Cursed hardware?

I'm using talktalk ISP to connect on two different computers at two
different locations (home and work). Same modems and same installation
disks. At home the connection is terrible - very slow (OK this might
just be a bad location), but the line keeps dropping. Sometimes every
two/three minutes and it's very annoying. At work the connection is
fast (about 5.5mbs) and the connection never drops.

I thought that there might be a problem with the home modem, so I took
the one from work and tried it at home. It didn't so I assume there is
something else wrong.

By accident I took the home modem to work and plugged it in. I
realised my mistake when my PC said "new hardware detected" (don't
forget both PCs are using the same modem) and unsuccessfully tried to
install it. I realised my mistake and swapped the modems back, but the
damage seems to have been done. The work connection became terrible
and I had to completely reinstall the (original) modem, It works but
the connection is terribe - fast, but the connection drops all the
time.

If I'd swapped installation disks I'd think one disk had a virus - but
the only thing that moved was the modem.

Can a piece of hardware have a virus? Any ideas?

Peter

"peter" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:21b8a198-2266-4e4f-9023-(E-Mail Removed)...
> I'm using talktalk ISP to connect on two different computers at two
> different locations (home and work). Same modems and same installation
> disks. At home the connection is terrible - very slow (OK this might
> just be a bad location), but the line keeps dropping. Sometimes every
> two/three minutes and it's very annoying. At work the connection is
> fast (about 5.5mbs) and the connection never drops.
>
> I thought that there might be a problem with the home modem, so I took
> the one from work and tried it at home. It didn't so I assume there is
> something else wrong.
>
> By accident I took the home modem to work and plugged it in. I
> realised my mistake when my PC said "new hardware detected" (don't
> forget both PCs are using the same modem) and unsuccessfully tried to
> install it. I realised my mistake and swapped the modems back, but the
> damage seems to have been done. The work connection became terrible
> and I had to completely reinstall the (original) modem, It works but
> the connection is terribe - fast, but the connection drops all the
> time.
>
> If I'd swapped installation disks I'd think one disk had a virus - but
> the only thing that moved was the modem.
>
> Can a piece of hardware have a virus? Any ideas?

Are you using two different accounts with TalkTalk? One at each location?
If not please explain exactly how you configure your connections.

If you are using two different accounts, get a router for each location.
Configure each router with the credentials for the appropriate location.
Use the facilities of the router to tell you the performance of the line at
home and report those details here. We will be particularly interested in
the upstream and downstream speeds, Signal-to-noise margins and line
attentuation figures.

--
Graham J

On 10-Dec-2007, peter <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Can a piece of hardware have a virus? Any ideas?

Same firmware revisions?
Maybe the system reads some parameters and
having read them you are stuck with them.
If they are identical modems you shouldn't see
new hardware detected.
In passing some Epson printers configure
themselves to a particular region on first installation,
and a genuine Epson service utility can read
what region it thinks it's in, Pacific, Europe, etc.
Maybe the poor modem has configured your PC.
I'm also curious how you can use the same ADSL
ISP from home and office with the same
username and password.
I'd also check packet size and try different
packet sizes. Could be both machines are
now set for large packets.
Also post modem/router line stats.
As it's TT all bets are off as to whether it
can be fixed.

peter wrote:

>
> By accident I took the home modem to work and plugged it in. I
> realised my mistake when my PC said "new hardware detected" (don't
> forget both PCs are using the same modem) and unsuccessfully tried to
> install it. I realised my mistake and swapped the modems back, but the
> damage seems to have been done. The work connection became terrible
> and I had to completely reinstall the (original) modem, It works but
> the connection is terribe - fast, but the connection drops all the
> time.

Can you use system restore to take the machine back to what it was
before installing the "new" modem?

Regards

A

On Dec 11, 9:11 am, AlanF <a...@b.com> wrote:
> peter wrote:
>
> > By accident I took the home modem to work and plugged it in. I
> > realised my mistake when my PC said "new hardware detected" (don't
> > forget both PCs are using the same modem) and unsuccessfully tried to
> > install it. I realised my mistake and swapped the modems back, but the
> > damage seems to have been done. The work connection became terrible
> > and I had to completely reinstall the (original) modem, It works but
> > the connection is terribe - fast, but the connection drops all the
> > time.
>
> Can you use system restore to take the machine back to what it was
> before installing the "new" modem?
>
> Regards
>
> A

I have two completely distinct accounts with talktalk. There is about
6 miles between the two PCs - which might explain why there are
different speeds (different exchanges). I tried to restore the PC, but
it doesn't affect the connection. Talktalk send out a seperate
installation disk with each account