As you may know, SBS 2008 always wants to be the DHCP server in a domain. Not a problem, right? Well, if you have the Linksys WRTU54G-TM router from T-Mobile, it is a problem.

The issue is that even though you can go into the network setup on the router and disable DHCP, it never stops the service. This means that you now have two DHCP servers on one network giving conflicting addresses.

The Linksys WRTU54G-TM router from T-Mobile is absolutely necessary if you have “T-Mobile @Home“ phone service. This service allows you to connect a standard land-line phone to the router and have a pseudo-landline through T-Mobile. You have to put a SIM card in the router and as other routers don’t accept SIM cards, this is the only one that you can use with this service.

So my client needed this router AND he needed his new SBS server. Though it is possible to have the SBS stop serving DHCP, it isn’t recommended. Here is how I solved the problem of keeping the router for my client’s phone service while installing a new router for the network gateway.

1. I got him a new router to set up as the default gateway for the network and set the IP Subnet to 192.168.0.x.
2. I connected the server and all office computers to this router.
3. I then connected the old router, WRTU54G-TM, behind the new one and set it up with a different IP Subnet of 192.168.1.x.

This allowed both routers to be active while the primary network and its computers received their DHCP through the server. The phone service still worked and at the end of the day, everyone was happy. And next time I see a sys WRTU54G-TM, I’ll know exactly how to handle it. If I can’t remove it, I’ll simply make it subservient to another router.

Have you had either your Windows Vista computer or your SBS (Small Business Server) 2008 box lose their internet connection after you reboot? This recently happened to me after I installed SBS 2008 at a client’s location. It is easy to diagnose and the fix is relatively simple if you understand how to edit the registry on your computer.

Step 1: The Diagnosis:

1. Click on the “START” button and in the small box at the bottom, type “CMD” without the quotes.
2. A black box will appear with a blinking cursor. Type “ipconfig /all” and hit “Enter”.
3. You will see a lot of text that may look completely foreign to you.
4. Look the the row that says “Default Gateway”, if it is blank, then continue on to the “The Fix” section. If the “Default Gateway” is not blank, there is another problem and the fix below will not help you.

Step 2: The Fix:

1. Close out of the black box by typing “Exit” and hitting “Enter”.
2. Click on the “START” button and in the small box at the bottom, type “regedt32″ without the quotes.
3. The registry Editor will appear and you need to navigate to HKLM/System/CurrentControlSet/Services/Tcpip/Parameters/Interfaces/
4. Here you’ll need to select the CLSID of your networkadapter where you change the settings. You’ll probably recognize it by looking at the value IPAddress that will have the IP of this adapter.
5. Open the value “DefaultGateway” by double-clicking it.
6. You will see a list of all the gateways that disappeared! ( in your case it may only be one) Very likely, the first line will be empty. I’m not sure, how this little flaw can make such a big problem.
7. Manually remove this first empty line, click OK and reboot your system everything should be working fine again.

Thanks to Ilja Herlein at http://www.netsetman.com/support/viewtopic.php?pid=832#p832 for the direction on how to fix this issue. I hope it helps you as much as it helped me!

Tim

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Sometimes we all need to be reminded to go back to basics.

Many months ago, I was called out to diagnose an Internet connection problem. When I arrived onsite I went through some basic troubleshooting steps like these.

1. Attempted to reach a webpage.                            Failed.
2. Checked for an IP address.                                   Valid.
3. Released and renewed IP address.                          Succeeded.
4. Attempted Ping test to 4.2.2.2.                            Succeeded.
5. Attempted Ping test to yahoo.com.                        Succeeded.

So at this point I know that there is a valid connection to the modem, router and Internet, but not the WWW. I also know that DNS is working as that is what translates yahoo.com to the address 209.131.36.159. (Yes, that is Yahoo’s real IP Address.) Since the Internet connection works and has been proven I start looking for other reasons why the WWW might not work.

1. I look for Norton/Symantec software on the PC.          None there.
2. I look for McAfee software on the PC.                        None there.
3. I flush the DNS cache.                                              No improvement.
4. I start looking for malware and viruses.                      None there.

