DNS flush? Cache problems?
 

Does anyone here know about cache problems?

I found a thread in Arizona about internet dropping...like I have.
here is a quote:
This is the thread:
http://forum.oscr.arizona.edu/showthread.php?t=1117

Yesterday we could not run this unit...and I started getting OLD cached posts of the index. This is after I increased the cache on Saturday to 100MB.

I'm sending this to my son to interpret. I am afraid to do it myself..
The basic problem is that the internet works "sometimes" and not others.
It seems to work fine for a while on and overnight reboot, then start crashing later. And we do Spybot fairly often, and this thread mentions SpyBot leaving remanents behind to contaminate the cache. I sort of get this but not completely.

Any thoughts?

Hi Mrs D, i had a similar problem using ADSL, it worked fine for a while then no internet connection, with mine it was only a matter of turning off the router for a minute or so, then when i turned it back on, browser worked perfectly again.
just a thought,
oh yeah, this is handy guide for most browsers for clearing your browser cache http://support.lexis-nexis.com/lexis...cleID=wg_cache
Brian :)

What ever happened to the good old days when you just sat down in front of the computer, turned it on, took your mouse, clicked on the icon and you WERE ON THE INTERNET.

Now you have to know about Caches, and flushing this, and browsers, and mozilla this, and Vista that!!! And what the heck is ADSL??? sounds like ADD. Good grief.

My head is spinning. I just tried to call my phone company to ask a question. I was told "talk to the system", by some robot voice. I then asked to speak to an operator. All of a sudden everything switched to Spanish. THANK GOD I CAN SPEAK SPANISH. I would have been doomed. I just asked (in spanish), to please be connected to an operator. Sure enough, the guy comes on and says "por favor"?? I said "do you speak english?" He burst out laughing.

I'm not kidding. I have to constantly learn stuff every day if I'm going to keep up with what the young ones are doing.

I'm now trying to learn about audio files. AND I'VE GOT A MEDIA CENTER PC for crying out loud.

So I do hope my dear Mrs. Doubtfire that your son can explain stuff to you.

Maybe then you can come and explain it to us. lol

Melody

the most I even had to do was shut off everything
{DSL modem, router, computer}, wait 1 minute, turn all the rest back on and reboot pc.

I did have to re install the Verizon CD after some of my hard drive redos.

I've never done a DNS flush.

Mel, you most probably heard of DSL, the " A " beforehand only stands for " asymmetric" / DSL.
As far cleaning the cache you shouldn't have to really worry about that unless you notice your pages loading up painfully slowly, its a simple procedure anyway, i have never flushed anything either, except but my car radiator.lol.
Brian :)

well...
 

I am pretty fed up....

We dumped the cache tonight. It seems I cannot leave my computer on anymore. The only way to get online is to turn it off for at least an hour.

My husband left it on tonight, and I woke up around 2am, and it is cutting off and on. If I sit here and wait the blinking stops. I do notice that the router is blinking all 4 lights (this unit is on port 2) when the down happens. What do you think that means?

We have taken the system down, and left it for 15 minutes (both modem and router) and rebooted...no difference.

Also, I couldn't get on YouTube at all tonight...gave that up.
So now what?
New Router? New network card? (Son seems to think a new card is in order)...but wouldn't I be totally down if that were the case?

This is mega frustrating. But I do appreciate all tips and other thoughts.

Mrs. D.

Are you using a laptop, or a regular desktop PC.??? And how old is it anyway??

mel

two years...
 

desktop.... 512 RAM.

We are backing up....asking ourselves...

What does rebooting do? A full reboot from shut off? Not a restart.

Well, it dumps the RAM.
Son is considering a new ethernet card.
It seems I get a certain period of time on each reboot, and whatever happens then, I crash eventually. I dump the cache twice a day now.

We did the DNS flush yesterday, and it didn't do anything.

Also it seems YouTube or other video shortens my stay online considerably.
We don't download anything, play games or watch TV online.
We are very conservative users compared to others.

I switched the port again on the router, to see if that is it. I've disconnected the backup drive, shut down the widgets my husband installed, closed the AT &T support tool, there is nothing else. We do not view porn or weird things.
We ran Avast and Spybot to no avail. Just the typical double click cookies etc. which are quarantined.

