BleepingComputer.com: Help a newb with an internet problem

Hey all I'm a novice at computers but willing to learn, and I have a 3 year old Toshiba laptop that I use for work. Lately my wireless connection has been timing out more and more, it seems to time out and reset every time I try and stream a video, and lately it has been timing out for web pages that have a lot of pictures or graphs. By time out, I mean the internet will break connection, my little icon at the bottom right will cycle through no internet icon, then yellow triangle icon, then back to blue circle icon in the span of about 30 seconds (sorry for the bush league description I just don't know how else to describe this).

My wife has a newer computer on the same wireless connection that does not experience this problem. I do my best to keep the computer clean, I periodically check running programs and stop or delete the ones I didn't authorize, and I don't use itunes or kazaa or any file sharing software.

If you guys could give me some easy to understand suggestions on how to help my computer get back to the way it was then I would be eternally grateful.

Thanks,

Max

What ISP do you have, and what plan do you have?

I have Verizon FiOS, with 35Megabits up and down.

We have Comcast and it is the most basic plan, probably not that much bandwidth at all. I thought at first that our cheapo internet might be the problem, but my wife's computer doesn't experience these malfunctions. Could something else be the source of the problem?

Are you in the same part of the house as she is? Could it be that the signal isn't as strong? I had this issue once. My provider was my cable company. I called them and they did some changes to the signal it was on and it was fixed.

Are your drivers up to date?

mrmax,

While your issue may be non-related to Comcast connection, there is a small chance it could be a Comcast issue.

I suggest you try the Comcast help forums. Those forums are provided to Comcast customers, and are a great resource for vendor specific issues. There are forums for computer issues, email issues, security, internet connection, cable tv, CDV, customer service, and billing.
Many times we, the users there, can provide answers tech support and customer service can't.

Click the link below, you'll be sent to the sign in page. Log in with your Comcast user ID (the part before .net) and your password. You will next see a first time forum users page, asking you to choose a screen name for use in the forums. Once you set that up, you'll be taken to the actual forums.

http://forums.comcast.net/comcastsupport/

Go to Internet Connection Forum.
Read these two threads: (the first 2 listed)

Troubleshooting Suggestions for Connection-Related Issues. Try the suggestions here. If no joy, continue to

Information Required for Connection-related Posts. Post the requested info. We have connection experts who will (hopefully) be able to get this sorted out.

If nothing else, they can rule out something related to Comcast.

(Once you get to the forum, save the page to your favorites. If you want to get to it from the Comcast home page, you have to jump through hoops to reach it)

This post has been edited by Queen-Evie: 18 March 2010 - 03:52 PM

Thanks guys lots of great ideas I'll start checking them out this evening I'll post my results

I'd also check, if you have very same problem, when you hardwire your laptop to the router, or straight to the modem.