Pismo Ethernet problem

Question

My pismo has just started acting up with a weird problem i cant figure out unless the port is going bad
Im running the pismo and a G3 tower on a Cable modem to a router wired both computers
What happens to the pismo is the connection will be good for hours and then it changes from the router to a different IP # and subnet addy
When i check network status it says you are connected to the modem but cant connect to internet
Now if i try my tower at same time it runs fine
Now when it does this if i connect to the modem directly i get same thing but whole time Tower will work
If i turn off the pismo for a bit 10-15 mins or sometimes just let it sit half hour it will reconnect on its own ...
What ya think bad port? and if so can i get a pc card to hook up?
Or is it something like its overheating rest of computer runs fine whole time
Thanks
Bud

Answer 1

This sounds like what happened with my D-Link DI-604 router.
It would work, sometimes for days, then slow down to a crawl.
I spent most of a year trying out all sorts of theories about it; it would work perfectly sometimes, so I was sure the problem wasn't the router, figured it had to be something else.
I finally replaced it with another (same model) Problem gone. It was an intermittent failure in the router.
I've still got the old one; I kept poking at it, thought maybe it was the firmware, flashed that ... nope.
It's just got an intermittent and partial failure that drops the IP address, slows down the transfers, etc. sometimes.
It probably, despite surge protectors and a DSL line noise/spike filter, got enough damage to become flaky, or had a bad or marginal part or three from day one.
Aside:
Here's the thing about semiconductors: "semi" because they're an insulator up to a specific voltage, then they're a conductor above that voltage.
Every little electrical spike can alter the threshold of some semiconductor, somewhere in the hardware. Eventually one or more of the parts is so out of spec that, when they happen to combine results, they make the hardware unreliable. This is why you always hear people say "aw, you don't need all those antistatic precautions, I never bother and I've never fried anything." Well duh, most of the damage is slow and cumulative.
I've been in the back of several computer stores that should know better and found no antistatic mats, no ground wrist straps, no precautions, and young "techs" who haven't a clue about quantum mechanics. And, hey, quantum mechanics is what makes superconductors work. If you don't understand quantum tunneling .... don't repair computers.
Sorry not to be able to say something more optimistic.
512ke,100,140,150,180,180c,520c,540c,LombardPismo   Mac OS X (10.3.9)