We are reaching a place of replacing this. But first we will try to replace the router.

It could be your motherboard.

I once had to bring in my old computer (the one that ran Windows 98). long long time ago. The motherboard was corrupted (or something like that).

The man just wiped out the hard drive, loaded the Windows 98 softward (and whatever else was on the disc). and I just paid $25.00 (now this was over 10 years ago, so I gather it's more money now).

But when I got home, it seemed like I had a brand new computer on my hands.

Everything worked just fine.

You might just want to look into replacing your computer (there are christmas sales all over the place).

And if it is your modem that is doing this (disconnecting from the internet, not lasting to long on the internet, etc. etc.) well, you might have to replace the modem.

I'm no computer whiz. Not by any means. I have to be walked through steps all the time.

I give you a lot of credit. I my internet connections kept stopping, I'd probably call up Verizon and make them walk me though the steps of fixing, whatever has to be fixed.

I remember once being on the phone with them for 3 hours.

For some reason, I couldnt' get my email, sign in or anything.

The guy had to change all the codes in my software, but in 3 hours (I was sweating by then, believe me), but the verizon tech guy and me, well, we figured it out, I followed instructions and then all was fine.


If this DOES NOT WORK for you. I'd simply take my pistol, aim it at the computer and say "bye bye sucker'.

Drives you nuts sometimes, don't they?


P.S. I forget to mention, you might need more RAM. There's all kinds of RAM, there's SD Ram. That's what I think I've got. I have 1 .0 GB of memory in mine.

oh yeah...
 

times have changed.... AT & T wanted $99.00 to help me. I waited on hold for over an hour on Sat, with this problem. When I said-- holy cow... she offered $69.00 for the fix (no guarantee) or $139.00 for 6mos contract.
I'd rather apply that $$ to a new computer.

My son is pretty good... I depend on him. But if this is too complicated we will replace. He was going to give us 512 RAM with installation for Xmas.
I just might get a new tower. We'll see. I should get off the net as it is.
It is just too addictive for me. Maybe this is a "sign" from my guardian angel? LOL

I just tried to edit something on PN, and got a bunch of red x's. Didn't like the edit thingey ...whatever it is.

that might be a good test.

See if you can borrow?? or buy a pc or laptop and use it with your system to see if the problem still happens. If you test with a new one - make sure you can return it easily if the problem still happens....

then you would know if it is your pc that has the problem or the dsl/modem/router side of things??

Yeah, do what Jo just suggested.

If it doesn' work, take the computer out of the house, bring it to your woodshed, and take an ax to it.

Hey, it will definitely make you feel better.

And I think I had problems learning audio files??

Going to shut up right now.. lol

mel

we've already done that.
 

We have determined that if this is down, and NOT turned off, the wifi upstairs running on this router, goes down too.

If this is OFF, totally, I can run the Wifi off the same router.

And my husband's VPN connection will run alone, on this router. But not when
this unit is "on".

This first long down we had back around Dec 6th, we ran off the laptop down here...using the wifi portion.

My son wants us to disconnect the router entirely and run the modem and this only and see if it goes down. That is the next test.

I have noticed that my "clicks" from the mouse sometimes have to be done
twice. That's been going on for a while now before this problem.

Next is enticing my son to come here and actually see what is happening..for himself. Let him work on it --the hardware. Fresh eyes so to speak. It is just getting him here..if you know what I mean? sigh

Mrs. D.

You lost me when you started talking Wi-Fi and routers and VPN connection.

You know MUCH more about what you are talking about than I ever could!!

I'd still take the ax to it!!!

mel

running off the laptop:
 

Mel--

We have a laptop upstairs running off this router on wifi (no cable)

I just don't like typing on it. It doesn't have my files on it either.

My husband has a new HP from work laptop that runs VPN which is
another network. It was what started this whole thing. He brought it home
Dec 6th and it crashed my desktop. His old one that was replaced due to
its small harddrive ran fine with my desktop...never crashed, and it has the same VPN program on it..downloaded from his old harddrive in fact.

