My internet isn't working since I move my computer around.

[Mountain]

Hi.

Two days ago I moved one of my desktops to another room, and with it, I moved the phone line so I could connect the internet. I'm pretty sure I reconnected all the wires correctly, but my internet doesn't work. My router (a D-link) says that the connection couldn't be better, but my computer isn't reading the signal. I tried it on my brand spanking new laptop (which was the reason for the move) and another desktop, but it hasn't worked on any. I've now had to resort to using my university computer, but it was a complete nightmare for the last two days when the university had a power cut and was frantically sending important e-mails I couldn't see! I had to resort to texting friends, which is okay, if only you had your own mobile (have not yet replaced my broken mobile) and friends who check their mobiles regularly!!!
Don't know much about computers, so if the information is insufficient (sorry about the majority being full of my personal rant) then please let me know.

Thanks!

[Salazaar]

Have you tried reseting the router?

[Mountain]

Umm, relatively internet illiterate here, how do you do that? (I have a feeling this is a stupid question, sorry!)

[jackvdbuk]

Umm, relatively internet illiterate here, how do you do that? (I have a feeling this is a stupid question, sorry!)

just take the power out of the router, then plug back in after 3-4 minutes.

[Mountain]

Oh so it was a stupid question, lol. I've tried replugging it in like a million times already, but it's exactly the same. Does it make a difference if I wait a couple of minutes before replugging it in?

[peterb]

Hmm - I'd be pretty sure that you didn't reconnect all the wires correctly, particularly if you were moving the phone socket, and therefore changing the connections to the back of the socket.

I guess that you are using a wireless router? You mention signal, which I take to be a wireless signal, rather than the ADSL signal from the phone line.

1. What exactly did you do when moving the phone socket?

2. Was it the master socket?

3. How many wires were there connecting to the socket?

4. Does a phone work when plugged into it?

5. Are you using a filter too isolate all other phones or devices connected to the phone line?

6. Is the router a wireless device? (to reset it it, just powering down and back up will do it - a factory reset is something different and will require all the settings and passwords top be re-entered)

7. Can you connect to the router using a wired connection?

8. If so, what is the ADSL status?

9. If not, have you changed anything on the computer? Are the ethernet connection lights illuminating when you connect thhe two? Are they flashin g? Do you get any indication in the task bar?

10. What operating system are you using?

11. If windows, open an MSDOS window and type in ipconfig /all and report what results you get.

[b0redom]

How is the computer connected to the D-Link router? Wired or wireless?

Are you saying that the D-Link router is saying that the connection to the Internet is fine, or just that the connection between the router and the PC is fine?

[Mountain]

Peterb - not at home right now, so I will reply back to you when I can actually see all these things on my computer. But right now, I can safely say that 3 of my computers/laptops are Windows XP, and the new laptop is a Vista.

b0redom - Umm, well I have to use a blue cable to connect the router to my desktop, so it's wired then? I have a separate USB thing that connects to my other Desktop and allows for the internet to be used on it, and my sister's laptop (different from mine) is wireless so that usually worked when the internet was working, but we tried attaching the blue cable (sorry for the lack of technical terms, let me know what this is so I don't further embarress myself!) to the laptop and no such luck.
The actual D-link thingy has a bright green light under the 'ADSL' bar which I guess means everything is good to go, and my computer shows brilliant connection of the internet itself, as in the signal is great, but my computer says there's 'no or low connectivity'. Don't personally understand the difference. On my new laptop, I could 'connect' to the internet, but I still couldn't actually log into a website.

[peterb]

Ok! Not sure we can go a lot further without the answer to the questions - with things like this you really need to work through things methodically.

The blue wire you refere to is an ethernet cable and is the hardwire link from the computer to the router - the USB 'thgingy' sounds like a wireless adapter.

Just to make the reasons for the questions a bit clearer....

There are several stages in establishing an internet connection via ADSl.

First off, the router has to get a good ADSL signal over the phone line to the receiving equipment at the exchange. That in itself is NOT an internet connection, just a communication path. Once that has been established, the router then uses a 'protocol' (set of rules if you like) to connect to a network that connects to your Internet Service Provider (ISP) and you are 'authenticated' (ie recognised) by the user name and password that is entered into your router. Provided that is correct, the router is then connected to the public internet.

The next important bit is the connection from your computer to the router. Your router and computer need to be able to 'talk' to each other so thge requests you type in can be pssed to the router which in turn passes them on to the relevant server on the internet. Wirless connectivity can be a bit trickier to set up, so you should get the wired connectrion working first. You also need a working connection to the router to set it up and monitor what is happening - and this is independant of the actual internet connection itself - it is your local network.

