I'm having problems connecting to the internet with my cable modem. The ethernet port on my laptop is broken (I believe a phone cable was plugged into the RJ-45 port in the past that damaged the pins.) So instead I used the USB cable that came with this Motorola surfboard modem I use, and it's been working fine.

But today I moved into a new apartment and had my internet transferred and now i'm having problems with the USB. I have been using it for 9 months(yesterday I used it ALL day in the old apt. and it was fine.) The internet works fine for average time of 10 minutes then it craps out on me. I can go to the network connection folder and repair the connection, only to have it crap out on me again.

If I can find the USB installation disc for the modem I will try re-installing it, but i'm positive the connection is ok, I connected the modem to my aunts laptop with an ethernet cable and it works fine.

I'm afraid I can't go wireless, I am unable to buy a wireless router and a wireless adapter for my laptop right now. The only thing I can think of is an external ethernet adapter. If anyone else has some solutions I would really appreciate it. Thanks

Sorry for double posting. just want to narrow the problem down as much as I can. I tried re-installing the driver again from the CD and also tried the other USB port and I still get the same problem. I guess it's either a bad USB cable or both of my USB ports are bad which I don't understand because it was normal yesterday.

The modem itself is fine because I tried it with another computer with an ethernet cable, it stayed on for over an hour before I removed everything

The cable technician who installed my internet today noticed the connection was being on and off and he said something about my computer wasn't hanging on to the IP address? Then he repaired the connection, in the network connection folder, and it activated, he "ok it's working now" and left, and it deactivated again 10 minutes later. I can't call those guys because they will just tell me it's a problem on my side but i'm thinking about a system restore at this point I dont have anything to lose but more time.

I can only take a SWAG here (I'm using a Win2k box right now; I don't have or use WinXP), but try this...

Open the Device Manager and find the section for the Network Adapters; open the Networking Controller Properties for the Surfboard Modem, then check the "Power Management" tab, and if there is a checkmark in the box next to the "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" option, remove it, then close everything and reboot the laptop. That MIGHT be the setting that is causing the problems.

If that doesn't work, please provide more details about what you're doing to "repair the connection" when you open the "network connection folder"; right now, I don't understand what you're doing to get back online.

Good luck; let us know if things get better, worse, or if this solves your problem.