How to Troubleshoot Your Internet Connection

You have a broadband connection and suddenly your not able to get online. What do you check? Do you call your ISP? Before you call your ISP there are some troubleshooting steps you can do to check if the problem is on your end or not. In this article I intend to walk you through checking your Internet connection.

If your connection to Internet was to stop functioning suddenly than what you would do first is to check your DSL or cable modem. Is there power to the modem? Are all lights lit? Do you have a flashing activity light? Do you have a router? Is it powered on? Are the connection lights lit?

These are the things you need to check first as well as check your connections. If you have more than one computer connected through a router does any of the other computers online? If you have one computer that is not connected online the problem could be as simple as rebooting to a bad graphics card.

If you recently installed a software firewall this could disrupt you from getting online. You could have some applications that connect to the Internet and others that are blocked. If you have any blocked applications you would have to go into the firewalls permissions and remove any blocks on those applications that do not function.

If you have checked all your connections and no computer in the house is getting online than it could be a problem with your ISP, a bad modem, or router. One thing your ISP would have you do to check it would be to a flushing of the modem. In order to flush the modem you would disconnect the power source. If you have a router you disconnect its power source as well. You wait 30 sec or more than plug the modem back in. Wait for the response on the modems four lights before you plug the router back in.

If after doing this you have Internet again problem is solved and you can go back to what you were doing. This will happen at times that the modem will need flushing as packets pass from the ISP back and forth. If this happens a lot you may need to have your modem replaced. If for some reason your modem does not light up all four lights see if the ISP can ping the modem. If they can't it could be a problem in the line or the modem needs to be replaced. In any case it would need an ISP service call to determine the problem. Usually at this point we have ruled out the router and the computers.

If you having one computer that cannot get online this could be another issue. If its not software related like a firewall it could be a faulty Internet cable, network card, or even a virus that is blocking Internet access.

If one computer is involved try rebooting first. If you still cannot get online go into network properties and check those. Under network connections right click on your network and click repair. If you can get on after that than your good to go. Your network connection should be enabled and firewalled. If it is disabled than try enabling it. If you have an extra cable you can try connecting it to the modem or router to see if the problem is that.

Make sure you check device manager that you network card is not splatted or disabled. If it is try enabling it or you may have to reinstall the drivers. It may come down to a defective network card which you need to replace. If the network is built in you can buy an add on network card to solve this. They are not expensive and you should be able to get one for under $50.

With this troubleshooting guide you should be able to identify where the problem is and take steps to fix it.