OK. I asked a similar problem before, but I have never really solved the problem. I want to go at it at a different angle. By the way, if you have time and want to read my previous question and all of its replies and you have time to read a question which makes "War and Peace" seem like a two-page essay, here is the link:
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Networking/Q_21635300.htmlAt that time, three of 14 computers would intermittently connect to the Internet, although they would always connect to the rest of the network. It is important to note that those three computers had one thing in common. They were used exclusively by my physician partner. Now it is spreading in that the computer in his office will only reach the Internet 20% of the time. Since, he requires Internet access to help with decisions in his practice, he tends to go to the nearest computer where this is 100% Internet access. Well, you guessed it, that computer no longer works.
All of the other PCs connect to the Internet 100% of the time as well as the network. There are no problems with DNS. All of the PCs (all 14) have static IP addresses and are connected through a NetGear switch through a Cisco PIX firewall to our T1 via ChoiceOne.net. So far for troubleshooting I have:
1. Changed the network cards in all of the PCs in question
2. Run a brand new Cat5e cable from each PC directly to the switch, thereby bypassing the wall switch and cable running through the attic
3. I have switched the "bad" computers port with a "good" computer port. The bad computer remained bad, and the good computer remained good.
4. I have tried changing the duplex speed in the "bad" computers to every conceivable speed from Auto sense or negotiate to 10Mbs 1/2 duplex, full duplex and 100Mbs 1/2 duplex and full duplex. The only interesting thing is that on one of the "bad" computers, if you leave it on Auto sense, you may get to the Internet 20% of the time, if that, but if you change it to 100Mbs full duplex, you not only lose Internet access, you lose connectivity to the network.
I don't know much about switches and configuration of the speeds. I have read that each (the switch and the client should be on the same speed and duplex in order for packets to run both ways). But, no matter what I set the good computers at, they run fine, and no matter what I sent the bad computers at, they run terribly.
I have a question about switches. Since the 3Com Baseline 24 port switch I am looking at purchasing is supposed to auto configure the speeds, would you want your network adapters to be at a set position? I mean can they configure each other to the fastest speed if they are either auto sensing or auto configuring? Is the NetGear switch I am using (I apologize I don't have the model number -- I can get it), working just as the 3Com switch would? Does it matter how good the switch is? Would investing in top of the line network adapters make a difference?
No matter how much I troubleshoot, it seems to come down to the fact that the problem is with the computers themselves and not with the switch or router.
Of course, the fact that all five "bad" computers are used mainly by one person makes one wonder if he is the common denominator. We use a corporate NAV and there is no spyware on the PCs. Ironically, while I may download and install multiple software programs a week, I never have a problem and yet he NEVER downloads software or games. He doesn't know how to. The only thing he does consistently that is different than the rest of us is that he goes to Adelphia.net constantly to check his web mail, but that shouldn't matter. This is oh so perplexing.
This should be worth 5000 points, but I can only offer 500. Thanks.
