# DSL Connection



## Danieru Lynx (Oct 23, 2008)

Hey there, my name's Daniel, and I'm new to this forum.

I've joined in a bid of desperation. You see, our family is one that wasn't able to take advantage of the joy that is broadband until very late on (we only managed to escape the Hell that is dial-up about a year ago). Ever since we got our router set up though, we've had almost constant problems with it. It's been looked after, it simply refuses to behave.

At the time, the only computer we had was a _very_ old pile of junk that was situated in our loft, _way_ out of reach of the house's master phone socket. This therefore meant that I had to haul the entirety of the heavy thing downstairs in order to connect the router to the master phone socket and the computer to the router via the ethernet cable provided. It worked fine. Everything went as planned. Our ISP is AOL, and we were provided with a CD which takes you through the whole installation process (not sure if any other prviders do this, so excuse me if I'm being somewhat patronising). Once everything was sorted, I hauled the computer back upstairs, connected the router to the phone socket in the loft (which is inoperable, yet the router worked just fine and we still had broadband upstairs), and lived life happily.

In February I got myself a brand new laptop. I've listed some of its specs in my profile. The only reason why there are gaps in said list is because I'm only _semi_-computer literate, lol. It's an Advent 9212, and according to the stickers on the laptop itself it has a 1.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor (it says 'T5450' too), 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard disk, and its OS is Windows Vista Home Premium (with Service Pack 1 installed). Listing this here in case it will help with the problem I am about to get to. At first I frantically searched for the aforementioned CD so as to properly set the router up for the laptop. However, I soon realised that this wasn't necessary, as that CD was simply for setting the router up initially, and so wouldn't be needed for getting my laptop going with the Internet. I just turned the WLAN switch on and relaxed. I also took the router back downstairs at this point, as our old computer was rendered inoperable, and so it wasn't in need of the router. I thought it best to keep it with its beloved master phone socket.

Since then we've had numerous issues. All resolved (bar the most recent - and worst one thus far - one), but all equally baffling. Our router is a Thomson SpeedTouch ST585v6, and it has five lights on it - a 'Power' light, an 'Ethernet' light, a 'WLAN' light, a 'DSL' light, and an 'Internet' light. It came with a number of DSL filters (of which only one remains due to the others having been misplaced), a yellow ethernet cable, a grey DSL cable, and a power adapter (of course, lol). When it's working normally, the 'Power' light is green, the 'Ethernet' light is off (as the ethernet cable isn't needed when you're connected to the router wirelessly), the 'WLAN' light is red (which, according to the router's home page, simply means that the network doesn't have a password), the 'DSL' light is green, and the 'Internet' light is green.

The problem we _usually_ have (it occurred after about three months, then again about another three months later, then again about _one_ month later, and now recently can happen anywhere from once a week to _daily_) involved the 'Internet' light either being red or _off_. We phoned AOL at one point, and after a _long_ discussion, it was determined that the problem was that the router wasn't recognising the network ID and password that I originally input when the router was first set up, and so we were given a new network ID and password, and that worked. Then, whenever it happened again, I simply accessed the router's home page, clicked 'Set Up', and re-entered the network ID and password, and that would work. About a month ago though, this happened, and I fixed it as described above. However, when the connection is working normally, the 'Network' icon in the notification area (the two little computer monitors) has a little globe next to it. Yet, when I fixed it this time, the globe didn't reappear. The connection worked fine, but the globe didn't appear. It was since then that it started to happen more frequently (the globe _did_ appear on subsequent attempts to fix it, but the problem still occurred more frequently).

Another note, the old computer became usable again, and so was set up in my parents' bedroom, and the router was moved from downstairs to in there, with it connected to the computer using the ethernet cable. The Internet worked fine on that computer for a while, but then suddenly stopped working. I can't remember what the exact problem was, but after about a month, I decided to reconnect it (after having returned it once more to the master phone socket), and it was magically working again. All I had done was disconnect it and then reconnect it about a month later. Like I said, I can't remember the status of the router's lights at the time.

Anyway, on (I think) Sunday, I woke up, booted up my laptop, and noticed that, once again, the Internet was dead. I checked the router, did the usual, and got going. It then happened _again_ on Monday, so I did the usual, and was fine. On Tuesday however, something different, and far more permanent, occurred. The usual problem, as stated above, involves just the 'Internet' light either being red or off. This time though, the 'DSL' light was off _as well_. I tried taking it downstairs and connecting it to the master phone socket, but no luck. I discovered later that our cat had urinated on the chest of drawers that the router was sat on in my parents' room. A corner of the router's underside was damp, and what could be seen of the plugged-in grey DSL cable was damp too. Also, the carpet at the base of the chest of drawers was damp, including the DSL filter to a very mild extent, and the phone socket in which it was plugged. I cleaned everything up and tried again. Nothing. I've tried using the AOL CD mentioned above to reinstall the router, input the network ID and password given to us by AOL whilst doing this, and it fails when the CD tests the connection at the DSL test. I tried to input the network ID and password using the 'Set Up' link on the router's home page, and although it claims that it has successfully been configured, a message still displays which reads as thus:

'Your DSL connection is down. Verify that your SpeedTouch is correctly connected to your phone line. If the problem persists, check your documentation.'

I've tried unplugging the router, leaving it for a while, and plugging it all back in again, and nothing. I'm constantly trying to ensure that everything's firmly plugged in, and nothing. I've tried restoring the router to its factory settings via its home page and then, as described above, inputting the network ID and password, and nothing. I've tried leaving it switched off overnight, and nothing. I've tried it in my parents' bedroom and downstairs in the master phone socket again and again, and nothing.

