Internet connection conundrum - SOLVED

The Ender

Weird problem I'm having:

My computer currently uses a wireless internet connection that, either due to the receiver or broadcasting router, has frequent latency spikes. It's incredibly frustrating for online gaming.

So, I've altered my set-up so that my is within CAT5 reach of my modem... but when I plug it into my ethernet port - despite Windows XP telling me that the connection is fine - I'm disconnected from the Internet. Repairing the connection doesn't resolve the issue.


Any ideas?

Chickeen

Cycle the power to your modem, if you haven't.

The Ender

Chickeen wrote: »

Cycle the power to your modem, if you haven't.

Did that; also did a reboot on my machine (obv).

Tofystedeth

What does ipconfig show?

vonPoonBurGer

For the wireless lag spikes, it could be due to interference. If someone uses a 2.4GHz phone it could be causing a lot of wireless reception errors, which leads to resent packets and delivery delays, which is effectively a lag speak. Same thing if someone uses a microwave in your immediate vicinity. A poorly shielded microwave oven is practically a noisebomb in the 2.4GHz spectrum. When I first went wireless, I had to replace my 2.4GHz cordless phone with a 5GHz model because otherwise I'd get lag spikes whenever someone called my house.

As for why your wired connection doesn't work when you plug it in, it's probably a routing issue. Windows sees a wireless adapter and a wired adapter on the same logical network. Which adapter it uses is going to depend on the interface metric; whichever adapter has the lower metric is the one it will select. When you plug in the LAN cable, try also disabling the wireless adapter to sidestep any interface selection issues. Alternately, you could try manual assigning an interface metric to each interface (under Properties > TCP/IP Properties > Advanced; uncheck Automatic Metric and assign your own number), giving the LAN connection a lower number than the wireless adapter. That might cause issues when the wired connection isn't plugged in though, hence why I recommend temporarily disabling the wireless adapter when the wired adapter is plugged in.

wogi

ipconfig/renew in the cmd box.
also make sure your network settings are set to automatic.

also, reset the modem and the router.

finally, lay a circle of salt around your computer and your modem. light 7 candles and place them around the circle of salt at even intervals. then, utter a short prayer to Valhalla, and blink 5 times. This is standard procedure, under the Ignorance and Superstition section of the computer repair manual.

The Ender

Fix'd.


Some asshole (me) had the ethernet adapter configured for a manual address instead of automatic aquisition.

Tofystedeth

God I hate it when assholes do that.
glad you're up.