). The pop-up window often hides behind other IE windows and I can't close it from the start menu at the bottom of my screen. I have to actually see the pop up in order to close them. Is that an accident? After the upgrade, I also noticed that the Internet Explorer window is sluggish in responding to new links. I have to click on "Refresh" to get a new page to show. For example, if I type the URL address, the page would be blank. I have to click on "Fresh" so that the new page would show. Same result if I click on a link on a page. I spoke with Lee, our Tech Director, again. He suggested me to download a search and destroy software to get rid of the ad-ware. I downloaded Spybot. Holly cow! I had 362 spy-ware and adware on this computer! I deleted all of them except those associated with Alexa. I feel that I have successfully pulled so many weeds from our front lawn! The feeling is very satisfying until... After this the IE not long is slugish to change. However, the pop-up ad is amazingly still there! Now what do I do? Maybe I should try to get rid of those Alexa stuff too.
I would also try using Mozilla Firefox instead of IE. For spyware, I love SpyBot, but I was also looking into Microsoft's Beta Spyware Remover, it seems to be pretty good, mainly because Microsoft didn't develope it, they bought a company called GAINT, that already produced company wide spyware protection. "Sluge Hammers: For when things don't work!" Did you also meet this questions? Could you solve them? if you did or you could or have interest in these question, Please share your thoughts with me by sending an email to information@directron.us. |
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