How to fix an internet problem

When someone tells me their internet isn't working, I first check the cable. I always check the cable. 90% of the time, the cable has stopped working. When I say check the cable, I mean replace it with another one that you know is good. (AKA "a known good cable").

Then comes the other, more esoteric stuff. For example, is all the internet not working, or is it just your web browser?

If it is everything, and the cable is okay, what about up from the cable and down from the cable? What I mean by that is....what about the network interface card (NIC)? Does it have flashy lights? If so, your computer is getting signals. Then you know it's something wrong with the computer itself.

If you are getting no flashy lights, it's possible your NIC is broken. Replacing it with a "known good" nic is a good test, but I'd also check "down" from the cable, or the jack or cable modem, or whatever is the interface for your internet from whatever your provider is.

In a cable/DSL example, it comes out of the wall and goes into a cable modem. It might go out of the cable modem and into a router or wireless access point. The wireless access point can have problems, so you can test that by unplugging the cable that comes out from the cable modem and into the router and try plugging that directly into your network port. If that works, then you know the wireless access point/router is the problem. Sometimes, just unplugging it and replugging that in can fix it. Sometimes not.

Also, it pays to know how to log onto your Wireless Access Point/Router in an emergency. Depending on your type of router/wap, it may be a web address like

http://192.168.1.1
or
http://192.168.2.1
or
http://192.168.0.1

This information should be either in your documentation that came with your WAP or router, or might be available on the manufacturer website. That is also where you can find out the default passwords for your WAP or router, which might be helpful in configuring it to see if workes. Specifically, this can tell you if the WAN (Wide Area Network) is coming from the cable modem to the WAP/router. IF it isn't, try to "bounce" (unplug and replug the power) on the cable modem.

Also, if you can get some internet (like your email) and not others (like a specific web page), have you tried switching web browsers? If one works while the other one doesn't, I'd suggest upgrading your preferred web browser to see if that helps.

Fun stuff, internet problems. Luckily, one of these solutions almost always works.