I'm always having intermittent connection. What could be the problem?

A few things to do to find out what is the actual problem to this issue:

1. Check the physical network connection
2. Do a ping to the router to check for local network connectivity
3. Do a ping to the internet to check for internet connectivity
4. Check whether your PC is able to resolve a domain name into IP address

1. Check that the connection to the router is ok. Change the cabling if necessary (For wired connection). Or,
check the signal strength that your wireless adapter receive from the wireless router (For wireless connection). Move to somewhere nearer to the router if necessary to get a better signal strength.

2. Ping to the router's IP address to check the local connectivity.
A successful reply means local connectivity is OK.
A failed reply means something is wrong between the communication of your PC and the router. Please check or re-configure the router's setting if necessary. Make sure your PC is able to receive an IP address from the router, or you may also try disabling and re-enabling your network adapter.

3. Ping to a known Internet IP address (such as 8.8.8.8) to check the Internet connectivity.
A successful reply means you have no problem connecting to the internet.
A failed reply means your router is unable to connect to the internet. You may have to re-configure or restart the router if necessary.

4. Once you are connected to the Internet, try opening a browser and try opening any website to see if your PC is able to resolve the domain name into IP address and opens the webpage.
If unsuccessful, try typing in the IP address of the webpage into the URL field of the browser and try to access the webpage (E.g.: try http://209.85.132.104 to access to Google).
If successful, it means that your router has problem with the DNS service, try restarting the router or configure a static DNS server address for your PC.

How do I check whether DNS is working?

You can do so by typing a URL in the Internet Explorer (IE) to see if it can resolve the URL. As all webpages on the internet are mapped to an IP address.

Alternatively, you can go to Command Prompt and type “nslookup www.google.com”


If DNS is working, it should be able to resolve the domain name into IP address.



You may test it out by typeing the IP address into the URL field of your internet browser to go to Google's webpage.

My PC has internet connection, but I cannot open websites. What happened?

If you are still able to use internet services, such as Instant messaging applications or email, but just cannot surf the web, this could mean your router is having a DNS problem and it cannot resolve the URL.

Check with your internet service provider for an alternative DNS server address and modify it in the router's configuration.

Alternatively, you may set a static DNS server IP address for the PC if you do not have access to the router's configuration.

How do I check the IE browser’s setting?

Before you change your browser’s setting, please make sure that the physical network connection is correct.

If this is a browser’s problem, open the browser, go to Tools, Internet Options, under the Advanced tab, click to Reset Internet Explorer settings.

I cannot connect to the internet, what could be the problem?

The problem might be:

1. Physical connection problem
2. Internet browser’s “Internet Options” setting
3. DNS error
4. Router cannot establish connection with ISP

1. It could be the connection between your PC and the router/modem which cause this problem. Check the connecting media (wired/wireless) and consider replacing the network cables with new ones.

2. Check your browser's connection settings for any errors

3. Sometimes it could be a DNS error, where you are still able to access internet services such as Windows Live Messager or Yahoo Messenger service , but you cannot surf webpages. You can try restarting the router or setting a static DNS server address for your PC to solve this issue.

4. There may be some configuration errors in the router to connect to the Internet. Check the router's configuration again or contact the vendor for assistance.

I have 2 routers at home, but I cannot receive IP address from any 1 router. What happened?

Your PC will not be able to receive any IP address because there is a conflict in IP provided by the 2 routers at the same time.

In technical term, it is causing a broadcast storm, where both routers are broadcasting to all hosts to issue an DHCP IP address offer .


Disabling either 1 of the router’s DHCP function will solve the issue.

How do I check whether my PC is DHCP enabled?

Windows by default will enable the DHCP client on your PC.

You can also do so by going to the properties of your network connection, under Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) properties, and enable your PC to obtain an address and DNS automatically.

How do I renew the PC’s IP address?

Go to Command Prompt, type “ipconfig /release” to clear all the network interface’s current configuration.

Type “ipconfig /renew” to obtain a new IP address from the DHCP server.


 
 
 
 
Alternatively, this also can be done by disabling and re-enabling your network adapter.

What should I do if I received an Automatic Private Address (169.254.x.x)?

Things you will need to do: 

1. Ensure the network cable is connected properly (wired connections)
2. Ensure that the router is has DHCP server function
3. Ensure that the PC is DHCP enabled
4. Renew your PC’s IP address
5. Restart the router and PC

1. Loose or damaged cables may cause un-wanted disconnections or trouble in communications between devices.

2. If the router has no DHCP server function, any hosts connected to the router will not be able to receive a DHCP offer IP address. User will need to set a static IP address in order to connect to the network.

3. If the PC is not set to receive DHCP (set to static IP address), and which may be different from the router's network, the 2 devices will not be able to communicate with each other.

4. If you are very sure that the router has DHCP service enabled and PC is also DHCP enable, but still cannot receive a correct IP address, you may wanna renew your IP address to receive a new DHCP IP address offer from the router.

5. If after all this settings still does not solve the issue, you may consider to restart both the router and PC.

What it means if I received an IP address of 169.254.x.x when connected to a router?

It means that either your PC is not DHCP enabled or the router’s DHCP server is not working properly.

169.254.x.x is an Automatic Private Address, which is a non-routable address and should not be used




If your PC is connected to a DHCP enabled router, the network adapter will be able to accept a DHCP offer IP address from a pool of available address from the router.

In normal scenario, a common private address issued by a DHCP enabled router will be 192.168.x.x

How do i check my PC's IP address?

You can access your PC’s network connection windows and check the details.

Alternatively, open Command Prompt
StartMenu --> Run --> type "cmd" (with out the "") --> Click "OK"

Type “ipconfig” (without the ""). It will show you the properties of all the network adapters available on the machine.

How do I test connectivity of my router?

You can 'Ping' between network devices to test the connectivity between them.

Open the Command Prompt window from the Windows start menu

StartMenu --> Run --> type "cmd" (with out the "") --> Click "OK"

You will see a DOS like window like this. This is the Command Prompt

Type "ping x.x.x.x" to check the connectivity, where x.x.x.x is the IP address of the network device that you want to ping.

A successful reply means the devices is connected.

A unsuccessful reply means the device may not be connected correctly, Or, there is no device connected with this IP address.




How 'Ping' works is actually to send a request to a specific host (or device) and wait for an echo to get to know if connection between the sender and receiver is OK.

Testing post

Testing post.