So we thought that was the issue...but apparently there is more than one
thing happening. Perhaps a rotating IP address issue. ( I found some things about it on Google, but it said a router can separate the IP addresses. Which ours did previously).

He is plugging into the router now, so I am testing the wifi laptop upstairs.
We'll see if I last.

VPN- Virtual Private Networks

[Basically, a VPN is a private network that uses a public network (usually the Internet) to connect remote sites or users together. Instead of using a dedicated, real-world connection such as leased line, a VPN uses "virtual" connections routed through the Internet from the company's private network to the remote site or employee. In this article, you will gain a fundamental understanding of VPNs, and learn about basic VPN components, technologies, tunneling and security.]

more about it and how they work-
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/vpn.htm

If the typing on the laptop is a issue- add a nice regular keyboard?
copy your pc files onto a portable exterior Hard drive or jump drive??
just some ideas I had to tide you over til it gets figured out.

okay...
 

My husband was gone most of the day...came home and there was a reply finally from MITS (his help desk)... He explained his problem, (again) and this tech is sending a "ticket" to instruct the locals to check his network settings.
This involves an appointment and he has to go downtown to have it done.

Such a rigamarole. But it does sort of make one wonder, if there is some network settings I can change here? That his computer corrupted my network settings?

I will run this by the kid... tonight.
I don't expect the techies downtown can address our computer..since they didn't check the settings before...duh?

Sounds like a real nightmare MrsD, when i am stumped for answers i go to -
http://pressf1.pcworld.co.nz/ for help, its a totally free forum and normally very helpful.
good luck
Brian :)

Brian, you're sweet...
 

Yes, it is pretty infuriating.

But we have a hint now:

http://www.watchingthenet.com/repair...x-utility.html

Now instead of just going down, I get red X's in a rhythm... since the DNS cache is gone, I must have been linking to the cached addys all along?
So if I wait it out. Hit stop, refresh, wait again, then the retry screen comes up and I hit it a couple of times, and I can do stuff. Very wearing, but at least it works.

I am now begging for my son to come this weekend and work on it. beg beg...
I have no shame in this regard. I will pull out all the guilt stops too! LOL

I'll check your site after dinner, as I am too fritzed out now. Good thing I am not working now...I'll be throwing stuff !!!!! :p

Did a Trend Micro free scan.
 

Nothing much came up.
1 Adware called Fun Web
1 malware called _BHO_MyWay
removed these two.

5 cookies which I left.

Mike Weins at OBT suggested this scan.

I am still having problems however.

so far this morning is okay...
 

for me that is. But my husband cannot log on his at all!

We had to turn off and reboot both the modem and router for me to get on.

And we had to unplug him while he was off.

You know I just don't understand any of this! sigh.

Edit...it's been almost 2 hrs...and still running okay... I wonder?
The HouseCall by Trend Micro may have fixed it?
The only red X I have had so far today is this one:
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...itten_redX.gif
LOL

the great experiment...
 

Now we see the connection to my husband's computer more clearly.

After my HouseCall scan, and DSL/Router reboot...my husband could not connect. I ran for over 3 hours just like the "old days"...how nice it was..

Then I logged off. We did some errands, he came back and logged on his unit...ran it successfully for over 2 hrs.. then went off, unplugged. And I logged back on... CRASH---red X's everywhere.

So we disconnected the router completely. I have been on line now directly out of the DSL modem for over 2 hrs...no problem.

So we went to Netgear website...and I can honestly say I don't understand about 90% of the stuff there. They talk about VPN tunnels, and how many ports/connections will take VPN...it is endless. I always considered myself to be intelligent, and I am totally flummoxed by this stuff.... :yikes: :thud:

Now perhaps if hubby's techies can reset his network to work like the other laptop did, we might go back. We might get a new router, if we ever figure out the language, to select one. The tech help from his job will take forever, and no guarantees that they can fix it even (smart enough). So we will plug in each unit with a cable now into the DSL daily. See what happens for a week.

I even found a place
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/compo...ss/Itemid,200/
that rates routers...not that either of us can understand it.

