I have a friend that has Comcast wireless internet that hasn't worked for 5 months. She has tried changing routers. Comcast said that it's her computer, but it fairly new. A computer guy (she paid him $150) said that her computer was fine. Can I contact Comcast from my computer and try to help her? I think that it's in her modem. I think that somehow her modem got disconnected from her internet. Comcast told her that all the lights did not be to on when she tried to log on, but that can't be true. I think that if I got the model and serial number from her modem and ran a loop and then made sure that her modem was actually registered to her computer, that should solve the problem.
1. How can I check from my computer to see if she is actually getting a loop through comcast and
2. Can I make sure that her modem is registered to her computer properly from my computer?
3. Isn't this the same as if I were sitting in front of her computer since she can't even log on.
4. She can't remember her password, so I'll have to have it reset first. I can use my computer for that, right? Of course with her permission.
5. After that, I can run a loop check with comcast first, then how do I check to make sure that she is getting the signal from the modem to the router to her computer from here?
Is this all possible? Or do I have to actually take my laptop over to her house to check all this? I don't see how that would make a difference if she can't log on anyway.
Thanks,
Mobea

How about taking another computer, lap top or something over and hooking it up.
Has she paid someone to just come over and make it work ?

Why is she payig for 5 months if it is not working??

I agree, she shouldn't be paying for something that doesn't work and Comcast blames it on her computer. Her daughter brought over her laptop and it worked but she didn't run it through the router. She hooked it directly up to the Comcast. So I stilll don't think that it's her compter. Comcast won't give her credit for it. She's had problems with them since day one.

Did your friend hook a computer directly to the modem and did it work?

You also refer to Comcast wireless, but I'm not clear what you mean. If she has a router is it provided by Comcast? Cable companies do not usually provide wireless to a residence. They provide a cable connection to a cable modem which can then be hooked to a wireless router.

If comcast has tested the modem and determined its working properly then its probably not the modem and its either the PC or the router. This is reinforced by the daughter's computer working when connected to the modem.

Comcast has a modem that is also a wireless router ( I had one) I now have the similar unit from ATT.

But if it just does not work, Comcast will send out a repair person who will run though all of the problem.

If Comcast is supplying a combination modem/wireless router (which doesn't appear to be the case from what the OP said) then they should just exchange it for another unit.

No, she went to Radio Shack to get the router. But Comcast says that all 4 lights do not have to be lit that they could be blinking in order for their modem to work. That doesn't sound right. But your right, her daughters' laptop worked when hooked up directly to the cable from Comcast, bypassing router so it must be in between the router and the computer or the computer itself. She has it hooked up to Bluetooth also. I think that I'm going to go over there and basically start from stratch and just uninstall and reinstall everything to see if that works. I just can't believe that it's her computer. It's too new. There's got to be a piece of connection missing or improperly working somewhere. What would you recommmend just starting over and trying that? What could be wrong with the computer that could cause this problem?

Yes, I've had success with deleting all network connections and starting from scratch. You also need to check what security has been placed on the router, that could also be an issue.

And I would disable the Bluetooth network adapter it could be confusing things.

Thanks Scott. I'm going to try that and see what happpens. It just seems logical to me. I'm glad that you answered because you're pretty smart on this stuff. I'll let you know how this works out.
Mobea

This thread is such a mess with neqrly nothing to go on.

I see a Comcast router/modem replaced by some wireless router/cable modem purchased at RS. Right?

Does the Comcast modem router work with a wired connection?

There are a couple of issues here. You cannot just replace a cable modem with another UNLESS Comcast re-associates the MAC address or you "Clone" the MAC address of the new modem/router.

You can continue using Comcast's modem, if you can convert it to BRIDGE mode. You must assure that only one device is doing DHCP and NAT.

Third, you can use a router in access point mode to the wired network.

These options are rarely Plug and Play.

That's kind of what I'm thinking too. That the modem or router needs to be reregistered to match Comcast with the it and the computer. I found that out through ATT which is what I have. So am my thinking right? The modem, and the new router would all have to be registered to match Comcast and the computer

Since cable connections share a pipe so to speak, there has to be a way to "know" where the information is going. The MAC address which is the address usually on the modem is initially used when the account is set up.

If the modem is changed, the MAC address, the PPOE account and password have to match Comcast's records.

If the MAC address doesn't match, then no connection that's why there is usually a way to clone or enter the same one that you had.

If you replaced the cable modem/router with a cable modem/wireless router then that device must take on the MAC address.

If you put the cable modem in bridge mode, then I believe, the new wireless router would have to have the same MAC address as the cable modem.

That's the same thing that I'm thinking.It just needs to be re-entered to match. Well, we'll see if this works. I'll go over there tonight or tomorrow to work on it. Thanks for your input.

I just found out what started the problem. She tried to remove Norton Anti-virus program because it expired. Then she couldn't get back on the internet. We've checked with Comcast and hooked up another computer to it and it's working fine. Now the computer guy is out there and said that it's her computer and he's going to charge her another $150 to replace her hard drive. Does this sound right? Would her computer crashed and destroy her hard drive just because she tried to remove Norton after it was expired and install Comcast Anti-Virus program?

If the system is booting there is no reason to replace a hard drive. It might be a good idea however, to restore the PC to its factory settings.

Oh I hope this guy hasn't already replaced the hard drive. That's another $150 he's going to charge her. Plus the $150 that he already charged her for diagnosing it and saying it was Comcast fault.
So does she just go to her control panel and go to system restore and see if that works? She can turn her computer on and she has access to all of her other programs, she just can't get on the internet.

Does she have any data she wants to keep? Does she have her Windows disks?

She has some pictures on there and she gave the windows disk to the computer guy. He took her whole computer with him.

The computer guy has the computer now?

May be too late.

Personally, I would back up her photos then use the Recovery CD to restore to factory settings.

I wish that I had contacted you before she contacted this other guy. He pretty much did the same thing to me. He ended up replacing the hard drive and said that he couldn't retrieve anything off it. I have extremely important information on that hard drive and I can't find any of my back up disk. I had him give me the old one back and I'll take it somewhere or send it to you to see if you can retrieve anything. But are you going to charge $1500 for retriving the data like he said it's going to cost me?