A fews hours later than expected, I'm now on broadband!

I said I'd report back, so I am now doing so. I am now connected to
broadband, yippee! With Zen Internet. However, not every thing has
been hunky-dory. First, I couldn't connect to the Speedtouch. Then I
remembered that I had configured this PC with a specific IP address,
so I selected Obtain an IP address automatically, tried again, and
this time I could connect to the Speedtouch and get to the Welcome
screen and the Easy Setup wizard.

Fine so far. I connected to the internet, loaded the BBC web site, had
a bit of a browse, connected to Channel 4, ditto.

Then suddenly, it all stopped working. The Speedtouch didn't indicate
anything amiss, but I couldn't connect to any web page. I unloaded the
browser, tried a different browser, zilch.

Only after I'd rebooted the PC did I get a connection to the internet
again. Dunno whether this was just a glitch...

(...few minutes later..)

NO, it's NOT a glitch! It's just happened again! Internet connection
is dead. I'm going to have to save this message and post it later.

Actually, it's only the *browser* that appears to have stopped
connecting. I still have an NNTP connection active right now. And
email is working as well. Bit wierd, isn't it? Browser stops working,
but other internet activity is okay?

MM

"MM" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>I said I'd report back, so I am now doing so. I am now connected to
> broadband, yippee! With Zen Internet. However, not every thing has
> been hunky-dory. First, I couldn't connect to the Speedtouch. Then I
> remembered that I had configured this PC with a specific IP address,
> so I selected Obtain an IP address automatically, tried again, and
> this time I could connect to the Speedtouch and get to the Welcome
> screen and the Easy Setup wizard.
>
> Fine so far. I connected to the internet, loaded the BBC web site, had
> a bit of a browse, connected to Channel 4, ditto.
>
> Then suddenly, it all stopped working. The Speedtouch didn't indicate
> anything amiss, but I couldn't connect to any web page. I unloaded the
> browser, tried a different browser, zilch.
>
> Only after I'd rebooted the PC did I get a connection to the internet
> again. Dunno whether this was just a glitch...
>
> (...few minutes later..)
>
> NO, it's NOT a glitch! It's just happened again! Internet connection
> is dead. I'm going to have to save this message and post it later.
>
> Actually, it's only the *browser* that appears to have stopped
> connecting. I still have an NNTP connection active right now. And
> email is working as well. Bit wierd, isn't it? Browser stops working,
> but other internet activity is okay?
>
> MM

Is this a speedtouch USB modem or a router?
If it's a USB modem, you'll probably need to update the drivers from the
Thomson site for it to cope with ADSL Max. I had to and mine now works fine.
If it's a router, no doubt someone will be along in a minute or two to give
further advice.

George

On Sat, 4 Aug 2007 11:40:12 +0100, "George Weston"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>"MM" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>>I said I'd report back, so I am now doing so. I am now connected to
>> broadband, yippee! With Zen Internet. However, not every thing has
>> been hunky-dory. First, I couldn't connect to the Speedtouch. Then I
>> remembered that I had configured this PC with a specific IP address,
>> so I selected Obtain an IP address automatically, tried again, and
>> this time I could connect to the Speedtouch and get to the Welcome
>> screen and the Easy Setup wizard.
>>
>> Fine so far. I connected to the internet, loaded the BBC web site, had
>> a bit of a browse, connected to Channel 4, ditto.
>>
>> Then suddenly, it all stopped working. The Speedtouch didn't indicate
>> anything amiss, but I couldn't connect to any web page. I unloaded the
>> browser, tried a different browser, zilch.
>>
>> Only after I'd rebooted the PC did I get a connection to the internet
>> again. Dunno whether this was just a glitch...
>>
>> (...few minutes later..)
>>
>> NO, it's NOT a glitch! It's just happened again! Internet connection
>> is dead. I'm going to have to save this message and post it later.
>>
>> Actually, it's only the *browser* that appears to have stopped
>> connecting. I still have an NNTP connection active right now. And
>> email is working as well. Bit wierd, isn't it? Browser stops working,
>> but other internet activity is okay?
>>
>> MM
>
>Is this a speedtouch USB modem or a router?
>If it's a USB modem, you'll probably need to update the drivers from the
>Thomson site for it to cope with ADSL Max. I had to and mine now works fine.
>If it's a router, no doubt someone will be along in a minute or two to give
>further advice.

It's a Speedtouch 536 router (tiny little thing) with a wired Ethernet
connection to the PC and a USB connection (for those who want to use
USB). I have not connected the USB cable, only the Ethernet cable.

I contacted Zen Support, and we both scratched our heads for ten
minutes, trying out stuff and checking various settings. The support
guy asked me to use an https connection to a particular secure server
and that worked. Apparently, https uses port 443, whereas http uses
port 80. It therefore seems that SOMEthing is blocking port 80, even
though I have disabled ZoneAlarm in MSCONFIG.