That is where we are today... seems endless...I don't know how much more complexity we can stand as a society with the tech world as it is becoming today!

edit ~~ I hate to say this, but at my old job, we called our help desk, the HELPLESS desk. And that is really
how the Gov't runs its computers. They gave my husband a new unit, new bag, but no cable to connect to
his old printer. New laptops don't have a printer port...they have a USB one. No cables available! So he cannabalized my printer upstairs for now. So I can't print there either. New printers are "coming", but it took over a YEAR to get his new laptop... his smallish harddrive
was totally full...it took forever to load, and work at all. So I don't expect a fix for the NETWORK... I just don't.
Helpless.

router info...
 

My husband found our router on Amazon! There are many comments by users, there, and we are studying them today.

Looks like you have to do something when a new machine is used.
http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-WGR614...7812448&sr=8-1

I wish there were a book~~ routers for dummies! :p

That first guy's comments sound pretty good maybe if you go back to square one- like if you just got it and followed his steps that might fix things??
I bolded his main points- and broke it into sections, if that might help.

[I see a lot of disgruntled people here who can't connect to the router wirelessly after changing settings. I would like to give a couple of tips.

First of all, make sure you configure the router when you are hard wired. You have to ensure that you are connected to the router via a LAN cable whenever you are making any changes to the router's configuration. This way when the router restarts etc. you will still be connected to it. If you are carrying out any changes to the router through your wireless card, for example if you have changed the WEP encryption code in the router, then once you submit those changes, the router will not let your wireless card connect until your laptop's card is configured for the same WEP key.

So once again, please ensure you carry out changes to the router only when hard wired.

The moment you get your router, I suggest you carry out a firmware upgrade (go to netgear's support site and download the latest firmware for your model from there). Once again follow instructions and make sure you are connected through a cable to carry out the same. Now log onto the router and then do a couple of things.


First of all, rename the SSID to anything you want (eg. Joan's Arc). Then go to the wireless settings, then to wireless access, and click on 'Disable SSID broadcast'. This ensures that the SSID is not broadcast to others around you who have a wireless machine. So when their software searches for a wireless access point all they will see is a blank name. To be able to connect to your network they would have to know the name of your SSID (Joan's Arc in this case) and manually type it in their machines (Highly unlikely that they will be able to think of the same name as you do. You can make your name even harder to obtain by simply using numeric characters in it.. for example Joan's Arc2004).

Secondly, to make it secure use a 128 bit WEP key (this has to be a 26 digit key consisting of alphanumeric and numeric characters. You can use only certain alphabets in small and large case so you need to check that out.

Also remember that you have to feed the same WEP key number in your laptop wireless card software (or the windows wireless settings if you are not using your wireless card's software).

Finally you can ensure that only the wireless devices you specify can logon to your router.

Go to the Wireless settings, then to wireless access setup and then click on 'enable wireless access'... Thereafter click on 'Setup access list'. Once there add your wireless device by using its mac address (the mac address is a unique number given to a wireless device, very much like a phone number- this enables the router to identify the device trying to connect to it). The mac address will be listed on your wireless device and you can also see all the devices that you can allow to connect to your router in the router's configuration window.

(One important note to remember is that if you have already enabled WEP then you will have to first feed in the same key into your wireless device software settings before the router will display it in it's list of devices). Select the device that you want to allow to connect to your router and apply.

Hope this helps to a certain extent to configure your routers. Trust me, this is an amazing router and if you are having connection problems, it most likely is due to the settings in the router- not because the router is faulty.]
comments copied from - http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-WGR614...7812448&sr=8-1


If you skim thru all of the reviews it sounds like they either work well or break and drop connections, how old is yours?

might be simpler to buy a new /different brand router and see if that fixes the problem??
- if not you can always return the new one { make sure to buy at a store that have an easy return policy
-just in case}

yes, Thanks Jo.
 

I found the firmware upgrades...ours is 1 yr old, and a v6. It has 3 upgrades.

My son had an out of town guest all weekend and couldn't come here.
He is going to try next weekend. He read the updates, and said he better do
them.

