# cable modem problem



## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

Ok, I have COX cable internet and have had it for about 2 years now. I live in a small apartment with aparently one main cable outlet in my bedroom, which is split within the wall somewhere to run into my living room giving me 2 cable outlets. Well, i had no choice but to use a splitter in my room to be able to have cable TV and internet in here but for the past year or so i have very annoying signal strenth for the internet. It is constantly off and on through out the day but if i remove the splitter and screw the coax directly into the wall it seems to work just fine. I guess my question is do they make some kin of signal boosters for cable modems?? :4-dontkno


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

I suggest you figure a different way, or rewire the jack. I've tried several bi-directional amplifiers in the past, and the results were very poor. There's simply no substitute for a good feed directly from the external cable connection.

I've seen asymmetrical 2:1 splitters that have a lower insertion loss for one leg than the other, which "might" help. OTOH, If you're so marginal that the splitter causes the problem, there's probably not much hope. Also, many 2:1 splitters have a much greater return loss than you can tolerate.


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## JamesO (Mar 30, 2005)

Get yourself a decent cable amp and install it before the splitter. Not the ideal situation, but given your situation it might be the best shot.

Not a real fan of the newer Radio Shack amps, but you can return it if it does not work.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...mplifier&kw=cable+amplifier&parentPage=search

http://www.solidsignal.com/prod_display.asp?prod=SPAMP15

All granted you should have enough signal to make a split, however, the digital equipment is very sensitive to absolute signal level.

If your modem is something other than a Toshiba, enter 192.168.100.1 in your web browser and check you signal level info with and without the splitter in line.

Post this cable modem info back for review and comment.

You might call Cox and see if they will provide/sell you an amp if you pick it up. This might be the best solution as it will be something they know works. Also if you cable splitter or cables are questionable, Cox usually provides a free self install cable kit that has a good splitter and some good pre-terminated coax cables as well. 

JamesO


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

Cable Signal: Ready
Tuning: Complete
Ranging: Complete

Data Service: Ready
Connecting: Complete
Configuring: Complete
Registering: Complete

Current state: Operational
Highest State Obtained: Operational


Thats all it says with and without the splitter.. I have a Terayon modem if that helps..


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## CannonFodder (Dec 19, 2006)

If you ask me, the problem is most likely the splitter itself. One thing to look at is the ports coming off the splitter. Most of them have Db ratings for them and a lot of times the ports will be different. You can try using the port with the higher rating for your modem, if it wasn't already hooked up that way. That may help some. If not try a new splitter. They are usually cheap. Sometimes if you can catch the cable guy he may even give you one.


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

i now think that it just so happened to start working once i unhooked the splitter because it started doing the same thing again about 20 mins later. It just will not stay online for more then 30 mins at a time and to make things worse Cox raised my bill for internet and cable so I am paying more for less:sigh:


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Actually, you want the splitter leg with the lower dB loss for the broadband modem if it's asymmetrical. :grin:


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## CannonFodder (Dec 19, 2006)

I was always told that the numbers indicated the Db output. But then I used to work with a lot of idiots.


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

i had a tech come and it turned out my coax cable going to my modem was bad so i replaced it and it works. But I still have the problem of when i am online for a while the internet will just stop working. it wont let me go anywhere at all but the internet will still be connected. I can be on a website and try to go somewhere else but nothing will happen, i can click refresh and nothing will happen. Its weird, kinda like the internet just gets lazy and doesn't feel like taking me to new different sites.. But after i restart my computer it all works fine again..


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## JamesO (Mar 30, 2005)

Your computer may have a memory leak?

JamesO


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

JamesO said:


> Your computer may have a memory leak?
> 
> JamesO


memory leak?? What do you mean and how can i check for that?


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## JamesO (Mar 30, 2005)

First, how much RAM does you machine have installed?

If you have XP, you should have at least 512 MB.

A memory leak is caused by a program or programs that do not properly release RAM as it is used. For example the Firefox web browser has some known memory leaks. 

