BASIC TROUBLESHOOTING

During my day off I had computer issues. As soon as my computer problem had been fixed by re-formatting every thing, I had to face internet issues! I know that I have to call my internet provider simply by checking the lights of my modem. If we have a wired connection, it is important that we know what each lights of our modem corresponds into. If we have good lights on the modem, power cycle normally solves the problem. You may ask, what Is power cycle? What does it mean when we say good lights on the modem.

For example, if you are using a modem with the following lights;

1) Power light – If it is solid green, that is a good light

2) Dsl light - If it is solid green, that is a good light. If it blinks..check
physical or network connection. If it turned red- call your internet provider or manufacturer of your modem

3) Ethernet light – should be green. If light is off but you are using an Ethernet cord, means the direction of finding the solution will be on your Ethernet cord or the nic card of your computer thru your device manager;

4) Usb light – If green, then good! If off and you are using an Ethernet cord, no issue: but if you are using usb and light is off, check driver, you may need to install usb driver. Direction will finding the solution will be on the driver of your computer. .

5) Internet light: should be green. If off- check with your internet provider.

That is just an example. Every modem have different lights. Like on my case, that is not the light of my modem. I am using Motorola. Last day off, my Activity light was sold orange- it should be blinking orange. I checked with my internet provider, we worked with the ip address. Release/renew but it had been futile. The good thing is i had been a technical support so I had my share with computers and internet connectivity so we were fast over the phone. No detailed instruction anymore on the agents' part.

The bottom line is, know the lights of your modem. If You have good lights, power cycle should solve the problem. Basically it means refreshing your device but turning it off. But you don’t turn it off just like that. Start with the computer, then the modem. Turn it off, unplug for a number of minutes. Afterwards, turn it back on and there.. you should be getting a good internet connectivity. Standard time frame is 30 seconds but sometimes it would need a full minute to fully turn off your internet set-up. On my case, I power cycle for 5 minutes.

If and when you can already pull up a web page, please pull up at least three web sites. This ensures that what you see is the real internet and not the cookie stored in your computer.

Finally, if lights are not good, power cycle will not solve the problem. Call your internet provider. If you are not sure, troubleshoot with a technician, dont do it yourself!

Hope it helps even a little and do have a nice afternoon, my dear reader