I start wondering what’s happening so I bring my laptop in and use the existing cable. My laptop has the same problem with the same circumstances. Of course since I know that my laptop works I start thinking about what is the same in this scenario. The items in common are the modem, router, and cable. Since the modem is owned by Verizon, I can’t just switch it out. I can switch out the Ethernet cable so I switch it for my own used cable. IT WORKS!!! So I go and get the client a new cable and it still works.

This was the first (and last) time that I had ever seen a bad Ethernet cable cause such a problem. Usually, if the cable is bad, the whole network connection is down and you can’t even get a valid IP address but in this case, it just blocked one protocol. Strange.

So this day I got my reminder that I need to get back to basics and check the cables. And that clients shouldn’t have to pay for my wasted time. I only charged for 1 hour + an Ethernet cable.

Thank you for reading,
Tim

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Biden PC is a Computer Networking Company and we now offer Online Computer Support.

Linksys,

One of my client’s neighbors recently called your company for support because she didn’t know how to get her WPA key after her computer was wiped clear because of viruses. You told her to reset the router back to factory settings but then wouldn’t tell her how to set it up again! “Your router is out of warranty” is your reply. So now her entire company is in worse shape because she didn’t have the authority to spend $40.00 of her boss’s money.

That is just bad business.

1. You find out her problem.
2. know her router is out of warranty
3. You have her reset her router.
4. You can’t help her to restore it back to working order because it is out of warranty.
5. You offer to charge her to do it.

Shouldn’t you mention these facts before you have her reset her router and knock the entire company off the Internet?

It is such reasons that I refuse to sell Linksys products. I truly hope that you will change your way of business but I doubt it. You’re owned by Cisco and you are the industry’s 800 lb. gorilla so you don’t have to worry about the little guy.

Well, I hope that you are happy with the fact that you wanted to charge them $40.00 to set up a router. As soon as I can, I am going to move them to a Netgear router.

Sincerely NOT a Linksys reseller,
Tim Biden

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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Have you ever wondered how fast your broadband internet connection really is? Well, here is a link to a great speed test website? Speedtest.net will go through 3 different tests to discover how fast your broadband internet connection really is. It will test your ping speed, your download speed and your upload speed.

What we generally care about the most is our download speed. This controls how fast we can download files and webpages. But another that we really should be thinking about is our upload speed. This is how fast we can upload files and requests for webpages. If we are sending large emails or uploading pictures to social networking sites, this is extremely important.

This is a relatively simple tool to use. Go to the website and click on the gold pyramid. This is assuming that you have all the necessary plugins. If not, you may have to go to Adobe.com and download the latest Flash Player. Then go back to speedtest.net and click on the golden pyramid and it will give you the results of your 3 speed tests.

Happy Computing,

Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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If you can’t connect to the Internet or your computer network, your network router may be the culprit. A router is nothing magical. It is a small box with processing chips and software that tells it how to give IP addresses and send data to the correct recipient (this is a very basic description of a router). This kind of makes it a computer with no monitor or keyboard. And, in many ways, routers can act like computers.

A router has software and software is written by people. And we all know that people aren’t perfect which means that the router software isn’t perfect. So what do you do if your computer isn’t working? You reboot it. And that is exactly what you should do with your router. At least I hope you reboot before the hammer comes out to play…  =)

So the router is the device that gives each of your networked computers their IP Addresses. So if you don’t have a valid IP Address such as 10.1.1.65 or 192.168.1.101 (Anything that starts with 169. is NOT valid), your router probably isn’t doing it job. Thus you should reboot it. Now this isn’t a cure-all, but it will certainly cure a lot of router and network based issues.

The easiest way to reboot a router is this: Unplug the power cable. I would recommend leaving it out for about 15 seconds then plug it back in. This should fix the network problem. If it doesn’t, go to your command prompt and type “ipconfig /release” then when it is finished, type “ipconfig /renew”. Type them WITHOUT the ” ” quotation marks.

I hope this has been helpful.

If you still cannot connect to your network or the internet, Biden PC is available to repair your computer network within many areas of Southern California. Please see our Service Area list on our business website.

Happy Computing,
Tim

Biden PC is a Computer Network Consulting Company.

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