Modem knackered?

[Balmoral Green]

Help! I cant connect to the internet with my broadband anymore.

I am with Freeserve who became Wanadoo who became orange, and I have one of their broadband modems.

It should have two green lights on the front to indicate it is functioning correctly, they come on OK, and if I go into the PC settings I get confirmation that it is indeed working OK.

But, periodically, the red lights come on, and the PC loses it, then it re-establishes contact and we are back to green lights again. I get that pleasant two-tone note that lets me know that new hardware has been found, on and off periodically as I lose and regain the modem.

I have re-booted several times, uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers etc. The Orange help desk is useless, I just get an Indian pretending he has an English name, who goes through the same basic troubleshooting that I have done already. Yes, my phone line is OK and I do not have any messages blocking the dial tone etc.

I reckon the modem itself is fubared? any ideas?

Whilst I have typed this, the modem icon on the toolbar has cycled through 'Speedtouch ADSL modem not plugged in' to 'Speedtouch ADSL modem intialising ADSL line' several times over.

Thanks,

BG.

[malman]

Sounds like a dodgy usb connection. Try different cable/port

[Balmoral Green]

Yep, tried all the different ports, thanks. Can't switch the USB cable though, its integral to the broadband modem.

[Plotloss]

Ditch it and get a router.

[greenlandy]

Is it under 12 months old? If so phone up said ISP.

[PJR]

Is it losing line sync? However, I cant stand USB adsl modems. Not nearly as reliable as wireless or good ol ethernet. Can get a new one if needed for around 50 notes.
Cheers, P

[Balmoral Green]

Thanks for the advice so far, I had spoken to the orange helpline in India, 1st off I got a guy called 'Raymond' (yes Raymond, of course you are) who was useless. Today I tried again and this time got a 'Mike' who was much more usefull. I lost my connection during a thunderstorm and so after doing all the ususal re-booting, re-installing, re-configuring, etc, we decided it may be the filters that were shot, or the modem. So I got a couple of new filters, still no fix. Rang them again and got a 'Robert' (I was getting amused at the allocation of traditional English names to their operatives ) and went over a few more odds & sods and we decided to do a line check, so ring back in 2 hours. Next time got a 'Jessica' but decided to have a bit of banter and confirmed that it was in fact a 'Nabila' I was talking to in India Anyway, she's sending me a new modem, so using dial up at the moment. Lets hope the modem is the problem.

I get two grren lights on the modem to say all is OK, but after a minute or two I get a red light on the USB and no lights on the ADSL, after a second or two I am back to two steady green lights. I get a 680 error, no dial tone. This cycle repeats every minute or two.

Edited by Balmoral Green on Wednesday 13th September 19:17

[greenlandy]

If it's orange you should have your new modem by the end of the week

[bobthemonkey]

is it the crapperjet thingy by any chance. silver, tall thhing.

if it is the best bet is to pick up anything else and thermite the crapperjet

either get something free of orange, or pick up a speedtouch 330i nothing specail but work and dont go wrong - i've got one here i dont use but its already spoken for

[russ]

and if you still get problems you will probably end up paying to have a service specific frontplate fitted on your main phone socket ( anything from £30 to £180 depending upon the wiring in your house ) best of luck.

[Balmoral Green]

New modem plugged in and all is OK. Thanks for the help from those who posted.

[UncleDave]

Balmoral Green said:

Next time got a 'Jessica' but decided to have a bit of banter and confirmed that it was in fact a 'Nabila' I was talking to in India

Sorry I can't help, similar problems myself that I can't fix