You need to start with a freshly rebooted machine. Wait until it stabilized and via the Control Panel (Ctrl, Alt, Del) see how much memory is being used in the upper right hand graph and how much memory your machine has left. If less than 100 MB, then you are getting into danger zone. 

You then need to watch the graph when the machine slows and the web browsing slows or stops and check the total memory usage. You then need to go to the Processes tab an sort the Memory Usage column and see what the top few Memory hogs are.

What web browser to you usually use?
How many running Process are active on this machine?
Do you use Hot Switching?
What programs do you use that seem to cause the machine to slow down?

For example, my kids love Disney Toon Town, what a memory leak hog, it always is causing problems as the software has problems releasing memory and will kill a machine with even 784 MB of unused RAM!!

The machine with only 512 MB is always locking up.

JamesO


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## Press2Esc (Aug 8, 2005)

nike,

sounds to me like you have ad/spyware on your system... update/run your friendly version of spybot or adaware and be done with it.  if you feel real energetic check your startup files w/msconfig and uncheck all the trash apps that get loaded with many of the freezware out on the net.

P2E





nikeman said:


> i had a tech come and it turned out my coax cable going to my modem was bad so i replaced it and it works. But I still have the problem of when i am online for a while the internet will just stop working. it wont let me go anywhere at all but the internet will still be connected. I can be on a website and try to go somewhere else but nothing will happen, i can click refresh and nothing will happen. Its weird, kinda like the internet just gets lazy and doesn't feel like taking me to new different sites.. But after i restart my computer it all works fine again..


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

Press2Esc said:


> nike,
> 
> sounds to me like you have ad/spyware on your system... update/run your friendly version of spybot or adaware and be done with it.  if you feel real energetic check your startup files w/msconfig and uncheck all the trash apps that get loaded with many of the freezware out on the net.
> 
> P2E


I run spybot and adaware and the problem is still there.. 

I did that ctrl, Alt, Del to check the performance while the internet was working and while it wasnt an the charts and everything looked the same both ways. My biggest memory eater is Firefox, followed by svchost.exe , and then something called msimn.exe, then IE

Firefox.exe: 52,304k
svchost.exe: 25,028k
msimn.exe: 19,728
iexplore.exe: 17,952


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## JamesO (Mar 30, 2005)

How many running Processes and how much RAM does the machine have installed?

JamesO


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## crazijoe (Oct 19, 2004)

Quick question,
Do you still have this problem with the modem connected directly without the splitter?


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

crazijoe said:


> Quick question,
> Do you still have this problem with the modem connected directly without the splitter?


no, that was resolved with the new coax cable.. Please dont close this topic though cause i still need help...:wink:


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

JamesO said:


> How many running Processes and how much RAM does the machine have installed?
> 
> JamesO


I counted 50 processes


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## JamesO (Mar 30, 2005)

Why is your CPU at 68%? Is this at this rate for a long time??

What Process or Application is using all this CPU resource?

The machine should settle at between 2-5% CPU utilization with most of the CPU being System Idle Process.

JamesO


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

JamesO said:


> Why is your CPU at 68%? Is this at this rate for a long time??
> 
> What Process or Application is using all this CPU resource?
> 
> ...


I dont know whats using up all of that, but it stays between 68% and 98% from what i saw..


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## Press2Esc (Aug 8, 2005)

Nike, thats your problem - 51 processors, 68% cpu useage.... A "clean" xp machine runs around 32 processes and less 10% CPU.

OK, sit down, roll up your sleeve & open a browser window & surf to www.sysinfo.org 

Next we will disect your excess startup files. :wave: goto DOS (Start > Run ) and enter *msconfig*. Goto *Startup* tab.

Notice all the zillion checked files... :4-thatsba Now compare all checked files against an explanation provided by sysinfo url. Unless you use the app frequently (everyday), *UNCHECK* it!! The only checked (aka critical) files that justify keeping the check should be (1) apps listed with "Y" (yes) @ sysinfo, or (2) 24/7 PC apps like a/v, a/spyware, & firewall and (3) apps that you use frequently . In conclusion, every file with a check mark will be loaded into memory EVERYTIME the PC is started.

