Basic Broadband Troubleshooting Guide This only serves as an additional guide for techs who are having a hard

time troubleshooting broadband issues to lessen the volume of Network card dispatches and kickbacks for motherboard dispatches (for integrated network). Notes: Always verify what type of connection (cable/DSL or dial-up) the customers are using before troubleshooting Internet connectivity issues. If the customer is using dial-up connection, troubleshoot the dial-up modem (usually internal) and follow the usual dial-up modem troubleshooting procedures. If the customer has cable/DSL (broadband) connection, verify first if the PC is directly connected to the cable/DSL modem. If the network has router/hub/switch in between, bypass them. We could only support connection of the system when directly hooked up to the broadband modem. Then proceed troubleshooting on the network card: For Win95/98: 1. Check if the Network drivers are installed properly in the device manager. 2. Go to Control Panel>Double-click on Network. In the Network window, verify that the name of the NIC Adapter and the TCP/IP for the NIC is present in the network components. If they are installed, then click OK.

Fig. 1-1

3. Go to Start >Run> Type winipcfg then click OK. The IP Configuration window will appear:

Fig. 1-2 4. Select the name of the Network Card from the drop down. 5. To release IP address, click the Release button. This should release the IP address to 0.0.0.0 6. Then try to renew IP address, click Renew button. You should get a new set of IP address. 7. If IP address shows 169.x.x.x, or renewing gets error, the PC is not getting the DHCP address from the cable/DSL modem. 8. Check the cabling of the PC to the modem. Ideally, a broadband modem should be physically configured as illustrated below.

Fig. 1-3

9. Check lights on the front panel of the modem, make sure that Power, cable/online, Ethernet/PC and activity lights are lit up solidly (usually activity LED blinks). 10. Turn the PC off. 11. Unplug the power cable of the cable/DSL modem to turn it off as well. 12. With the PC and broadband modem both off and physical connections remain undisturbed, wait for a minute and a half to couple of minutes. 13. Then plug the broadband modem back to reapply power to it. Wait until all of the LED indicators become solid. 14. Turn PC back on. 15. Release and renew IP address again (see step 3). The system should get valid IP this time. 16. If IP address is not anymore displaying 169.x.x.x, click More Info button to pull up the complete IP configuration.

Fig. 1-4 17. Ping the Primary / Secondary WINS Server by typing ping x.x.x.x in the command prompt (Start>Run>Type command) where x.x.x.x is one of the WINS Servers. 18. If you get 4 replies, it means that the NIC is getting the connection to the ISP and customer should be able to pull up websites already. If the ping brings up unreachable or request timed out message, check for firewalls enabled in the system and disable them otherwise, proceed with Step 19.

19. Go back to the Control Panel>Double-click on Network (See Fig. 1-1). Highlight TCP/IP for the NIC then click Properties button. 20. Click on the DNS Configuration tab as shown below.

Fig. 1-5 21. Select Enable DNS to access the DNS Server Search Order. Type any name in the Host text box. Then supply the WINS Server Addresses found in the IP configuration windows More Info. Click OK.

For WinXP/2000 1. Check if the Network drivers are installed properly in the device manager. 2. Go to Control Panel>Network Connections verify if the Local Area Connection is enabled.

Fig. 1-6 3. Go to Start >Run>Type CMD to get in the command prompt. 4. In the command prompt, type ipconfig /release then hit enter. Determine if the IP address is released to 0.0.0.0 5. Then type ipconfig /renew to get a new set of IP address. 6. If IP address shows 169.x.x.x, or renewing gets error, the PC is not getting the DHCP address from the cable/DSL modem. 7. Check the cabling of the PC to the modem. Ideally, a broadband modem should be physically configured as illustrated in Fig. 1-3. 8. Check lights on the front panel of the modem, make sure that Power, cable/online, Ethernet/PC and activity lights are lit up solidly (usually activity LED blinks). 9. Turn the PC off. 10. Unplug the power cable of the cable/DSL modem to turn it off as well. 11. With the PC and broadband modem both off and physical connections remain undisturbed, wait for a minute and a half to couple of minutes. 12. Then plug the broadband modem back to reapply power to it. Wait until all of the LED indicators become solid. 13. Turn PC back on. 14. Release and renew IP address again in the command prompt (see step 4). The system should get valid IP this time. 15. If IP address is not anymore displaying 169.x.x.x, type in the command prompt, ipconfig /all and check for DNS servers. 16. Ping one of the DNS servers by typing ping x.x.x.x in the command prompt, where x.x.x.x is one of the DNS servers. 17. If you get 4 replies, it means that the NIC is getting the connection to the ISP and customer should be able to pull up websites already. If the ping brings up unreachable or request timed out message, check for firewalls enabled in the system and disable them. Verify ICF in WinXP is not enabled. If that doesnt work, Proceed with Step 18. 18. Right-click on Local Area Connection icon in Network Connections then select Properties. Highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) then click Properties button.

19. Change the option from Obtain DNS Server address automatically to Use the following DNS Server addresses. Then Supply the DNS servers in the Preferred and Alternate DNS Servers, then click OK, and Close. 20. Try the internet. If still no connection, you might need to uninstall and reinstall network drivers and redo these steps again. *** For DSL modems, verify if the modem is either utilizing the USB port of the PC or the Ethernet port of the NIC. If the DSL modem uses the USB, just check the integrity of the USB controllers of the system and let them call their ISP. This is for a simple reason that USB broadband modems have software and drivers that need to be installed in the system in order for them to be recognized by the PC. *** Perform NIC diagnostics and other Dell diagnostics for further troubleshooting procedures. Utilize DSN usage and always consult L2s before proceeding to dispatch.*** -JP-