FIOS Network Status and Issues

I have just recently received FIOS and my router just this past week. Everyone in my home uses Windows 7 and before I got FIOS I was wired to my old modem/router. At the bottom of the computer screen where you see the time, I would be reminded of my connection type with the neat little picture of the computer and a Ethernet wire to its side. I could click it to check my internet and the like. On my other computers, since they are wireless connected to me, have a different picture. They get the wireless bars picture that would change depending on connectivity. Like 2 bars or 3 bars.

So once we switched to FIOS and had the guy set it up for us I noticed some odd stuff. I no longer have my "wired" picture anymore. Instead I have the "wireless bars" picture. Im directly connected through an Ethernet cable so why is it acting like im wireless. Not only that but the picture usually has me at "no bars" to maybe "2 bars" on a normal. My others computers, which are supposed to be wireless, depict the correct picture but usually have "2-3 bars" showing. So im pretty confused. I logged into my router and checked my "Network Status" to see what all was connected to my computer. It lists everything as normal except for my computer, the computer that the router is connected to that should be wired. It lists my computer twice. One is wired and Online, and the other is wireless an Online. I used the program the Vz In Home Agent to optimize my settings, and when it did so I went from 5.1/1.2 speed, to 15.1/5.3. Big jump, and when I looked at my network picture at the bottom it changed back to the wired picture. At first I was excited but then after accessing the internet for a minute or so, I noticed the internet acting odd and the picture went back to wireless. I am pretty confused.

Is this all normal? All I want is for my computer to be wired to the router and reach optimum speeds with the basic plan I bought, with all my wireless connections working. So far all my wireless connections are working at 5.1/1.1 and my computer is switching from the two numbers above all the time and is shown as being wired and wireless. Safe to say that im lost. Now as you have probably guessed by now, im not too computer savvy. So any help would be greatly appreciated.

Accepted answers

SapphireLament

@viafax999 wrote:
Yes, perfectly believable. If you can stay connected wirelessly then it points to the wired side of the router. If you tried more than one ethernet cable and still have issues then it points to the router.
Call Fios tech support and see if they can resolve it or give you an exchange.

My computer started to freeze randomly after I would walk away for maybe 20min. So I did some site searching around and did the following:

Command Prompt: sfc/ scannow + chkdsk

After that those sites eventually lead me to a post about "Uninstalling Network Adapters" to reset them. So I went into my Device Manager and unistalled them all. After I rebooted, FIOS just got smart somehow and said "Oh, ur wired and nothing else". And I have been connected, no problems ever since with my 15.3/5.2 WIRED connection back. Don't get me wrong, I am very very happy it is all fixed, but I feel like this was a long journey to just run into a quick fix like this. Thank you all for your advice anyways. I probably wouldnt have been lead to the fix w/o u guys. So I guess im fixed.

All comments

somegirl

If you don't want your computer connecting wirelessly, you can disable your wireless connection.

Right click on the connection icon on your computer, and click on "Open Network and Sharing Center" from the pop-up menu. On the left there should be an option that says "Change adapter settings" - click on it. Then right click on the wireless connection, and disable it.

ekem015

Perhaps it is also connecting wirelessly. In Vista (I don't know what it is for W7), try going into "Manage Wireless Networks" or "Manage Network Connections" and see if it is also trying to connect via wireless, if you have a built-in wireless card in a laptop or a wireless adapter in a desktop.

SapphireLament

@somegirl wrote:
If you don't want your computer connecting wirelessly, you can disable your wireless connection.
Right click on the connection icon on your computer, and click on "Open Network and Sharing Center" from the pop-up menu. On the left there should be an option that says "Change adapter settings" - click on it. Then right click on the wireless connection, and disable it.

Ok so i did that and I got the "wired" picture again. So that worked. But after doing some virus scans for and hour or so I decided to browse the web. Think i went to youtube to play a song and checked my email. Then the internet cut out and disconnected. My wired logo had that yellow triangle with the "!" telling me that I wasnt connected. So I right clicked to Diagnose the problem, and it fixed it saying " Problem Found: The Default Gateway Not Available (Fixed)", and then I get my internet back. But after another minute or so, its boots me off again and I have to Diagnose it agian and says the same problem was fixed. Internet connections are never simple, lol.

@ekem015 wrote:
Perhaps it is also connecting wirelessly. In Vista (I don't know what it is for W7), try going into "Manage Wireless Networks" or "Manage Network Connections" and see if it is also trying to connect via wireless, if you have a built-in wireless card in a laptop or a wireless adapter in a desktop.

Maybe the above is happening because of what ekem015 said here. Is it possisble it needs to be connected both ways? Seems odd. If so, is there to set it to be primary wired and secondary wireless if that is even possible. This all happened pretty late at night so if verizon normally does something to the servers or something at night could that be it? Prolly not, lol. Im just lost. Figured this would be an easy and faster interent solution and I run into all these issues. Thanks for the advise so far though. I appreciate it. Just need some more, lol.

viafax999

You need to decide which way you want to connect. You cannot connect a machine more than one way at the same time to the same network with the same protocols. I would guess that your issue is that WIN7 has setup some settings to get to the internet based up on when you had both adapters enabled. You'll need to go in and straighten that out and I'm not sure exactly where that is done never having tried such a thing.

Just looked at my win7 media center machine. Think you have to go to network and sharing center and make sure the correct network is between your machine and the internet.

SapphireLament

@viafax999 wrote:
You need to decide which way you want to connect. You cannot connect a machine more than one way at the same time to the same network with the same protocols. I would guess that your issue is that WIN7 has setup some settings to get to the internet based up on when you had both adapters enabled. You'll need to go in and straighten that out and I'm not sure exactly where that is done never having tried such a thing.
Just looked at my win7 media center machine. Think you have to go to network and sharing center and make sure the correct network is between your machine and the internet.

I want to connect wired for sure. Im just letting everyone know that when the verizon guy left, my computer was set up both ways. So it was connected wired and wirelessly. I disabled the wireless one, and thats when I had all the problems I mentioned above.

I went to "Network and Sharing Center" and this is what I see when I havent been booted yet:

MY CPU -----> VERIZON -----> INTERNET

VERIZON (Home Network)

Access Type: Internet

HomeGroup: Joined

Connections: Local Area Connection 2

And under "Change Adapter Settings" there are:

Local Area Connection (Disabled 'Network Cable Unplugged' NVIDIA Network Controller)

Local Area Connection 2 ( Enabled Verizon NVIDIA Network Controller 2)

Wireless Network Connection (Disabled Gigabyte GN-WP01GS PCI WLAN Card 'Turbo')

I disabled both italic connections above. So I made it wired, but I still get booted off on occasion and when I fix it its says something about me not having a default gateway. Thats where I stand now. I apppreciate everyone taking the time to help out.

viafax999

@SapphireLament wrote:
I disabled both italic connections above. So I made it wired, but I still get booted off on occasion and when I fix it its says something about me not having a default gateway. Thats where I stand now. I apppreciate everyone taking the time to help

Select start, select run

type ipconfig /all

Show us what it says