lost internet connection

[JulieEve]

We had what seemed to be a power surge last night (lights flashed on and off in every house in street) which resulted in me losing internet conenction. I have since been unable to reconnect (says modem not connected). Would anyone know if this could cause any damage to my pc and if it will eventually come back on? (sorry Im thick when it comes to these matters!)

[tali122]

check with any neigbours who are online and see if they are having same probs

[Buenchico]

Power surges frequently cause modems to fail. The most common cause is a surge through the telephone cable during a thunderstorm but mains power surges are also known to cause problems.

The only solution is a new modem. They're cheap and fairly easy to fit but, if you don't feel confident doing it, please DON'T go to somewhere like PC World (who charge an arm and a leg for fitting their over-priced modems). Just look for a local independent computer repairer who'll almost certainly be far cheaper. (The alternative is to buy an external modem - which is what I use. Then you won't have to bother about fitting it yourself or paying for someone else to do it).

Firms such as AUT Direct sell internal modems for �5.99 and external modems for �13.99 - p&p extra. (www.autdirect.co.uk, 01702 382740)

The above assumes that you're using dial-up. If you're on broadband, you'll still need to get a new (broadband) modem but it might be worth asking your ISP whether they can supply one cheaply.

You should be able to reclaim the cost of a new modem (including fitting, if required) from your electricity supply company but you might face an uphill task.

Chris

[Mattk]

we had power surge back in june last year and the next day my usb modem didnt work.i moved it to another usb port and it was fine - try that.

[alunrw]

First of all before doing anything else, if you havnt already done so, I would try just shutting everything down and re-starting your PC - and see how it goes from there, just to check if its a Software problem as opposed to hardware.