Computer Problems

[Martin963]

I have two problems now and I'm not sure if they're related.

1)   Alice has been running slower and slower over the last two days,  and pretty much ground to a halt yesterday afternoon (download 4 yes 4 kbps).

2)   With an approaching storm at supper time I disconnected everything (phone and mains,  even though for the computer both are protected by surge units) and left them unplugged until 23.00.   It wasn't a long storm but it was directly overhead and there were several close strikes.

When I plugged back in,  Alice took a while to sync and was still pitifully slow.   However,  my computer announced triumphantly that a network connection was unplugged.    Thinking that this was its way of blaming Alice for still being so slow,  I plugged in the laptop via ethernet and it worked fine (albeit with a slow Alice).   Tests that dragged into the night and left me feeling very bad tempered reveal that the ethernet socket on my main computer appears dead - its integrated little flashing light does not come on when you connect it up to something,  and neither the Alice box or my wifi router acknowledge the other end of the cable with their LED indicators either.    I have of course tried several different cables.

System in Control panel tells me that I have two cartes reseaux

Carte reseau 1394

Realtek RTL8319/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC

and that both are functioning properly,  which obviously one (presumably the latter) isn't.   I've tried deactivating and reactivating it - rien.

I can't of course say that it wasn't the storm,  but as the whole computer set up was completely isolated both from phone and mains I don't see how it can be,  and all our other stuff survived.

Does anyone have any tricks to reactivate it,  and if not could one of you kind people (bmt?) tell me whether this is the sort of thing one can buy as a motherboard add on card and install easily - the present ethernet socket is part of the USB socket assembly and I assume is all integrated into the computer giblets itself.

As to Alice,  I don't think it can be anything to do with her because even via a USB cable to the main computer she's back to reading 508 kbps which is the best I ever get.

(I don't want to go on using the USB cable 'cos it seems to stop the computer going into hibernate,  and it's difficult to restart once it's tried to hibernate)

Thanks guys - just when I thought the wifi router you recommended would mean I'd have a period of computer calm!

[AnOther]

I've followed your problems Martin and feel your pain [:'(]

It does sound as though your PC's ethernet port had gone down although quite how or why it would or could if unplugged is a mystery.

1394 refers to the PC's onboard Firewire port which you can ignore. Realtek RTL8319/810x is the Ethernet port and yes, you can get an add on PCI Ethernet card and they are pretty cheap.

One thing you could try is plugging your laptop directly into the PC and seeing if they communicate. Although it is recommended to use a crossover cable for this many modern Ethernet ports are 'intelligent' and will work with a straight cable.

If it doesn't work you and you have a sacrifical spare cable you could easily butcher (modify) it one to make a crossover.

I can find you a diagram if you need it.

Bon chance

[Martin963]

Thanks Ernie,  no - linking the laptop and the main one up didn't produce any light!

New card on order from ruedecommerce,  €7.95 + postage won't quite break the bank - yet!

Thanks for your help,  will report back

Thank goodness for USB's

M

[bmt]

Glad to see that you're well on your way!

You should disable the (onboard?) Ethernet port in the computer BIOS when you install the new controller card.

I have found surge protection to be absolutely essential here (Deux Sèvres).  Even though the power and telephone cables are underground (so less susceptible to airborne interference), a recent storm destroyed the telephone line protection in my UPS.  Insofar as the modem survived, the protection did its job.  For a replacement, I installed a separate protective device.  I have dealt with several modems and PCs in the last few years that have been either rendered unserviceable-repairable or beyond repair and they all cost more to put right than a surge-protector would have.

I have also seen USB ports destroyed, probably by a printer connected between the mains and the computer, though the printer survived.  Every path needs to be protected!

[Martin963]

Thanks for the further advice.    I''ve not done much BIOS stuff and only under supervision.   I had assumed that disabling the ethernet "card" (which is integrated into the motherboard effectively) in Windows would be sufficient.   Presumably from what you say that's not enogh....?

In fact there WAS a connection from the computer to the outside world during the storm,  albeit a tenuous one.   I enjoy listening to Swing FM from Limoges (a blues and early jazz station,  www.swingfm.asso.fr) but we are miles outside the recognised service area.   So I have a five element aerial up a tree,  a Revox tuner under a groundsheet underneath the tree,  and mains cable up to it (100 m from the house) and coax back for the audio;   this is connected to an amplifier but the amp is also connected to the computer.   The external installation was surge protected,  but I've recently had to move it to a new and secret location following a very minor acto of vandalaism when the aerial was tampered with,  and the cabling is temporary and unprotected at the moment.   You'd think that a spike would have taken out the tuner (which has in fact happened before,  luckily the internal quick blow fuse saved it,  ten out of ten to Revox for their excellent design),  the amplifier,  the sound card on the computer,  rather than the ethernet socket but that's the only explanation I can offer.....

[Martin963]

New Netgear Ethernet card installed,   it was sufficient to disable the old blown one in Windows and - famous last words - it's all up and running again.

The friend who helped me,  and who I recently introduced to Alice (he got the discount),  has 1.5 Mbps on his ADSL,  a speed that I can only dream of......

Thanks for the help guys.

[Mik from LA]

Alice? Who the .... is Alice?

[Cjlaws]

[quote user="Mik from LA"]Alice? Who the .... is Alice?