A mysterious thing though:

The phone socket in my parents' bedroom is in a bad way. When I first connected the router up in there, for some reason the little slidey-door thing that covers the actual socket wouldn't open, and so I had to snap it off. In the process, the socket inside became dislodged, and so is at a bit of an angle. However, with regards to the router's operation, it worked fine. No problems. This is the same phone socket that was subjected, to a small degree, to cat wee. When the router in its current state is set up to this phone socket, the DSL light blinks green. It doesn't stay solid green, it just blinks a few times then goes, then blinks again and then goes, and my laptop still claims that '[my] DSL connection is down'. However, if the router is connected to the master phone socket downstairs, the DSL light just stays off the whole time.

I tried looking at the ends of the cables and everything. The tiny copper wires on one end of the ethernet cable seem to have, to a small extent, gone green, like something has reacted to the copper or something (I'm not a science whizz, lol). This was the case _before_ the cat had its say, and the cable worked then, and to this day works just fine. I can connect my laptop to the router using the ethernet cable and the 'Ethernet' light on the router comes on green just like it should. The DSL light still only behaves as described above though. The same is true (regarding the copper wires going green) about one end of the grey DSL cable too, although this is to a lesser extent than the ethernet cable. The copper wires in the sockets in the DSL filter and the router itself are fine though. As of me writing this excrutiatingly long post, the router is downstairs, connected to the master phone socket, and the 'Power' light is green, the 'Ethernet' light is off (as the cable isn't plugged in), the 'WLAN' light is red', and the 'DSL' and 'Internet' lights are off. I'm only able to post this using a router from (most probably) next door or something, which only seems to work whilst I'm sat on my bed (which isn't as comfortable as one might think).

I apologise for how _enormous_ this post is. I've simply crammed it with _every single tiny little detail_ that you might need to assess the situation. How much or how little of it is relevant is up to you guys though, as you're the experts. I also don't mean to insult anyone's intelligence by explaining and/or repeating the obvious. Like I said, I just want the situation to be _absolutely_ clear in your minds. You know everything the router has been though, what it's like now, and what sort of router it is.

Should anyone respond, know that I'm not _totally_ tech-illiterate. I know my way round a computer well, it's just when we start delving deep into the mechanics that my head starts to spin, so don't be afraid to dumb your explanations down somewhat, lol.

Thanks in advance for any help provided. I just hope that this problem can be solved!

- Daniel


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## belfasteddie (Aug 4, 2007)

I gave up reading after the first para. Try this, when it plays up, remove the power connector from the back of the router, leave for three minutes and plug it back in. I have the same router and to get around this I unplug the connector before going to bed and it's never played up since. N.B. switching off the power at the wall isn't the same.


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## Danieru Lynx (Oct 23, 2008)

belfasteddie said:


> I gave up reading after the first para. Try this, when it plays up, remove the power connector from the back of the router, leave for three minutes and plug it back in. I have the same router and to get around this I unplug the connector before going to bed and it's never played up since. N.B. switching off the power at the wall isn't the same.


I'm sorry to hear that, for if you didn't read past the first paragraph then you missed my problem completely. My post is only so long so as to properly explain the entirety of my situation so that those in-the-know can hopefully offer advice as to how to solve my problem. After all, all anyone has to go by is my word. They can't exactly come to my house and see it for themselves, =/

As of right now the router is disconnected. All wires and what have you are removed, and the phone is plugged into the master phone socket directly, no DSL filter. I'm going by the line of wishful thinking that states that leaving it unplugged overnight and giving it a rest _might_ convince it to start working again.

I only hope that others might read the _entirety_ of my post and then give advice based on what I've said.


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## JamesO (Mar 30, 2005)

Sounds like the cat has helped too much.

If you have copper that has turned green, it is probably due the acid in the urine?

Any liquid in a phone connection can cause problems.

Probably try replacing the phone cord to the DSL modem. Does not always need to be a special cable.

You should have DSL filters for every phone connected in the house. If not try disconnecting all phones to see if you can get the DSL light to stay solid on the modem, forget the computers until the DSL light is solid.

Also sometimes making a phone call will force the DSL connection to become usable, many times only while the phone is in use. If this is the case, you have some wiring/filter issues in the house.

90% of all DSL issues are in the house and are wiring related!

JamesO


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## Danieru Lynx (Oct 23, 2008)

JamesO said:


> Sounds like the cat has helped too much.
> 
> If you have copper that has turned green, it is probably due the acid in the urine?
> 
> ...


Thanks for the advice, =D

Sadly, unplugging the phone didn't cause the 'DSL' light to come on, although I have yet to monitor its activity whilst someone is on the phone.

The way I see it, the problem is either the DSL filter, the grey DSL cable, or the router itself. I'm guessing the router must be fine, as otherwise I'm sure it wouldn't even turn on in the first place, so it's either the filter or the cable.

My Mum apparently might be bringing home a spare DSL filter pillaged from work. Reckon that might solve the problem?


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

The modem does *NOT *use a DSL filter, but *ALL *of the other phone line connected equipment *MUST *have a filter. Maybe that's the problem?


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## Danieru Lynx (Oct 23, 2008)

I've had the router set up the same way the whole time. The router is connected to the master phone socket in our living room via a grey DSL cable which is connected to a DSL filter (which also has the phone connected to it) that is plugged into said master phone socket. I know for a fact that it's not connected incorrectly.


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