Cable Internet problems

I use a 3com cable mode with @HOME and also have ZoneAlarm and haven't experience any problems. What OS & Browser does your user have?

Very first thing to do is eliminate zonealarm as the problem. In zonealarms properties tell it not to run when windows starts. If the problem goes away then it is zonealarm. If it does not then start checking hardware, cables, etc.

If the problem is zonealarm look to see what zonealarm has set to block from accessing the internet. I say this because I used to have a similar problem with dial-up. I had discovered through zonealarm that a program I did not recognize kept accessing the internet when I logged on. I blocked its access and since then I could only surf for about 10 minutes before the PC would disconnect. I found out that the problem was caused by egames. They included software on their CD that sends information to a third party about what is on your PC (big brother is watching). When I blocked the program it would overtax my processor with continuous rebroadcasts and after about 10 minutes my machine would disconnect because the processor couldn't hold the connection (darn those winmodems). Needless to say I got a new modem and have never purchased anything from egames again.

Instead of rebooting when the internet connection is interupted, he should first check to see if the Zone Alarm internet lock has been engaged.
To do this, right click on the ZA icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. A menu will appear. Idon't have the program running on the machine I am on right now so I can't tell you exactly what the menu says, but it offers only 4 or 5 choices - choose to restore Zone Alarm control panel. This will bring up the program window.

If the lock is on it will say locked in the menu item second from the left. There is a graphic of a padlock and it will say below it either locked or unlocked.

If the problem is that the lock is engaging it is important to determine the cause of the lock engaging. The program generates log files that can be examined to determine the cause.

If it is simply a program that has been denied access, this can be reset by opening the programs menu and then right clicking on any program that has an X next to it. These programs are being denied access or server rights to the internet. Right clicking on them will give the option to remove them. Removing them will force a dialog to appear next time the program attempts to access the internet or act asa server. This dialog has a check box that says remember this setting, this should not be checked if the user is not certain that they wish to deny or accept the request. First try denying the request to see if the computer works without allowingthe permission. If it doesn't work then relaunch the application, this time granting permission to the program and see if it functions properly. The dialog will continue to appear each time the program is launched until the check box is checked toremember that answer.

Yes, we had similar experience.

On my event, this is caused by the connection of the cable modem to the computer. We used USB connection, and apparently disconnection happened a lot.

Try to use Network card instead for establishing connectionbetween cable modem and PC.

By us, the problem disappear after we changed the connection from USB to NIC.

Hope it helps.
vh_s

Look to see if your customer has a splitter on the cable modem line. While you're doing that, check out the quality and appearance of the cables. I experienced similar problems immediately after installing a Norton 2002 beta (with Zone Alarm also installed) and was convinced one or the other was the problem. It turned out to be the splitter and cable I'd installed so I could watch TV while surfing.... Signal Degradation--causes high packet losses (if bad enough, the broadband provider's diagnostics also get into the picture).

I've got the same software and no problem. I'd start to look to eliminate hardware problems. First, swap cables. That's easiest. Then, if one's available, temporatily swap out the cable modem. In any case, got rid of the SMC card. The cable cogave me and within a week I went and bought my own 3COM card. My personal experience (at work, doing performance & tuning for client/server apps) is that the SMC 10/100 cards have a tendency to be "fluky". The continually check mode and don't process reliably enough, sending NACK msgs requesting retransmit because they are not sync'ed. Get a single mode card -- even if it's a 10Mb, don't worry -- In all likelihood the modem isn't going fast enough for it to make a difference. One other thing that might be worth checking is if the receive window is too small. Being cautious, as always, use REGEDIT & check \HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\MSTCP\DefaultRcvWindow . I have mine set to "322300" which reduces the overhead enormously. Please, let us know how things go.

When you get disconnected - what do the modem lights look like? are they flashing or solid. If there is a change in the lights then it has to be the cable or splitter or modem. if no change then go to start run & type winipcfg & go to the networkcard & see what the ip addr is. If it starts with 169 then you arent receiving an ip addr from modem - if routeable ip addr appears then check winsock.dll & wsock32.dll in w98 they hould be 21k & 40k respectively.

If still not found - go to dos prompt & type
"route print" you should get a route table - under heading of metric - count the 1's. should be six only - if more its the network card drivers upgrade the driver.

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