[/quote]

http://www.aliceadsl.fr/

[Clair]

[quote user="Martinwatkins"]The friend who helped me,  and who I recently introduced to Alice (he got the discount), [...][/quote]

[quote user="Mik from LA"]Alice? Who the .... is Alice?[/quote]

[bmt]

[quote user="Martinwatkins"]... it was sufficient to disable the old blown one in Windows and - famous last words - it's all up and running again.[/quote]

*Sigh* And I thought you wanted to do it properly, Grasshopper!

Your way will work, as you have demonstrated empirically.  (I love that euphemism!)

However, the 'system' now thinks that there are two Ethernet ports.  Windows does, too, but you've told Windows to ignore one of them.

So, fast forward to the time when all else has failed and you either have to reinstall Windows, say, or use a Linux recovery cd because Windows has self-destructed and hidden all your precious data from the last five years.  You have just added an hour of grief, trying to work out which of those two Ethernet ports (remember, Windows is no longer keeping track of the one you want to sideline) is faulty.  More so if you can't get an Internet connection on either of them.

Alternatively, if you disable the on-board Ethernet port in the BIOS, it won't be presented to the rest of the system at all.  Thus, the only Ethernet port that your rescue cd is offering is the working one ...

[AnOther]

[quote user="bmt"]You have just added an hour of grief, trying to work out which of those two Ethernet ports (remember, Windows is no longer keeping track of the one you want to sideline) is faulty.[/quote]Come on BMT, an hugely over dramatic scenario wouldn't you say ?

Even if Martin developed amnesia at the most crucial moment I think the fact that his PC was sporting an add on NIC as well as it's onboard one would act as a pretty compelling reminder of why it was there. Windows will support multiple NIC's anyhow so if one didn't work you'd have to do no more than plug your ethernet cable into the other one which hardly equates to the 'hour of grief' you predict [geek]

Of course you can disable the onboard NIC in BIOS if you choose but in reality there is precious little point or advantage in doing so.

 

[Alan Zoff]

[quote user="Mik from LA"]Alice? Who the .... is Alice?
[/quote]

Wrong thread. Try: The songs we are singing

 

[Martin963]

Interesting points you both make.    In my case a major failure of the sort you describe would lead to purchase of a new computer (now that they're €300 or nearabouts) and reload of all my data from my external hard drive.   I'm not sufficiently expert to do other,  and bitter experience has taught me that (unless you can do it all yourself) it isn't worth reparing a computer more than two years old;  (in my case two years back a simple motherboard replacement done by a friend ended up costing £200 because the friend ran into huge problems insulating the replacement board from the computer case,  and it took a while to deduce what the problem was and then to modify the fixings.    Because he IS such a good friend I wasn't able (or indeed prepared) to leave him unpaid for the hours he'd expended on getting it working.)

What REALLY annoys me is that my current approach to computer failure means that the wretched Mr Gates gets a new licence payment every time I have a major failure.   It is quite quite disgraceful that he refuses to put in place a mechanism for the transfer of the rights to use Windows from one machine to another.   That's why he is so rich,  and personally I find his methods rather distasteful.

[Albert the InfoGipsy]

[quote user="Martinwatkins"]
What REALLY annoys me is that my current approach to computer failure means that the wretched Mr Gates gets a new licence payment every time I have a major failure.   It is quite quite disgraceful that he refuses to put in place a mechanism for the transfer of the rights to use Windows from one machine to another.   That's why he is so rich,  and personally I find his methods rather distasteful.
[/quote]

If you buy a full, retail copy of Windows it is possible to get it moved from one machine to another. When you buy a PC with windows intalled it is usually what's called an OEM version, which is cheaper and often set up with only the drivers and settings for that specific model of machine.

By the way, you could always move to using Linux, which is not controlled by any one company or individual. I currently use Windows because I need compatibility with my clients' systems, but when I get out of IT I'll probably switch to Linux.

[Martin963]

Thanks for the clarification Albert.

Incidentally,  I would have had a go at disabling the old ethernet in BIOS but there wasn't much guidance on offer here!

[AnOther]

I honestly wouldn't bother Martin, there is no tangible benefit to be had and whilst it's not difficult if you are not familiar with BIOS tweaking it's best you don't even go there [:)]

Re copies of Windows. There was a time, a few years back now, when I was doing a lot of building and upgrading of my own PC's and those who's memories go back far enough will remember the perpetual, yet ultimately unwinnable, race to keep up which could mean a new motherboard and CPU every few months plus attendant peripherals etc. etc. Thankfully this is largely a thing of the past as even the cheapest machines are now more than capable of performing the vast majority of tasks the average user demands and I have long since given up building and upgrading too, but during that time, and particularly after the release of XP and Product Activation, my tinkering became an absolute PITA.

I had bought and paid my retail copy of XP but got so fed up with phoning MS that I eventually 'acquired' another version which did not require Activation at all and have been using that ever since [geek]

 

[bmt]

[quote user="ErnieY"]Come on BMT, an hugely over dramatic scenario wouldn't you say ?[/quote]

Not hugely, perhaps a bit. [;-)]  Some licence taken for illustrative purpose, granted.  There are plenty of reasons for having more than one Ethernet port on a single machine and troubleshooting a lack of network connection can easily go beyond which port to connect to and I really don't like the idea of relying on Windows to keep track of anything. [;-)]

I stick with the view that it's the difference between doing an adequate job and a properly engineered job.