My aunt is connected to the 'Net through a Linksys router and then cable modem. She lost connection to the 'Net and then her ethernet port on her pc started blinking like someone was turning it on and off. No problems in device manager. The lights on her cable modem kept blinking also but erratically. Then the lights on her modem starting blinking also. I changed the cable to a different port. Same result. Reset the router. I unplugged the router. I unplugged the modem. I then unplugged everything and shut everything off. I then powered the computer back on, then the modem, then the outer and plugged everything back in. All with the same results. Still no connection and blinking ethernet port. Now, on the router, the LAN light was on as well as the 'Diag' light but the port lights were blinking off and on. I got a new modem and hooked everything up and she was connected. Problem solved until..she lost connection again. At this point I changed the cable and hooked direct from the modem to the pc. Bad cable? Everything worked until...she called me this evening and said she lost connection. I had talked to another tech-friend of mine and she said that sometimes some routers will want to 'take over' the cable modem's IP address and that causes confusion. Hmmmm? Bad router...and cable? Never heard of that before. Got to be wrong. Help. All opinions and help greatly respected and appreciated. Loretta

Contact the cable company. They can run diagnostics from their end. Life is more painless for those who are brainless.

Thanks for the reply. She told me that she called them first and they said that everything was okay on their end. Now, I had a similar problem last year with my connection and after trying all of the things that I knew to try I called them and they sent someone out and he fixed a hole in the cable at the pole. She calls me this morning and told me that she bought a router to see if that was the problem. I told her that routers rarely go bad(at least in my experience)but I would help her set it up and then we will see if that was the problem. My next logical step is to call the cable company, tell them what I did and then insist they come out. Help. Loretta

Well, I called the cable company and they are sending someone out tomorrow to check it out. Thanks for the replies. Loretta