2 FORDS NETWORK INTERNET
TROUBLE SHOOTING GUIDE AND OTHER "NFO".
Troubleshooting...
FIRST... It is always best to power down your computer before trying to connect to the internet. This is called a "cold boot" and will solve any one of a half a dozen different problems you will have with your computer either before or after you have logged on. You should have your computer plugged in to a surge protector and the best way to power down your computer is to simply switch the power off at this power strip. Don't forget to go through normal shut down procedures before turning the power off and back on.
Frequent Disconnects:
There are several reasons why you would experience frequent disconnects while on-line. Below are a list of some of the reasons and some suggestions for fixing the problem.
#1... Incompatible analog modem protocol.
The 2 Fords Network supports both U.S. Robotics and Rockwell chipset
modems. If you are using the analog system, find out which modem
you have and call the 2 Fords Tech Support line (758-5527) for
instructions on which dial-up phone number will match your modem.
#2... Problems with the phone lines between your computer
and the internet provider connection.
Many times, frequent disconnects are caused by a bad connection
somewhere down the phone lines between your home and your service
provider. Each time there is a splice box up on the pole that
connects one phone line to another, there is a potential trouble
spot. Depending on how far you actually live from your service
provider, there could be a few to many of these splice boxes.
Wind and rain or heavy fog are the primary causes of problems
at these splice boxes. As a normal trouble shooting process, try
and notice the times you are disconnected and note the direction
of the wind, or if it is raining, or if there is excessive humidity.
Sometimes a simple shift in direction of the wind can cause disconnects
to become more frequent. You'll find more about checking your
phone lines on the main 2 Fords Network NFO pages.
#3... Problems with phone lines in your home.
a... If you have an older home, there could be some bad phone line connections in or under your home. Try connecting your computer to various connection boxes in your home to see if one box has a better connection than another.
b... If you have line of sight from your home to the telephone pole phone line connector, you might try running your own phone line directly from the pole to your computer. If you make this dedicated connection, you might as well double up on the wire by connecting red and yellow and green and black together. This will double your bandwidth between the computer and the pole. If this is not possible, at least try to make a separate connection from the nearest outside terminal box to your computer. You will notice a difference if you can at least do this.
c... Always make your computer the first thing connected to the wall connection and then from your computer add additional phones, fax etc. If at all possible, make your computer the only thing connected to your wall box. Connect all other devices to an additional box in the house.
#4... Phone line surge protectors.
Do not use the telephone surge protectors on your computer modem
line. These are ok for your phone or fax machine, but give tons
of trouble with modem packet travel. Don't forget to unplug your
computer and its phone line during lightning storms.
#5... Phone extensions in other rooms of your home.
If you have other phone units elsewhere in your home and your
computer is on these same lines, you will become disconnected
if any one of those phones are picked up. It is best to get an
additional phone line just for your computer. When getting an
additional line from your phone company, be sure to ask for a
"teenagers" line. A plain phone line is all that is
needed. You do not need call forwarding, call waiting, long distance,
or any of the special extra cost items the phone company want
to add to your bill.
#5... Call waiting.
Be sure to disable your call waiting. If you don't, you will be
disconnected each time there is an incoming call.
Socket Not Connected error: This occurs when there is a problem with the remote web server. This will happen when a web server is taken down for maintenance or some other reason. Often they will be reconnected in a short period of time. There isn't anything to do other than wait.
Error 403, Error 404: Basically, these errors mean that the files you requested weren't there. Either the site moved, or you typed the address incorrectly.
Site Takes A Long Time To Load: There are several reasons for this. The first is that the your online connection may be slowed down due to either a technical problem or increased online traffic. Most technical problems are quickly caught and remedied, but traffic jams are less reliable. You may notice that things slow down in the peak hours when people are home from work. Or some web sites which are part of a commercial network will become faster after the business closes for the day.
Another contributor to delay is a graphics heavy web site. There are two solutions to this: buy a faster modem, or turn the images off in your browser. All quality web sites format their HTML so that the information can also be accessed without images. How to disable images depends upon your browser, but in Netscape it is done by selecting Options, then turning off Auto Load Images. Remember to Save Options. Depending upon your cache settings, images which are already on your computer's hard drive may continue to display, but these images will appear quickly.
Unable to Locate the Server / No DNS Entry: Sometimes this means that the server no longer exists, although generally this means you have become disconnected. You should always try to go to another page or address on the internet to make sure the problem is not caused simply because that site is not working, or is not online at the moment.
Possible causes: someone picked up a phone extension in your house, you have call-waiting* and someone called you, or your connection timed out due to inactivity. Simply reconnect and continue. Also, at times a server will be busy and return this message. If you try again in a few seconds will usually get through. It is best to turn your computer off and then back on again to release you internal modem. Then try again to log on.
*There are two different ways to disable call waiting, depending on where you live. In Aransas Pass you should use 70# to disable you call waiting. In other areas you may need to use *70.
If you have to make a major download, here are a few recommendations for dial up customers:
#1... First, turn your computer off and back on again to flush its on board memory and reset all its settings to "null" or back to normal. Your download will work best if your computer is fresh.
#2... Clear the cache in your browser. Your download will come in faster with no interruptions if there is nothing in your browser cache when you start. This is especially true for Netscape users.
#3... If at all possible, make your downloads at night while you sleep. Start the download as late as possible and just let it do its own thing. When it is finished, you will still be connected to the net but after 20 minutes of no packet travel, our server will cut you off. (Note: this will most likely leave your modem in an "open" condition so you will have to power down and back up your computer before going online again.)
#4... Be aware of where you are downloading from and the national weather picture. (Check out the 2 Fords Network weather page for a satellite view of the U.S.) For example, if you are downloading from a site in southern California and they are having a major storm there, lightning near the phone lines can cause your packets to be corrupted which will end your download when that portion reaches your computer.
