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Help troubleshooting, please!...

Hi fellow Fios people,

It takes a little time to describe, but it is necessary to kno what I've tried

I have had FIos working on a desktop for over 6 months. This is connected directly to a dataport that runs down 1 floor to my basement where the router is located and the main hub leading to all the other 3 dataports in my home, as well as Fios TV. I bring home a wireless laptop from work that I set up in the kitchen (1 floor above the basement) and it connects just fine wirelessly.

Since my kids are getting older and we can't all share the same computer, I tried to add a desktop on the bedroom level, right where there is a dataport. When I connect it with an ethernet cable, there pops up a symbol in the lower right corner of the screen that says 'connected at 100mbs/second. But I can't get it to connect to the internet. Spent hours on my own, tried all the troubleshooting tips and downloading (on the working desktop) to a flash drive the Fios connection wizard, all to no effect. After being on hold for over 45 minutes, finally got a service guy at Fios who had me try to ping, with no luck. tried all avenues through the control panel and through wireless XP utilities. No luck. We switched cables at the router from the port that worked to the port that did not, my existing desktop reconnected no problem, but still no ping, no connection upstairs. He concluded that there is notheing he can do, no suggestions, that I must have a bad ethernet card.

Next day I have my laptop that works wirelessly in the kitchen. I bring it upstairs and use the ethernet cable to try to hardwire it. No luck, no connection. Then I try to connect wirelessly, no luck. When I open Show all available wireless connections, it detects my network with a good signal(4 bars, if that means anything) and everyone elses in the neiborhood with much wweaker signals. But no matter how may times I tell it to connect, it won't. So I pick up the laptop and start to walk downstairs with it. As I get halfway down the stairs, it connects without my even trying.

Okay, so thats the situation. With 4 bars of signal showing, I guess that is not strong enough to connect?? Why wouldn't the ethernet connection work? It shows in the lower right corner that it has a 100mb signal on both my laptop and my desktop? My pproblem is that I don't know if I need to get a new computer for the upstairs so that my kids can do work(becuase my old desktop is old, and may have a bad ethernet card, and I don't want to spend money making it wireless, do I? Is there such a thing as a range extender for the router, and does anyone think that will help, and how do you set that up?

Am I better of relocating my router to the center floor of my house by running an ethernet cable upstairs from the outside feed to the routher and then to my computer? BUt then my TV will get all screwed up because all the home runs are in the basement by the router? Customer Service has proven to be a waste of time with internet connection issues.

Suggestions, please! I know some of you out there are more technically savvy than I, and hopefully are willing to spend a little of your valuable time helping out a fellow Human trying to help his kids on a limited budget. I've seen a decent desktop at Staples by HP for only about $400, but there is no guarantee that will work unitl I know if this is a range problem, and how do I check my direct dataport upstairs?

Thanks, I'll shut up now.

Regards to all,

Jeff in River Edge

Comments

Telcoguru

Do you have Internet Protocal (TCP/IP) checked for you NIC card?

Under properties for your NIC card are you set to obtain and IP address and DNS automatically?

In Internet Options under connections are all your LAN settings unchecked?

Look at these and try to connect. Let us know what happens.

AzManatHrt

@Telcoguru wrote:
Do you have Internet Protocal (TCP/IP) checked for you NIC card?
Under properties for your NIC card are you set to obtain and IP address and DNS automatically?
In Internet Options under connections are all your LAN settings unchecked?
Look at these and try to connect. Let us know what happens.

Thank you for your response. Yes, I checked all the settings in the NIC and in the network connections. I also did a little more investigating, and found that I could successfully ping from that Ethernet port upstairs (using my laptop, not the computer in question)to an outside IP address. Then I decided to use my laptop from my wireless connection to log into the router, and see what I could find, Interesting, although I have no idea of what I'm doing.

I have telephone service, FIOS TV and my Fios 100mb connection I guess going through this router. I did some PDF screen shots of some of the configuration settings pages, but basically, I found that the Ethernet was not 'enabled'. Thinking I had struck gold, I enabled it, at which point my wife and 2 daughters told me they lost their TV signal and internet connection, thankfully only for a couple of minutes. I still could not get that computer, or my laptop to connect to the internet from that Ethernet port, and I tried both automatic settings and assigning a DNS address. One address kept saying there was a conflict with another network, and I realized I don't know the difference between a DNS address and an IP address.

So, I can successfully ping from my Ethernet port, but cannot connect to the internet with either computer. IN the router interface, there are multiple connections shown; 3 coax, which I guess are my TV's. Although I have 4 connected, 1 Ethernet connection which I can tell is my original main desktop, and some other Ethernet ports that look like nobody's home.

