Let me tell you why I am confused right now. The only Ethernet cable I have ever seen is the one I have connecting my computer to my modem.

I just went online and typed Ethernet Cable, and I get all kinds of cables.

some are patch cables, some have numbers.

I just want to connect the modem to my computer with a regular old Ethernet cable.

So what exactly is a patch cable?

Is this what I want?

I'm going to bring (I have another ethernet cable that came with the new modem), I'll bring it to Radio Shack and say "See this little ethernet cable, I want one that is 20 feet long".

Is this what I should say??

Thanks much

Melody

I saw ones called cat 5e, cat 6, twisted, snag free...whew...prob the fancy stuff LOL

Just show it to them & tell them the length or approximate & they will get you the right kind.
mainly the plug ins need to be the same as what you have.

Hi.

Just came home from Radio Shack. They have a 25 foot Ethernet cable for $19.99 THAT'S RIGHT, 20 BUCKS for the same thing I can get in the ninety nine cents store, that sells it for $5.99

So I asked the guy at Radio Shack "what's the difference?" and he whispered "It's got the Radio Shack name".

I thanked him, went to my computer guy who has been my computer guy for YEARS, and I asked him, (I even brought my spare Ethernet Cable with me). He said 'yeah, we have one of these, it's a Cat 5 and it's $15.99.

I then said "but it's MUCH cheaper at the other store". He laughed and said "yeah, I know".

So I went into the ninety nine cents store, walked over to the back wall WHERE ALL THE ETHERNET, PHONE, AND COAXIAL cables are and I looked at all of the Ethernet cables.

Well, they are various lengths and there's a Trisonic 25 foot Cat 5 and there's a Trisonic 25 foot Cat 6.

They look EXACTLY the same.

so I left the store, marched back to my computer guy and told him what I had seen.

I said "what the heck is the difference between a Cat 6 and a Cat 5?

He said "the Cat 6 is a better cable".

I didn't buy anything yet because either one is $5.99 and I have time before I buy this item.

I am now going to go to Google and type in . "which is better, a Cat6 or a Cat5"

My goodness, the stuff I have to learn when I'm 63 years old.

I should be knitting for grandchildren at this age.

lol

Melody

Our modem is next to the phone jack...

Our computers are 15 and 30 feet away.... so it is viable to use longer ethernet cords.

We ran the ethernet cord along the baseboards.

Hi.

As I shall be doing this tomorrow, and I'll be buying a Cat5e, well tomorrow will tell the tale.

I haven't moved a computer from one room to another in over 15 years.

This will be SOME doing!!!!

lol

Melody

Started having the same problem AGAIN. I almost shot the modem. So, I moved the whole thing into the living room. Seems to be working.

And I did it all by myself. Very proud of me!!

but if you don't hear from me for a while, it means I shot my modem and I am awaiting the Verizon guy yet again.

Just wanted to let you all know.

Bye for now.

Merry Merry!!!

Melody

I was just thinking when I read your post how much I hate having repair men in my house and will go to all costs to not have them come in. One of the times my computer went out I discovered it was the phone jack. My male dog probably used it and I did not know it, and it burned out. yeah, dog's wetting on cords is never a good thing. Hopefully it is something outside like mentioned before. Mine is supposed to be high speed, lol, yep, high speed dial up.

Okay, here is what happened today. I moved everything to the living room. Hooked up the cordless phone and the answering machine and did the splitter thing in the wall jack.

Everything worked just great for 30 minutes. Then the stupid green dsl light started blinking like crazy and no more connection.

So I said 'what if I can't use a cordless phone with the dsl modem? So I took out the cordless phone and put in a landline phone. (I have to have a phone by the computer, I HAVE ALWAYS HAD ONE, and never had a problem)

Well, everything worked fine, Alan used this computer for 4 hours, I sit down, I do an email, the connection is lost and I go "uh oh, I bet the dsl light on the modem is blinking again". I walk way over to the modem, and sure enough, it's blinking.

So how can a modem be fine for 4 hours, everything works fine, and bam, I sit down, I do fine for 5 minutes and then I lose the connection yet again.

So I re-set the modem, it came back on, and now it's working fine again, and I'm doing this post.

If anyone knows what I should next, I'd appreciate it.

I'm calling Verizon tomorrow and all they will do is check my line, pronounce it just fine, and if I ask, they'll probably send the guy out again.

He never found anything wrong, but then again, he never found any outside box that any of my phone wires connect to.

He never went up any pole either. He said "your signal is just fine".

So what happens next? How come after 4 hours, I lose the connection?

Thanks much
Melody

Hi All.

Have had 3 modems. Tech guy has come out 3 times (they missed an appointment and never showed up), so that would make 4 appointments.

The last being last Saturday. He did not do any re-wiring yet, telling me "it's your phone, there is a short in your phone, so switch the phone". and he said further "if this does not fix it, tell my supervisor and I'll come out, put in a new phone line in your house, give you new jacks, etc and that should do it"

I said "what if it's the wiring on the street, I mean, cmon, it's old"

He said"yeah, that's true but we have to do it this way first"

So he left, and that night, IT HAPPENED AGAIN, the green dsl light started blinking, we lose the connection for 2 minutes or so, then it rights itself" I disconnect that phone from the wall jack and all I had was the dsl modem connected to that particular jack. Made no difference. So I put the phone back because to me, IT'S NOT THE PHONE that's making the problem.

I am NOT calling again because I can't make an appointment because Alan has doctor visits this week and I'll worry about this later. I mean, it works most of the time, but we lose service after an hour (or after 3),

I can't stand this thing so I really don't care any more.

So here are my thoughts. What if it's NOT the phone lines, what if it's my computer. I know someone that this happened to already. They had a virus.

Now I have all the anti-virus stuff and spyware stuff but as you know, one cannot catch ALL of them.

And my computer has been acting extremely flaky for some time. Things popping up, and it had a crash report the other day but it fixed itself.

Here is what I want to do.

I want to borrow my friend's laptop. I want to use it for a few hours. If there is NO BLINKING light in the dsl thing, that will tell me that it's NOT the phone line, right?

And I would not download anything on her laptop, just go on various sites and do what I do. Maybe some forums, maybe IMDB. Sites that are safe I mean.

So am I correct in that to accomplish this, I simply unplug the ethernet cable from the back of my computer tower and just replug it into the laptop.

I don't have to do anything else right? I don't have to worry about mouse, keyboard, anything else, right? The laptop is self sufficient right?

I just want to make sure of how to hook up this laptop to the internet. I gather I would plug the laptop into the electric outlet, connect the ethernet cable and I'm good to go?

did I get this right?

And if it goes well, then I'll find out it was MY computer all along, and then I can give her back her laptop and we can make a decision on whether to replace the desktop with another desktop or a laptop.

Thanks much.

Melody

Yes that should work & be a good way to find out if it is the wires or the computer.

Did you ever make the back up & restore cd's when it kept popping up with that notice suggesting it? last spring I think it was.


But now before it gets worse is the time to do it and save/back up any important files that are on it.

After you get the back ups all done and the restore cd made- then you should be able to do a reinstall & start fresh again.

**But you should read up on how to on the HP website so you know the best steps to take and how they suggest you do it.**


You could just have some scrambled/cluttered files and the system is clogged up.

I don't know exactly what the computer place did to fix it last time - did they do a restore or re-install, or cleaned out some junk files?.