However, I seem to recall once seeing (on Usenet) comments to the
effect that ZoneAlarm may cause problems if it isn't completely
removed from the hard drive, so I may try that next.

Whatever it is, rebooting fixes it, but only for a few minutes, then
the browser stops working again.

During all this the NNTP connection, Ping, Telnet etc (DOS window) are
working fine.

MM

"MM" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sat, 4 Aug 2007 11:40:12 +0100, "George Weston"
> <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>
>>"MM" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>>news:(E-Mail Removed). ..
>>>I said I'd report back, so I am now doing so. I am now connected to
>>> broadband, yippee! With Zen Internet. However, not every thing has
>>> been hunky-dory. First, I couldn't connect to the Speedtouch. Then I
>>> remembered that I had configured this PC with a specific IP address,
>>> so I selected Obtain an IP address automatically, tried again, and
>>> this time I could connect to the Speedtouch and get to the Welcome
>>> screen and the Easy Setup wizard.
>>>
>>> Fine so far. I connected to the internet, loaded the BBC web site, had
>>> a bit of a browse, connected to Channel 4, ditto.
>>>
>>> Then suddenly, it all stopped working. The Speedtouch didn't indicate
>>> anything amiss, but I couldn't connect to any web page. I unloaded the
>>> browser, tried a different browser, zilch.
>>>
>>> Only after I'd rebooted the PC did I get a connection to the internet
>>> again. Dunno whether this was just a glitch...
>>>
>>> (...few minutes later..)
>>>
>>> NO, it's NOT a glitch! It's just happened again! Internet connection
>>> is dead. I'm going to have to save this message and post it later.
>>>
>>> Actually, it's only the *browser* that appears to have stopped
>>> connecting. I still have an NNTP connection active right now. And
>>> email is working as well. Bit wierd, isn't it? Browser stops working,
>>> but other internet activity is okay?
>>>
>>> MM
>>
>>Is this a speedtouch USB modem or a router?
>>If it's a USB modem, you'll probably need to update the drivers from the
>>Thomson site for it to cope with ADSL Max. I had to and mine now works
>>fine.
>>If it's a router, no doubt someone will be along in a minute or two to
>>give
>>further advice.
>
> It's a Speedtouch 536 router (tiny little thing) with a wired Ethernet
> connection to the PC and a USB connection (for those who want to use
> USB). I have not connected the USB cable, only the Ethernet cable.
>
> I contacted Zen Support, and we both scratched our heads for ten
> minutes, trying out stuff and checking various settings. The support
> guy asked me to use an https connection to a particular secure server
> and that worked. Apparently, https uses port 443, whereas http uses
> port 80. It therefore seems that SOMEthing is blocking port 80, even
> though I have disabled ZoneAlarm in MSCONFIG.
>
> However, I seem to recall once seeing (on Usenet) comments to the
> effect that ZoneAlarm may cause problems if it isn't completely
> removed from the hard drive, so I may try that next.
>
> Whatever it is, rebooting fixes it, but only for a few minutes, then
> the browser stops working again.
>
> During all this the NNTP connection, Ping, Telnet etc (DOS window) are
> working fine.
>
> MM

Does this router have builtin firewall capability?

g.

"Fat Freddy's Cat" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:46b4605c$0$24746$(E-Mail Removed)...

>>
>> During all this the NNTP connection, Ping, Telnet etc (DOS window) are
>> working fine.
>>
>> MM
>
> Does this router have builtin firewall capability?
>
> g.

checked for myself and it does seem to have a firewall.

This being the case my advice is disable/uninstall *all* software firewalls.
You simply dont need them. Zonealarm, windows firewall, the lot. Your router
is doing a much better job of protecting your machine than any piece of
software can.

g.

On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 11:24:24 +0100, MM <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I said I'd report back, so I am now doing so. I am now connected to
>broadband, yippee! With Zen Internet. However, not every thing has
>been hunky-dory. First, I couldn't connect to the Speedtouch. Then I
>remembered that I had configured this PC with a specific IP address,
>so I selected Obtain an IP address automatically, tried again, and
>this time I could connect to the Speedtouch and get to the Welcome
>screen and the Easy Setup wizard.
>
>Fine so far. I connected to the internet, loaded the BBC web site, had
>a bit of a browse, connected to Channel 4, ditto.
>
>Then suddenly, it all stopped working. The Speedtouch didn't indicate
>anything amiss, but I couldn't connect to any web page. I unloaded the
>browser, tried a different browser, zilch.
>
>Only after I'd rebooted the PC did I get a connection to the internet
>again. Dunno whether this was just a glitch...
>
>(...few minutes later..)
>
>NO, it's NOT a glitch! It's just happened again! Internet connection
>is dead. I'm going to have to save this message and post it later.
>
>Actually, it's only the *browser* that appears to have stopped
>connecting. I still have an NNTP connection active right now. And
>email is working as well. Bit wierd, isn't it? Browser stops working,
>but other internet activity is okay?
>

Post in zen.support and consider ringing Zen support who ime are most
helpful.