He also found us a LinkSys one on Amazon, that we will probably buy if we
cannot configure this one properly. The 1:1 ratio of 5 star:1star he says he thinks this happens due to factory manufacturing errors. The LinkSys one
has ratio of 2:1 in favor of 5 star. He said that when doing those downloads, you have to be careful and save settings etc. So he offered to do it.
He is giving me 512 more RAM and a new bigger harddrive if he can find a good price on the latter for Xmas. We have 60gig, and he doesn't like the noises it is making, so he wants to replace it before it dies.

I don't think I have a virus/trojan anymore. That was a possibility. So I am relieved at that.

Tomorrow my hubby will power up the dreaded Gov't thing and I will lose my desktop again. So I am practicing my typing on the laptop, upstairs that does run on the wifi okay. It is certainly FASTER on EBay I have to admit however.

That router language is worse than medico speak IMO... It totally flummoxes, me. :thud: I have to read it about 20 times to make sense of it.:p

But slowly we are getting there. Having a hardware thing that only works "sometimes" is confusing. You'd expect it to fail totally but I guess routers are not like other hardware? <shrugs>

you are not going to believe this!!!!!! O.O
 

My husband's boss (manager) called early this morning.

He contacted some internal managers about our computer problem.

Guess what? The "new generation" computers that are being distributed
this month to agents, have a new security setting hidden inside that
prohibits more than one computer on an internet line. So in fact
his unit is sabotaging our system! I was calling it "the devil" :icon_twisted: and in reality
IT IS! :holysheep:

Not even the techies know this yet. Why put everyone thru the wringer like
this? I am so PO'd I can't even find words appropriate. A hand gesture
maybe?

So now we consider a SECOND DSL for his phone line? And pay for THAT out
of pocket monthly?

So it may not even be a problem with the router. I am concerned that the interference lasts so long during the day, after my husband logs off. It seems to contaminate the whole circuit. Yesterday was nice, he never logged on once. He works flex often because some programs he has to use are clogged up during business hours. And when Calif logs onto his network, he often cannot use them at all. So he will do stuff at odd times, and that really then screws ME up!

Oh, WOE... I am so angry GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

There should be some taxable write off since it would be a work/business only line- I'm not a tax expert at all though.
I'm not surprised about the extra security thing - but that they didn't know is ??? well let's just say big business - one hand doesn't know what the other hand is doing :(
wasteful wasteful - all that wasted time for everyone....

this IS the gov't!
 

Specifically the IRS.

He is not allowed to declare any business expenses. That is what was decided, by upper management.

When the Oklahoma bombings took place...the various gov't agencies decided
to send people out to work at home. Most of the agents who are in the field,
are only home part of the time. (about 1/2) .
They thought that it would show favoritism to allow for deductions (and the IRS does not like home offices anyway)... so they said in return for no longer commuting to the office and for all the money and time saved, the employees could foot the bills.

Not everyone chose a separate line for the phone. We did for privacy. We have a answering machine, and printer fax that we pay for too. He does have a telephone card, with a code, to use for his phone use beyond the basic
service. (long distance etc). But it looks like we might get another DSL depending.

What really bothers me is that this was not given in the beginning. It really
messed us up, and many kind, generous people like you, Jo, offered help.
Now we just have to decide if our router is permanently disabled by that devil laptop. I can only run well when plugged into the DSL directly anymore.

Also we might get a wireless for the desktop...that might fix the conflict.
The laptop upstairs runs fine, as long as this cable desktop is off. When I turn it on, the wifi goes down now. So we might just get wifi for the desktop and leave the devil unit on cable (its wifi is disabled for security).

This has been agony and worry since Dec 6th. Worrying I had infections/trojans etc. It is the WORRY that could have been avoided.! Sheesh.

edit~~ I just got an email from my son....he doesn't believe it. Thinks it is a LIE... some trick.
He asked around work and they said they had never heard of this (software company) . (one computer blocking the others).
I think it might be true 50/50...maybe some new military program or FBI thing.
Or some sick manager's idea of a passive aggressive joke... either way it punishes us!

so far so good...
 

Today was computer surgery. So far so good.

However the DSL conked out due to wind for a while and was confusing the
repairs. We ended up with getting a new router...this time a Linksys one.

I have a new 350 gig hard drive, and 512 more RAM ..things are much faster now.

I just hope it lasts...crossing fingers.

It was a battle for my son... he was glad to go home!