<<<I just realized I posted this in a sub-optimal location. I should have posted it in the "Help" section. Sorry about that. Mods, please feel free to move it.>>>
I have a family member with a Mac mini. He called me last night and told me that his mini suddenly can't connect to the internet or send/receive mail. He's not particularly computer saavy, so I tried to help him over the phone. I tried everything and couldn't get him connected. Now, he's forced to call Verison tech support, which history has shown just scratches their a$$ when it comes to helping people with Macs. So, I'm hoping someone here can suggest alternate avenues for troubleshooting this connection. Some details:
-The DSL modem shows solid green on the "Power," "DSL," and "Ethernet" lights. There are no other indicator lights on the front of the modem. During various times in the phone call I had him cycle power and also do a hard reset on the DSL modem, to no avail.
-All physical connections between phone/modem/mini are intact. I had him verify by plugging/unplugging that the connections are sound. (Though a cable might have gone bad, I don't think so, read on.)
-The mini (running 10.4.4) shows in the Network system prefs under Ethernet status the standard message "Your computer is connected to the internet via ethernet and has an ip address of 192.168.1.45 (or something like that)."
-The Ethernet status shows that the computer has an IP address, that the subnet is 255.255.255.whatever. These values, when rattled off by the caller, all seem correct. I had him unplug the modem/computer ethernet cable and verify that the control panel responded by blanking all of these fields and then plug the cable back in and the values returned after a moment.
-I had him try to ping an external web site using the network utility, it failed.
-I had him create another account and try from there to connect and it failed.
-I had him remove the DSL filter from one of the phones and listen for the distortion that would suggest that his DSL is working. The distortion is present, so I believe his DSL to still be active.
This started when he called Verizon to add a second email account to his service. The Verizon tech had him go to a Verizon web site and enter an email address and password for this new account. He's positive that this is the only thing he did. He swears that he's made no changes to any of the controls on the Mac.
Suggestions to where I might go from here? I hate to just hand him off to Verizon. I don't have high regard for their Mac tech support.
Thanks for any thoughts you might share.
I have a family member with a Mac mini. He called me last night and told me that his mini suddenly can't connect to the internet or send/receive mail. He's not particularly computer saavy, so I tried to help him over the phone. I tried everything and couldn't get him connected. Now, he's forced to call Verison tech support, which history has shown just scratches their a$$ when it comes to helping people with Macs. So, I'm hoping someone here can suggest alternate avenues for troubleshooting this connection. Some details:
-The DSL modem shows solid green on the "Power," "DSL," and "Ethernet" lights. There are no other indicator lights on the front of the modem. During various times in the phone call I had him cycle power and also do a hard reset on the DSL modem, to no avail.
-All physical connections between phone/modem/mini are intact. I had him verify by plugging/unplugging that the connections are sound. (Though a cable might have gone bad, I don't think so, read on.)
-The mini (running 10.4.4) shows in the Network system prefs under Ethernet status the standard message "Your computer is connected to the internet via ethernet and has an ip address of 192.168.1.45 (or something like that)."
-The Ethernet status shows that the computer has an IP address, that the subnet is 255.255.255.whatever. These values, when rattled off by the caller, all seem correct. I had him unplug the modem/computer ethernet cable and verify that the control panel responded by blanking all of these fields and then plug the cable back in and the values returned after a moment.
-I had him try to ping an external web site using the network utility, it failed.
-I had him create another account and try from there to connect and it failed.
-I had him remove the DSL filter from one of the phones and listen for the distortion that would suggest that his DSL is working. The distortion is present, so I believe his DSL to still be active.
This started when he called Verizon to add a second email account to his service. The Verizon tech had him go to a Verizon web site and enter an email address and password for this new account. He's positive that this is the only thing he did. He swears that he's made no changes to any of the controls on the Mac.
Suggestions to where I might go from here? I hate to just hand him off to Verizon. I don't have high regard for their Mac tech support.
Thanks for any thoughts you might share.