So the first few questions are to check the physical line connection, the next ones are to check if ypu can connect your computer to the router, and then use that to see what is happening with the ADSL connection itself.

Hope that helps, but the answers to questions will help diagnose possible problem areas - aleways tricky remotely diagnosing thesxe things!

[Mountain]

Oh okay, then I will have a report for you by tomorrow. Thanks! It's rare to find people who would actually bother explaining things to a newbie. Thanks again.

[Mountain]

Okay, here are my answers to Peterb's questions.

1) Umm, not exactly sure what you want me to describe here, but basically the phone line just had to be moved from one room to another in order for the router to be able to reach it.

2) Yes.

3) One

4) Yes

5) Yes, so both the phone and router could connect to it.

6) No (connected to my computer via an Ethernet wire).

7) See question 6).

8) Bright Green (working I guess).

10) Windows XP

11) Sorry, but I’m not keen on trying this just in case I do some damage beyond my capabilities to fix.

My sister suspects there’s something wrong with our server.

I have no idea if this helps, but when I try to repair things through MSN, I get a green tick for:

• Ip
• Default gateway
• IE's offline setting
• Hosts File
• Proxy Server

For the following on the MSN repair thins, I get the yellow exclamation mark sign for:

• DNS
• Key Ports

And for the Local Area Connection General and Support page I get the following results:
Speed: 100.0 Mbps
Sent: 250, Received: 44 (This is under the activity section

Okay, I hope this is enough information for someone to work out what's wrong with my internet connection!

[peterb]

LOL - - I meant how many conductors (must be at least 2) but I guess you didn't actually rewire the socket?

11 won't cause damage, it is a diagnostic process, which you should do to confirm what I suspect is happening.

If you are getting an IP address, you are connecting to the router, and the router is connecting to the ISP, so you do have internet connectivity. The fact that you can connect to MSN confirms that. However you are not getting all the services you require, and it looks as if the DNS service is not set up correctly. To check/correct this you will need to do the following. (You are connecting to MSN via the computer/router - or have I misunderstood?)

1. Follow the steps at Q 11 above.

2. Access the web interface on your router. This is done by typing in the local IP address of the router in your browser window. This will typically be "http://192.168.1.0" or "http://192.168.0.1" (The numbers are the IP address, the http just tells the browser what protocol to use).

3. Where you go from there depends on the router, but you should set up DNS relay to be on. (This relays DNS - the conversion process from human readable "www.example.com" to computer understandable IP address).

If you can't connect to the router - you then need to

1. Follow step 11 in the previous post

2. Report back what you find as you may have to set up the TCP/IP networking in Windows again.

I am still a little confused as to why moving the line has caused these problems - it could be coincidence (Windows does things like that ) but if you didn't actually do any re-wiring (that is open up the BT socket, disconnect it and then re-connect it, it should be OK.

[kmac]

3) One

If Mountain says there is only one wire going into the phone socket he has clearly not opened it up

Would be useful to know the brand/model of router to provide more specific instructions on setting DNS servers

[peterb]

3) One

If Mountain says there is only one wire going into the phone socket he has clearly not opened it up

That is an assumption! (and ASSUME makes an ASS out of U and ME ! ) Literally there might only be one wire (in that there are no extensions going on) but perhaps I should have asked "How many conductors are there in the wire going to the socket"

Would be useful to know the brand/model of router to provide more specific instructions on setting DNS servers

Yes - I should have added that.

[kmac]

peter my post was not intended as a critique of your diagnosis. I just thought it was cute that he said "one" for how many wires are going into your socket as when I read your post I assumed you were asking how many of the coloured wires within the single cable were connected to the socket.

Especially as he says in his original post "I'm pretty sure i connected all the wires correctly" I took this to mean he re-wired the phone socket. But I guess he means he connected the router to the socket, the computer to the router and the power cables to the computer and router respectively.

Anyway sounds quite bizarre that just moving the PC and router would cause the DNS settings to change....

[peterb]

peter my post was not intended as a critique of your diagnosis.
ket, the computer to the router and the power cables to the computer and router respectively.

<----snip---->

Anyway sounds quite bizarre that just moving the PC and router would cause the DNS settings to change....

Absolutely NO offence taken! Agree with about the DNS settings, but that seems the most likely cause - based on the evidence so far! (the results of the ipconfig will help though.)