Broadband Internet Connection - Troubleshooting

Posted by Sudeep James
March 11, 2008

Many times as I connect to the Internet I realize that I don’t establish a connection. My modem and router (Linksys BEFSX41) are on and connected, but still I can’t reach the Internet. The purpose of this post is to discuss the steps I take to bringing my modem, router and computer back online.

Note: This post assumes that you know how to log into your router and know where specific settings, such as the IP addresses are displayed.

Reset the Equipment

Before changing the settings, you should first reset all equipment as the first step. The following steps describe the order to reset the equipment:

  1. Turn off the computer.
  2. Turn off or unplug the router.
  3. Turn off or unplug the modem.
  4. Wait 5 seconds.
  5. Plug in the modem and wait for it to come back online.
  6. Plug in the router and wait for it to come back online.
  7. Turn on the computer and login.
  8. Click Start->Run.
  9. Type cmd in the Run dialog box and press OK.
  10. At the DOS command prompt type ipconfig /renew.
  11. Check to see if you once again have a connection to the Internet. If you can’t get an Internet connection then continue on to the next section.

Checking Router Connectivity

  1. If you closed the Web browser from a previous section then open a Web browser and navigate to your router’s setup.
  2. Navigate to the page containing your Internet Setup. For my router it is the first page that is displayed.
  3. Your setup hear depends on your ISP. Since I have cable as my Internet connection I make sure that setup is set to Obtain an IP automatically. If you have broadband dialup, you may need to select PPPoE and specify a user name an password. Check with the documentation provided by your ISP to determine which setting you should use.
  4. Ensure that DHCP on the router is enabled.
  5. Ensure that the number of IP addresses managed by the router can accommodate the number of computers that will be connected to it.
  6. Save any setting changes you made.
  7. Click Start->Run.
  8. Type cmd in the Run dialog box and press OK.
  9. At the DOS command prompt type ipconfig /renew.
  10. Check to see if you once again have a connection to the Internet. If you can’t, then continue to the next step.
  11. At this point you should try resetting the router to factory defaults and try the previous four steps again. Please read the documentation that came with your router on resetting it.
  12. If it still doesn’t work then there could be a hardware issue with the router. If you just bought it, return it to the store and get a new replacement. If it is an older router, you may need to buy a new one.

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