--
AnthonyL

"AnthonyL" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 11:24:24 +0100, MM <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
>>I said I'd report back, so I am now doing so. I am now connected to
>>broadband, yippee! With Zen Internet. However, not every thing has
>>been hunky-dory. First, I couldn't connect to the Speedtouch. Then I
>>remembered that I had configured this PC with a specific IP address,
>>so I selected Obtain an IP address automatically, tried again, and
>>this time I could connect to the Speedtouch and get to the Welcome
>>screen and the Easy Setup wizard.
>>
>>Fine so far. I connected to the internet, loaded the BBC web site, had
>>a bit of a browse, connected to Channel 4, ditto.
>>
>>Then suddenly, it all stopped working. The Speedtouch didn't indicate
>>anything amiss, but I couldn't connect to any web page. I unloaded the
>>browser, tried a different browser, zilch.
>>
>>Only after I'd rebooted the PC did I get a connection to the internet
>>again. Dunno whether this was just a glitch...
>>
>>(...few minutes later..)
>>
>>NO, it's NOT a glitch! It's just happened again! Internet connection
>>is dead. I'm going to have to save this message and post it later.
>>
>>Actually, it's only the *browser* that appears to have stopped
>>connecting. I still have an NNTP connection active right now. And
>>email is working as well. Bit wierd, isn't it? Browser stops working,
>>but other internet activity is okay?
>>
>
> Post in zen.support and consider ringing Zen support who ime are most
> helpful.
>
>


he has

g.

On Sat, 4 Aug 2007 12:17:16 +0100, "Fat Freddy's Cat"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Does this router have builtin firewall capability?

Yes.

MM

On Sat, 4 Aug 2007 12:26:07 +0100, "Fat Freddy's Cat"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>
>"AnthonyL" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> On Sat, 04 Aug 2007 11:24:24 +0100, MM <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>>
>>>I said I'd report back, so I am now doing so. I am now connected to
>>>broadband, yippee! With Zen Internet. However, not every thing has
>>>been hunky-dory. First, I couldn't connect to the Speedtouch. Then I
>>>remembered that I had configured this PC with a specific IP address,
>>>so I selected Obtain an IP address automatically, tried again, and
>>>this time I could connect to the Speedtouch and get to the Welcome
>>>screen and the Easy Setup wizard.
>>>
>>>Fine so far. I connected to the internet, loaded the BBC web site, had
>>>a bit of a browse, connected to Channel 4, ditto.
>>>
>>>Then suddenly, it all stopped working. The Speedtouch didn't indicate
>>>anything amiss, but I couldn't connect to any web page. I unloaded the
>>>browser, tried a different browser, zilch.
>>>
>>>Only after I'd rebooted the PC did I get a connection to the internet
>>>again. Dunno whether this was just a glitch...
>>>
>>>(...few minutes later..)
>>>
>>>NO, it's NOT a glitch! It's just happened again! Internet connection
>>>is dead. I'm going to have to save this message and post it later.
>>>
>>>Actually, it's only the *browser* that appears to have stopped
>>>connecting. I still have an NNTP connection active right now. And
>>>email is working as well. Bit wierd, isn't it? Browser stops working,
>>>but other internet activity is okay?
>>>
>>
>> Post in zen.support and consider ringing Zen support who ime are most
>> helpful.
>>
>>
>
>
>he has

After lunch I'm going to remove all traces of Zone Alarm. I'm not
really too concerned, since I know what an absolute pain Windows
networking can be and I know I *shall* get it working over the next
few days. In Usenet I can see already how much faster everything
works, though! Click on a newsgroup and the headers come flying down.

I need to put my thinking cap on re the browser, since, if rebooting
fixes the problem temporarily, the problem has to be with the network
config in this PC. Maybe I'll remove the reference to "Dial-up
adapter" as well. Maybe the thing is getting confused twixt dial-up
and Ethernet.

MM

On Sat, 4 Aug 2007 12:20:01 +0100, "Fat Freddy's Cat"
<(E-Mail Removed)> mused:

>
>"Fat Freddy's Cat" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:46b4605c$0$24746$(E-Mail Removed).. .
>
>>>
>>> During all this the NNTP connection, Ping, Telnet etc (DOS window) are
>>> working fine.
>>>
>>> MM
>>
>> Does this router have builtin firewall capability?
>>
>> g.
>
>checked for myself and it does seem to have a firewall.
>
>This being the case my advice is disable/uninstall *all* software firewalls.
>You simply dont need them. Zonealarm, windows firewall, the lot. Your router
>is doing a much better job of protecting your machine than any piece of
>software can.
>
Incorrect. The firewall on the router protects against incoming
traffic. You still want some sort of software firewalll to keep your
PC in check.
--
Regards,
Stuart.