After you are finish unchecking everything, click *Apply* & Restart the PC. When the PC reboots you will get a msg saying something about ".... dont show me this message again....". CHECK IT...

Whalla, your PC response time is back.. Enjoy having control of your PC back... [Sidebar] Get rid (uninstall) of ALL of those toxic helper/search bars -(yahoo, google, ms, aol, ms, etc) - no one actually uses them and they are basically spyware in sheeps clothing... Spyware is an unlocked door to your PC to which opens it up to identity/financial/intellectual theft a/o profiling. Nice stuff, eh..

Have fun.

P2E


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Actually, you have to define what a "clean" machine is. There is no reason that 51 processes is an issue, depending on what you are running. FYI, the machine here with 74 processes runs fine. There is no reason to believe that removing a few processes will solve this issue, since it's a lot more likely to be malware/spyware.


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

johnwill said:


> Actually, you have to define what a "clean" machine is. There is no reason that 51 processes is an issue, depending on what you are running. FYI, the machine here with 74 processes runs fine. There is no reason to believe that removing a few processes will solve this issue, since it's a lot more likely to be malware/spyware.


I keep hearing that it is probably malware/spyware but i just did a whole lot of stuff in the Hijackthis section and my last HJT log was completly clean.. I also ran updated Adaware and Spybot and cleaned everything...


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

You may also have something corrupted, or an interaction between processes on the machine. First step would be to find out which process(es) are consuming all the CPU time when you're not doing anything.


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

johnwill said:


> You may also have something corrupted, or an interaction between processes on the machine. First step would be to find out which process(es) are consuming all the CPU time when you're not doing anything.


how would i do this? Leave it idle with the processes list showing from biggest to smallest with no windows open??


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

this is the top memory users when the computer is idle..


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## JamesO (Mar 30, 2005)

Is your CPU always running at 60+%??

What is using the CPU loading. You bitmap is not sorted correctly to see what is going on. You need to click the top of the CPU column and sort it from biggest to smallest, like a database column. You will see what Process is using the CPU. 

Also look at the Application tab and tell us what is running. 

The CPU should settle down to less than 10%, if not, something is chasing its tail.

Before you mess around with MSCONFIG, which can be tricky if you really do not know what you are doing, boot the machine in Safe Mode with Networking. At reboot, keep hitting F8 until the Safe Mode start prompt comes up. Choose Safe Mode with Networking. Once it boots, check the Task Manager and see if it has settled down and if you get good Internet connectivity and response. If so, you need to find out what program is killing your machine. It is most likely something corrupt and chasing its tail?? Then you either uninstall the program, or you may then need to resort to MSCONFIG to attempt to identify the problem task or application. 

Has seen AOL and AIM software do this a lot in the past.

BTW, send me a copy of your wallpaper.

JamesO


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## JamesO (Mar 30, 2005)

JW, can't buy your machine runs just fine with 74 Processes and 1 GB of RAM consumed. It runs adequately for you and your needs, but I would really need to understand why I would have a machine consuming these reasources in an idle state? Boot your machine in Safe Mode and see how fast it can be!

Granted you have some sort of dual core/task processor and 2 GB of RAM (which is probably fairly high speed RAM?), but with all the stuff you have running, I would personally consider splitting the load onto another machine myself.

I would never allow any of my machines that I am required to support to be labored with all this stuff, mainly because the kids of the users would come behind the parents, load Limewire, AOL, AIM, all kinds of games and other garbage, then in the process of loading all the crap, the kids would fail to disable the add ins for the downloads, so the machine would have 5 search tool bars, Google Desktop Search, Weatherbug and every piece of spyware and malware removal tools that shows up in a pop up. 

Then I would probably be destine tell the customer that it is cheaper for them just to give the kids the current machine as they can by a brand new machine cheaper than cleaning up the Frankenstein the kids just created!

Hopefully the Vista Limited User Account it better thought out than the version in XP.

Gotta love kids these days with popups. Ready, click, aim! 