I really don't know what to do next except to call Verizon and see if they make house calls?

Any suggestions??

Thanks for your time.

Jeff

el3ment00

Is your WAN Connection from your ONT wired for Coax or ethernet?

I can't exactly pinpoint the cause from your description.. And i'm sure tech support has had you power cycle everything to start off..

I am assuming since you have no connectivity to any of your clients, the router needs to be configured properly.

Are your computers all obtaining a LOCAL (192.168.x.x) IP address from your router?

Are you able to access Video On Demand on your TVs?

If you can connect locally, but can't surf out to the internet - then you need to make sure your broadband WAN(Wide area Network) connection (Either Coax or Ethernet - however the tech installed it) has an IP and is enabled.. Otherwise, you wont be able to get anywhere..

Telcoguru

What lights are lit on the router and what color are they?

AzManatHrt

@Telcoguru wrote:
What lights are lit on the router and what color are they?

Thanks, here is the router info;

It is an Actiontec MI424WR. All the lights are basically the same color, which is a yellow green.

The Front;

1. Power Light- Solid Strong Green

2. Ethernet WAN- Strong Green, blinks a little bit, but a strong light

3. Coax WAN- dark- Off

4. Internet- On Strong Green Light, blinks a little

5. Ethernet Lan has 4 lights or channels

1. Light On, green, weak, not as bright as the others above, blinks slowly- THis goes to my desktop in the office on themain floor that I've had connected to FIOS for a year

2. Light On, but weak like #1 above but blinking very rapidly. This the cable to the desktop I cannot connect.

3. Dark

4. Dark

COAX LAN- On Strong Solid

INTERNET- On Strong, Solid

The back; Everyathing that comes out of the router goes to a data hub distribution box that I asked my electricion to install when the home was built 2 years ago

COAX from Router goes to Only Coax port or jack on the data hub on the right side of the plate. THis goes to the attic, where there is a box with all the COAX home runs which then goes to each tv outlet.

On the left of the distribution box are 4 CAT5e outlets that go to 4 places in the home.

There is a wire coming into the back of the router going to the White Ethernet Port. It has a solid green light next to the 100, the 10 light is off

IN the yellow box are the 4 ethernet ports;

#1 is on, green, strong, slow blinkinga at #100

#2 is on, the liught blinking rapidly at #100

#3 and 4 are dark.

The router is in a corner of the basement in a vertical position in a stand, I was assured that this would not be too far for wireless connections on all floors.

Hope this helps. I must get that computer connected so my kids can do their homework!!

Thanks again.

AzManatHrt

@el3ment00 wrote:
Is your WAN Connection from your ONT wired for Coax or ethernet?
I can't exactly pinpoint the cause from your description.. And i'm sure tech support has had you power cycle everything to start off..
I am assuming since you have no connectivity to any of your clients, the router needs to be configured properly.
Are your computers all obtaining a LOCAL (192.168.x.x) IP address from your router?
Are you able to access Video On Demand on your TVs?
If you can connect locally, but can't surf out to the internet - then you need to make sure your broadband WAN(Wide area Network) connection (Either Coax or Ethernet - however the tech installed it) has an IP and is enabled.. Otherwise, you wont be able to get anywhere..

I'm not sure what an ONT is, but if its' the router;

The Ethernet WAN light is on, the COAX light is off, and there is only one COAX jack on the back of the router, and I'm 99% sure it is for Fios TV.

All other jacks on the back of the router are CAT5.

All other 'clients' are working, My main desktop in the office, my wireless laptop works in the basement and on the main level of the home, but will not connect upstairs where the 2nd desktop is located, which is the one I am trying to add to the system. Also, my laptop will not connect when hard wired to the same ethernet port.

Yes, all the working connections show a local address of 192.168 x x , but something peculiar is that the desktop that I can't connect was showing that it was connected but to a completely differnent address, which I don't recall. This desktop says that it is connected, I've gotten it as far as being able to ping, but not connect to the internet.

I dowmnloaded the Router Manual from Verizons site and followed the isntruction for logging into the router, and found that the connection I was truing to make was not enabled. I enabled it, but was unsure of what IP or DNS values to give it.

I have pdf screenshots of some of the configuartion pages, and would love to email them to someone who knows what they mean. I think there-in lies the problem.

One other thing, whenever I run the Fios connection wizard, it says that my connection from tje router to the computer is broken, that I have a bad wire, but I still get the 'connected at 100mbs message in the lower corner, and like I said, can ping out to the 192.168.x.x settings.

I have not done a reset for over a week or so, trying at the beginning to get the upsstairs desktop.

Thanks,

Jeff

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