Help me fix the network's internet

[captaincurran]

My computer has been accessing the School dorm network's internet connection good for a while, but since the internet had broke down 2 saturdays ago, it's been crud. (hard time logging on to msn, internet sites load very slowly if at all) and yet it's working good for everyone else in the dorm. i've even reformated my drives, reinstalled windows, to see if there was a problem with my OS, it still works like crud. i thought maybe if i disabled my firewall, that would open up the internet for me, it didn't it's still extremely sluggish, and msn still don't work good, please someone help me, every slow page, every time i try msn, it makes me loose my mind a lil bit more. please for the love of god help me!

[Gizmo]

Maybe they restricted your bandwidth?

[captaincurran]

*raises eyebrow* how do i get more? or how do i counter the restriction?

[Gizmo]

Originally Posted by captaincurran

*raises eyebrow* how do i get more? or how do i counter the restriction?

It that is what they've done, you don't.

Do you have to logon to the network in order to access the Internet? If not, try changing your NIC (they may be restricting you based on your MAC address).

[captaincurran]

i've got a PC, not a mac, and all i need to do is plug the network cable into the wall. i don't have to log in.

[Aedan]

The MAC (Media Access Control) Address is the physical address of your network card, as the IP address isn't enough for Ethernet to work properly. It is possible to track a machine via the MAC address on a network and restrict throughput.

[captaincurran]

how do i change my MAC address?

[devilmyarse]

You don't, hehe. You need to install a new NIC card.

[captaincurran]

good thing i got extra nics lying around. how do i find out what my MAC address is?

[Gizmo]

The MAC address is burned into every NIC at manufacture. It is a 48-bit number and is guaranteed unique for every network adapter. Some adapters give you the ability to assign an address to them, but many do not. Even with the ones that can have an address assigned to them, they still have a 'default' address that is unique.

Simply change the NIC out for another one. If that is related to your problem, your problem will go away.

[captaincurran]

*bows to the mighty Gizmo* thank you, oh for the love of god thank you. i swore i was gonna go crazy. it worked! maj! Qapla'!

[Gizmo]

BTW, I'm sorry, I never actually answered your question about how to find out your MAC address. If for some reason you should ever actually need to know your MAC address, go to a command prompt and type:

ipconfig /all

This will list all configuration information for all of the network interfaces in your computer, including dialup-adapters and VPN adapters. Among the information displayed will be the MAC address for each adapter.

Oh. And you're welcome.

[Toro]

of course, it could also be a configuration issue with the dorm network

or try ur pc at another connection point

[captaincurran]

i've got one connection point in my room, and i ain't lugging the Klingon Kase and monitor somewhere else.

[Toro]

just need to take the case to someone else that has pc, and use their stuff, just to test etc

[Aedan]

Originally Posted by Toro

of course, it could also be a configuration issue with the dorm network

Not if changing the MAC address fixed it. That tends to indicate those in control might be applying bandwidth limits.

[Toro]

i agree... but if there is something "wrong" with a router, then this could also explain it

[captaincurran]

well, i don't know for sure what was wrong, but i put in a nic into my pc and it worked. never disabled my onboard nic. but it worked