At least the parents are usually scared of all the pop ups and call with 1000 questions about every pop up that shows up!

JamesO


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## Press2Esc (Aug 8, 2005)

JW/Nike, trust me, unless the system is being used for special application(s) (other than attracting add'l spyware), 51 processes is too high. As I see this problem several times a month, my suggested resolution works an est 80%+ of the time. 

While JamesO has likely rec'd his "education" (aka school of hard knocks) from his kids, we both concur that 51 processes is outrageous.. Without alot of specific Q&A, Nike's problem is classic spyware a/o adware.

P2E




johnwill said:


> Actually, you have to define what a "clean" machine is. There is no reason that 51 processes is an issue, depending on what you are running. FYI, the machine here with 74 processes runs fine. There is no reason to believe that removing a few processes will solve this issue, since it's a lot more likely to be malware/spyware.


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

in safe mode it only had about 8 or 9 processes running at 2%. Please tell me what to do to fix this problem..


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

Well, we should stick to solving nikeman's issue, but I'll be glad to debate the issues of running processes elsewhere. :wink:

nikeman, please download and run Process Monitor to tell us the details of the instance of SVCHOST that appears to be consuming all the time.


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

all of the SVChost things seem to be linked to BitLord which is a program I havnt used in a very long time. You think if I were to uninstall this program that my computer would run like it should? 

EDIT: I uninstalled BitLord and its still runing at 60+%

In process Monitor i have a lot of the file csrss.exe running and i dont know what that is.. What information would you like?

EDIT 2: I did a reboot and the SVChost is still all over the place linked to BitLord which I have uninstalled from my computer.. And other tips on this?


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## johnwill (Sep 26, 2002)

You need to totally uninstall Bitlord, you may have to install it again to uninstall it. Since that's the offending process, you have to get rid of it.

You might hunt down the folder it's living in and rename it and see if that severs the connection, then you can cleanup any registry entries pointing to the now missing folder.

BTW, this is one of the many reasons we're do down on P2P applications. :wink:


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

can you give me a step by step to get rid of the program completely? After I uninstalled it i searched the computer for BitLord and it found about 6 folders. I don't know if i should just delete these folders to my recycle bin and then clean the recycle bin or what? Should I go in safe mode to delete them?


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

ok, i had to go into safe mode because it wouldnt let me rename them in normal mode. I renamed them and restarted the computer and now my computer is running better i guess staying between 5 and 20% but every now and then it will jump up to 70-80% when i open a new page or something like that. Now it also seems that System Idle Process is taking up most of the time on the task manager... Is this normal?

I also have ALOT of AVGAS.exe from the AVG antispyware. Is this ok? Its 48 processes now BTW


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## JamesO (Mar 30, 2005)

48 Processes is reasonable. There is really no way a non technical person can typically run a machine with fewer than 45 to 50 Processes anyway. I never said anywhere that 51 Processes was a problem!! You will not not find any machines I put my hands on with more than 55 Processes at an idle state.

My typical goal is to get a machine at 50 Processes or under in an idle state with nothing open other than items that start during boot up. This is a fully ready to roll machine with Anti-Virus (not Norton or McAfee!), all the things a non tech Joe needs to do daily work and not need to continuously download things like Java, Flash, WinZip, Adobe Reader and so on.

Programs that use additional Processes that most folks need or like to have include things like, Anti-Virus programs, Firewall programs, Media detection programs, Palm or Active Sync, WinZip and Adobe Detectors, Printer software, Mouse software, VPN software, etc. The average Joe typically needs between 10-20 additional things running, otherwise they would be totally lost.

System Idle Time should be the greatest CPU usage when the machine is "idle" and not running a virus scan. Anyway, the CPU usage will jump, especially when a program is initially launched, this is normal. 

One problem I do see from time to time on some machines is problems with automatic Windows updates causing things to run slow. If this is the cause, I usually let the machine site for some time and see if it clears itself. I have one here tonight that this was a problem with. A Toshiba laptop of all things!!! I guess I should have suspected this with a Toshiba.

