flickering connection

Hello

I have a home network with two PCs (both WinXP SP2) hardwired into a Linkys
WAG32 modem/router, and another PC (again WinXP SP2) using a wi-fi link.
This set up has worked fine for a long time, but of late I keep getting
flickering messages in the system tray, one moment telling me a network
cable is unplugged and then the next moment another message telling me
"Local Area Connection is now connected". This is very intermittent - I can
go for a couple of days without it happening, sometimes it happens every
second, sometimes every few minutes. This happens on both PCs so I doubt
it's the cable (each of the cables were bought separately at different times
from different places. The voice part of the phone line itself seems OK, and
no-one else is reporting such problems at my ISP. On the router itself, the
Ethernet LEDs flicker on and off in the same way, but the DSL light stays on
and constant. I've tried plugging the ethernet cables into the unusued
sockets, but no change.

I'm minded to borrow/buy another modem/router to see if that is the problem,
but don't know what's involved (the network was set up for me). I

Would it be just a matter of plugging it in

If I borrowed someone else's router, would they be able to just plug it in
again when I return it, or is there something I would need to do to it to
get it to wor on mine that they would then have to undo, or redo on their
setup.

If I buy another one, can someone outline what the steps would be to get up
and running please.

Many thanks

On 26 Dec 2006, "hardofhearing" wrote:

>I'm minded to borrow/buy another modem/router to see if that is the problem,
>but don't know what's involved (the network was set up for me).

>Would it be just a matter of plugging it in

Not quite - partly depends on how the PCs were set up (some software needs
a fixed IP on the PC, but one might assume that's not the case if you got
it set up for you, and have 'simple' needs - ie mail, web browsing, ftp)

>If I borrowed someone else's router, would they be able to just plug it in
>again when I return it, or is there something I would need to do to it to
>get it to wor on mine that they would then have to undo, or redo on their
>setup.

There are ISP login details required for most ISPs so to work on your phone
line would normally need some settings to be changed (unless you are both
with the same ISP, when it might 'just work' straight out of the box),
but there might be difficulties where an ISP has monthly limits on how
much traffic is allowed, and you'd be using each others' quotas while
you had the units swapped over, IYSWIM.

>If I buy another one, can someone outline what the steps would be to get up
>and running please.

Depends on the unit, but in general you'd need to connect (using a cable)
and 'login' on the unit, then find the section for inserting your ISP login
username (often looks like an e-mail address, eg (E-Mail Removed) ) +
password. Then there's the wireless connection, which would need to be set
up - beyond the scope of a short follow-up post - some aspects may depend
on what's in use now (eg not to give wireless interference to a neighbour
if someone else nearby is also using wifi, and what the PC is, because a
sensible precaution is to encrypt traffic, but there are choices over the
encryption, namely WEP and WPA but some devices don't support WPA anyway).

Thanks for the reply

Have also discovered that the fault continues even after disconnecting the
modem/router from the phone line, so I think it now makes it near certain
that it's the modem/router that is the cause.

Thanks for the input, will dive in soon!!

"hardofhearing" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:45912cee$0$8757$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello
>
> I have a home network with two PCs (both WinXP SP2) hardwired into a
> Linkys WAG32 modem/router, and another PC (again WinXP SP2) using a wi-fi
> link. This set up has worked fine for a long time, but of late I keep
> getting flickering messages in the system tray, one moment telling me a
> network cable is unplugged and then the next moment another message
> telling me "Local Area Connection is now connected". This is very
> intermittent - I can go for a couple of days without it happening,
> sometimes it happens every second, sometimes every few minutes.
<snip>

Sounds similar to a problem I had with my WAG54G. Eventually became solid.
Don't know if your's has a wireless connection, but on mine that was still
working OK.

After very long phone call with support, they agreed it was a fault and
accepted it back under warranty. They collected it 17th Nov and it's not
back yet, but they're trying (model no longer available).

Allan

plusnet wrote:
> Sounds similar to a problem I had with my WAG54G. Eventually became
> solid. Don't know if your's has a wireless connection, but on mine
> that was still working OK.
>
> After very long phone call with support, they agreed it was a fault
> and accepted it back under warranty. They collected it 17th Nov and
> it's not back yet, but they're trying (model no longer available).
>
> Allan
Thanks - I'm contacting the place I bought it from - I think I'm still
within warranty, so i'll let them do the hassling - they are a reliable
setup so don't think they will try to renege.