OT - Re: meaning of modem lights

[Patton Echols]

On 01/19/2010 08:14 AM, Preston Hagar wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 19, 2010 at 2:17 AM, Thufir <hawat.thufir at gmail.com 
> <mailto:hawat.thufir at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     I have a cable ISP and a bog standard cable box.  Not often,
>     perhaps ever
>     six months or even less frequently, I'll have connection problems.
>      I'm
>     at a bit of a loss as to how to troubleshoot them.
>
>
>     thanks,
>
>     Thufir
>
>
>
> You quite likely have already done this, but have you tried unplugging 
> the cable modem for about 5 - 10 minutes, plugging it back in and 
> waiting for about 10 minutes and then trying to get an IP address 
> again?  I know this isn't an ideal solution, but most cable and DSL 
> modems I have worked with typically require a "reboot" at least once a 
> month.  I can't tell you exactly why, I have never bothered to really 
> look into it since a simple reboot seems to fix it.  Of course if this 
> is a business or remote location, that may not be as much of a 
> possibility.  The last time I had cable Internet (I have been on DSL 
> for a while now) I had to "reboot" my cable modem once a week or my 
> Internet speeds would start to seriously drop off and then stop all 
> together, even though the lights on the modem always looked "right".
>
> Sorry I couldn't be of more direct help.
>
> Preston


Many cable modems also have a method of internal restart. Because ours 
also has our phone service, it has an internal battery and unplugging it 
does nothing.  Look for the correct restart method on your unit.

Depending on provider, once a month is too often, once a week, would be 
a tech support call and a demand that the provider replace the defective 
equipment. (unless you own it of course).