patsywhitehair

oh please can anyone offer any advice (again, sorry) my pc is acting strange,long time to connect. had broadband installed by telephonica last month, no probs,been working great. we had a power cut yesterday for about half an hour and then it seems all my probs occured (i think) have tried rebooting it but it still is sooooooo slow, any advice anybody would be well appreciated,thanks,pat

Unexpat

Could be a number of things. When you say slow, what exactly is slow? You need to be a little more specific and describe the symptoms to avoid 20 questions. Is it slow opening a document, loading a web page, starting-up, something else, or all of the aforementioned? How much slower in absolute terms?

What kind of connection do you have? A USB ADSL connection, or a Wireless ADSL router?

Do you have anti-virus and anti-spyware software running?

Is your disk light flashing a lot when the PC is supposedly "doing nothing"?

Do you know how to run up Task manager to see if the CPU is idle and if not, identify the task that is using up your processor? (Start -> Run -> Taskmgr -> Processes -> sort by CPU column)

Have you run a disk error check? (Open up "My Computer", right-click "C:" drive, select "Properties", select "Tools" Tab, click "Check Now" button, check "Automatically fix ..." and "Scan for ...", confirm and follow instructions on-screen).

More info, feedback and description please

patsywhitehair

thanks for replying...what i mean when i say slow is that when i click on Internet Explorer it takes a couple of mins to connect. as for "is my disk light flashing" well, my blue light is on on the modem but there is a red flashing light above it .
I have ADSL connection. I bet you can tell I am not very computer literate..
i always have Mcafee firewall on and has been fine.
I tried what you said about running the Task manager,didnt make any difference, thanks for any advice, i feel as if i could pull my hair out

kevray

Would agree with all said by Unexpat, but would add that there is a chance that your PC has defaulted to dial up instead of using the broadband, we would need to know how the broadband modem is attached to the PC, but try checking.:- when in internet explorer, go to "tools", scroll to "internet options" and click on the tab marked "connections", you should now see which internet connections are available. Make sure your old dial up is not selected.
Also, try switching everything off including modem, leave for a few mins, then switch back on, its also possible that the power cut has reduced the adsl connection speed as the phone exchange may have been affected.

patsywhitehair

hi, did all you said and ...
it says in blue dial up and virtual network settings. there is a box with nothing in it, i think you could be right about dial up, do you know what i should do??????????
thanks in anticipation :scared:

Unexpat

You definitely tried the switch off and on of both the PC and the modem/router that Kevray suggested? Need to make sure that is working as it should be.

In the system tray (the thing with all the small icons at the bottom right of your screen, in the task bar), you should see an icon that may look like a couple of computer monitors. It'll say what it is called and what speed you're connected at if you hover the mouse cursor over it. Tell us what it says please.

If you have a USB ADSL connection, you will be using a "dial-up connection", but it is a "dial-up" to the ADSL network and not to the public switched telephone (analogue) network (PSTN via modem). The USB ADSL modem will be quite a small box with an in-line cable, probably.

If you have a separate wired or wireless router box, then you will not be using a dial-up connection to establish the ADSL link. Instead the "router" box makes the connection for your PC.

Any chance you can take a low-res digital photo of your gear and show us?
Otherwise, give us a few trademarks/model number/etc on the ADSL box so we can identify it.

Another possibility also springs to mind, if you're using wireless networking, someone else may be stealing your bandwidth. I believe all the Telefonica gear ships with default settings, making it a cinch to hook into for anyone else. I have a dozen unsecured networks within reach of my house.

Mitzyboy

And maybe invest in a UPS Unit to protect you in future against power cuts

jdr

Have you got the type of modem with three lights on the top, all should be green.

patsywhitehair

have got the telephonica modem and the lights are green, orange, orange

patsywhitehair

hi, i have tried rebooting and not worked,the modem fm telephonica reads..
PWR/SYS LAN WLAN DSL/PPP
the lights on it are green orange orange.
i have tried using aol (for which i access my e mails) and this opens up stuff pretty quickly but the telephonica modem is not working properly, have taken a pic of modem, how can i add it here????? nearly going bald with all the stress

Bob

below the text box, there's a manage attachments, follow the instructions to up a picture...

though check your modem and see if it smells of burnt toast, if you don't have a surge protector, quite easy for these puter parts to get blown when you have a power fuzz...

jdr

You say modem but I was given a router, if it is a router.

The light at the front is the ADSL connection, the middle one is the power light for router, the one at the back is the lan (or PC to router connection)

When I switch on the router, firstly the back light goes orange then turns green, then the middle one goes orange to green, then the front one goes orange, then when you go on IE or whatever it goes green and all lights should be green.

On the PC go into control panel, double click network connections, you should see your local area connections icon, right click on it and select status, you should see similar to pic, if it is as unexpat says someone may be using your wireless connection, if not right click on it again and select repair.

patsywhitehair

hi, sorry, i meant router.did all you said and ..looking at your print mine says under the LAN OR HIGH SPEED INTERNET... LOCAL AREA CONNECTION, does not say (like yours) connected...
sorry to put you to all this bother, think i will have to give Telephonica a call tomorrow to try to sort this out, driving me potty. thanks for all your help

jdr

That is strange cos usually if the PC to router connection "which it sounds like" is lost you get a popup on the screen saying " a network cable is unplugged " or similar.
Phone telefonica with the router in site cos they will probably ask you what is happening ie lights etc.
good luck

Unexpat

Might be worth re-plugging the phone socket connections in case they have worked loose. Sounds like you have a connection, but it is marginal - although this is a guess from the "orange lights", or could be what I said earlier - orange indicating activity - either someone is using your ADSL (if it is wireless - you didn't say), or you have a "Trojan" (picked up via a virus) sending out info, or you are the target of a Denial of Service (DoS) attack - basically someone with malicious intent floods your connection's bandwidth. Easy enough to do with 2 relatively unprotected computers. You just get them to babble nonsense between each other and kill two for the price of none.

PCs are like early automobiles, at present. Either you have to know a good mechanic, or be able to open the bonnet yourself and re-assemble the engine when something goes wrong. They are not anywhere near the point of today's cars where you jump in, turn the key and drive off - though you still need to know how to put fuel in them when they run out

Final possibility is that the power outage fried your ADSL modem/router. Having a UPS in Spain is a must, even if it only gives you the five minutes you need to shutdown and switch off. Try http://www.audiotronics.es - look for SAIs (sistema de alimentacion ininterumpido).