I hate both Sony and Toshiba laptops as out of the box they have over 75 running Processes before anything else is added. I had a Toshiba I was able to finally whittle down from 78 Process the other day to 53 Processes when it was all said and done, but what a waste of time. 

Before I even buy a machine, Ctrl, Alt, Del, bring up the Task Manager and check the number of running Processes and the amount of RAM consumed on an idle machine before I even consider buying it!

JamesO


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

JamesO said:


> 48 Processes is reasonable. There is really no way a non technical person can typically run a machine with fewer than 45 to 50 Processes anyway. I never said anywhere that 51 Processes was a problem!! You will not not find any machines I put my hands on with more than 55 Processes at an idle state.
> 
> My typical goal is to get a machine at 50 Processes or under in an idle state with nothing open other than items that start during boot up. This is a fully ready to roll machine with Anti-Virus (not Norton or McAfee!), all the things a non tech Joe needs to do daily work and not need to continuously download things like Java, Flash, WinZip, Adobe Reader and so on.
> 
> ...


Well, so far my computer has been on for quite a while and the internet has not stopped working for me yet. I will probably keep it on over night and see what happens when i try to get on tomorrow and if its still up I will consider this problem to be resolved. People tell me I should Defragment my computer every now and then to keep it runnin smooth? Is this really necessary? It takes quite a bit of time to do when i do do it. 

I have an unrelated question though, I see to have a very poor video card which seems to cause problems for me from time to time. I know you have to get a video card with the right connections for your motherboard but how do you know what kind of connectors your mother board has? I would like to upgrade my video card on my own because i know its simple and computer shops will charge both arms both legs, and my nose to install it for me.. Also, would I follow the same rule on adding a memory stick? It says i have a 186 GB capacity and I have 139 GB of free space left. I'v had the computer for 2 years now with out ever upgrading it so that should be good for a while..


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## CannonFodder (Dec 19, 2006)

I have issues like that sometimes and i just reboot my cable modem and my router and it fixes it.


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## JamesO (Mar 30, 2005)

You should run a defrag on the machine about once a month.

As for RAM, you need at least 512MB for XP, 1 GB is nice to have, anything over that should be on an as needed basis in my opinion.

As for the video card, you need to look inside the machine. Many machines have AGP video card slots, usually a brown connector. There are some variations as well. You might also try this and see if it tells you what you have for a video card slot:

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

Might also suggest this Registry Clean Up tool:

http://www.worldstart.com/weekly-download/archives/reg-cleaner4.3.htm

I got to Tools, Registry Clean Up, Do Them All, Choose anything it finds and remove them. Note this tool does not work on dual core type processors. If your CPU graph in Task Manager, it will not work correctly.

Computers need maintenance and common sense operators, this tends to be the biggest problem and pitfall with computers, they usually get neither!

JamesO


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

i did the Belarc and for display is said "none detected". I assume that is where the video card should be so i guess its not going to tell me which one i have?


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## JamesO (Mar 30, 2005)

See if Belarc picked up what type of motherboard your machine has. Then go to the mother board vendors site.

I assume you have a no name desktop machine?? 

If your machine is a name brand machine, look up the vendors support site for more info.

Another way to figure out which motherboard you have is to use the Check My Memory tool on www.memoryx.net.

Again, remember, Google is your friend!

JamesO


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## Press2Esc (Aug 8, 2005)

Press2Esc said:


> Nike, thats your problem - 51 processors, 68% cpu useage.... A "clean" xp machine runs around 32 processes and less 10% CPU.
> 
> OK, sit down, roll up your sleeve & open a browser window & surf to www.sysinfo.org
> 
> ...


Nike, did you ever clean up your system startup files? 

P2E


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

we were talking about my video card in another thread and i have installed all of the latest drivers for mine. For some reason they were never installed when i got my computer 2 years ago.


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## AHMAD2007 (Feb 10, 2007)

The machine with only 512 MB is always locking up.


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## nikeman (Oct 4, 2006)

AHMAD2007 said:


> The machine with only 512 MB is always locking up.


??


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