NTL Intermittent Connection

[W800Mmm Pie]

Hi All, My First Post!

PC Specs
Win XP Home SP2
1.1Ghz Intel Celeron
512Mb RAM
256MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro

I've Been With Ntl For My Broadband For About A Year Now, I Recieve It Through My Set Top Box, Into USB Into My Machine

I've Always Had The Same Problem And Have Yet To Find A Solution

Problem:
After Booting Up My Machine And Surfing The Internet For Around 30-40, I Get Disconnected. My Connection Is Via USB Into My Ntl Set Top Box. After Unplugging The USB & Plugging It Back In, I Am Connected Again! This Happens At Various Interval Through The Day, And Is Not Limited To 30-40 Mins Can Be As Little As 5 Mins Upto 3 Hours, But It WILL Happen.

I've Tried Using The Other USB Ports On My Machine, Replacing The Whole Ethernet Cable From The Set Top Box Through To The USB, But Still No Avail.

Does Anyone Have Any Suggestions/Answers To My Tempremental Internet Connection?

Any Feedback/Comments Would Be Greatly Recieved

Cheers

[aeinstein]

Does the settop box have an ethernet jack (receptacle opening) in the back (it looks like an oversized telephone jack)?

[W800Mmm Pie]

Yes, The Cable That Leads From The Box Is The Ethernet Sized Connector (J45 I Think?). It Leads To A Small Box Which Converts It To A USB Plug

[aeinstein]

Ok, so the rj-45 (Registered Jack-45) connection is connected to an rj-45/usb adapter which then goes into your pc. USB connections, can function adequately when used for an internet connection, they were never really designed for such an "always on" or continuous use, connection (it was originally designed for short duration communications, such as sending a file to printer, syncing up laptop/desktop files, downloading files from an auxilary devcice such as a pda or digital camera, etc.). With the specs on your machine there's a high probability that your system has an rj-45 connection as well, and odds are that your ntl box came with an ethernet cable too, so....i'd swap out the usb connection for the rj-45, which was purposely designed for an essentially continuous use connection. generally, this is what i would do:

1) locate rj-45 port on your system;
2) locate rj-45 cable - make sure it is of adequate length (there's two common types of rj-45 cables: straight-through and cross-over; if a cable came with the settop box we'll assume it's the correct type; if not we'll need to double check some items when we need to cross that bridge);
3) perform a log-off and then a shut-down of your system;
4) power down your NTL box (personally, i'd double check with your settop box provider to make sure that powering down the box for 1 to 5 minutes won't cause it to lose it's settings; if it might, then you're going to need to have them walk you through switching over from the usb connection to the rj-45 connection, starting after step "2)" above);
5) disconnect your usb cable from both the pc & ntl box;
6) connect the rj-45 cable to both the ntl box & pc;
power up the ntl box and wait until it has lights (aka, "tell-tale lights", or simply "telltales"), that show it has a connection to your service provider - it won't show the connection to the pc since we haven't turned it on yet;
7) at this point, once the ntl has the appropriate telltales, power up the pc;
8) wait for it to completely finish booting up, and test your internet connection;
9) let us know how it went! :)

[W800Mmm Pie]

Thanks For That, I Will Give That One A Shot

[DMR]

"Mmm Pie"? That wouldn't be as in 3.14 Pie, would it?

[W800Mmm Pie]

"Mmm Pie"? That wouldn't be as in 3.14 Pie, would it?

No, I Just Like Pie.
Apparently The Millionth Digit Of Pi Is 9? How Someone Got That, Is Beyond Me. Far Too Much Time On Their Hands

[W800Mmm Pie]

No, I Just Like Pie.
Apparently The Millionth Digit Of Pi Is 9? How Someone Got That, Is Beyond Me. Far Too Much Time On Their Hands

Just Clicked The 3.14 Pie Thats Where Mmm Pie Comes From, But I Still Like Pie

[DMR]

Far Too Much Time On Their Hands

Funny... I was thinking the same thing about the guys that came up with the 3.14 pie I linked to. :mrgreen: