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Episode 20: Is Your Internet Really "Down"?
Episode Air Date: July 10, 2009
Episode Summary
After a bit of a 4th of July hiatus, TechDish is back this week talking about the big question of internet connectivity! In today's online episode we'll delve in a little deeper with several ways you can check your internet connection, helping you isolate where the problem really lies. Ready? Let's get to it!
Beware of Browser Caching
Some browsers and software add-ons save web pages locally (on your computer) to "speed up" web browsing. This is called caching (CASH-ing) and is a hinderance for today's purposes, because you may be able to view a cached webpage even with a bad connection—essentially a false-positive.
A simple workaround is this: in either Internet Explorer or Firefox, type [Ctrl]+F5 to do a full page refresh from the hosting server.
We get more calls about internet connection problems from Laptop Users than any other, and the many times the problems lie in user error.
Because laptop computers are so portable, users sometimes forget to plug everything back in when they set up their laptop. So, check your cords!
Also, many of today's laptops come with an external wireless card on-off switch, which can easily be flipped to "off" inadvertently by users. Confirm this is switched to "on", if you are trying to connect wirelessly!
Step 1: Try Something Else
If it's your email that's not connecting, let's test the connection and load a web page. If you can't load a web page, try connecting to an IM client. Or your email client. Or another service that connects to the internet. Basically, we're trying to see if your connectivity issues are limited to a specific program or service, or if it is widespread on your computer.
What web page to test?
Yes we love Google; but the fact is, www.google.com is one of the smallest, lightest web pages you can find. The smaller the page, the quicker it will load, making this a very effective page to test.
Step 2: Test Your Connection with the Command Prompt
Any Windows operating system has a built in program called the Command Prompt. While this looks technical and (gasp!) "scary", there are some very simple tricks you can try to further test your internet connection.
To get to the Windows Command Prompt, click your Start Menu, then click Run…, then type in cmd. This will launch a command prompt, that looks something like this:
Command Prompt Test #1: Do a Ping Test
Let's see if we can send a Ping to a given website to see if we can get a successful response. If this is successful, we might have a problem with your web browser or other software. If this is unsuccessful, then we need to do some further testing with your connection.
Type the following into the command prompt window:
ping www.google.com
Again, we're using Google (but you could substitute this with any website address), because it is fast, easy to type, and it's hardly ever down.
A successful ping test should show something like this:
An unsuccessful ping test should show this:
Command Prompt Test #2: Are you connected to your router?
If your ping test was unsuccessful, we need to see if your computer is getting a connection from your router; and, if it is, we're going to reset that connection to see if it has any effect.
Type the following into the command prompt window:
ipconfig
What we want to see here is that your computer has an IP Address, which should show the following results in your command prompt:
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
IPv4 Address . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . .: 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . .: 192.168.1.1
You'll see more lines than this in the results; we've only included the key lines for our purposes today. These numbers are going to vary, depending on your computer/network setup.
An unsuccessful test will show results like this:
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Media State . . . . . . . . .: Media disconnected
Whether your results were successful or not, let's now reset your network adapters. To do this, first type this command into your command prompt:
ipconfig /release
This effectively disables all network adapters from their active states. Now, we need to re-enable all network adapters to get a new connection. Type this command into your command prompt:
ipconfig /renew
This command may take a few moments to execute, but (hopefully) you'll get a renewed IP Address from your router. Now let's repeat Steps 1 & 2 (above) and see if we can get a successful ping, and if we can load a web page. If this works, you should be able to resume your internet activities as normal. If this does not work, continue reading…
Step 3: Try Using Another Computer
It is no longer rare to have more than one computer in a business or a household. So, try moving to a different computer and see if you're experiencing connection problems there. If other computers have no issues, then the problem lies on your machine—you might have further configuration errors, software corruption, and/or possibly virus/malware that is hindering your connection. If the connectivity is widespread throughout your home/business, then it's safe to say you have an issue with your internet connection itself; which means it's time to get your ISP on the phone.