Server problem?

[Allene]

Last night we had two blackouts during a thunderstorm. They were just flash affairs, but something has been wrong with our e-mail system ever since. At first it wouldn't even look for mail, so I shut off the DSL modem and brought it back up again. That let us search for mail. The Internet itself was okay.

This morning I had no e-mail, which was very odd because I subscribe to a bunch of mailing lists and a "Get Fuzzy" comic strip. I sent my husband an e-mail that took a long time to reach him. Then I sent myself an e-mail from his machine more than two hours ago. I'm still waiting for it, although it is described as "sent." So far today I have received two pieces of mail, one of which was sent at 11 p.m. yesterday.

We tried to reach our ISP this morning but had to leave a message, which hasn't been returned so far.

Does this sound like their problem? Or has my Norton spam killer gone crazy? There's nothing about any killed mail in that folder. I'll probably not receive an automatic e-mail notification if anyone responds to this message, but I'll come on the forum later.

Thanks.

[Coot]

This is an ISP problem. Some of us long time Pacbell users are abundantly familiar with what you're describing. ;)

[Copzilla]

Yeah, this happens. The fact that you have not experienced it before is a credit to your ISP.

During storms, I experience DSL blackouts that seem to resolve after I release and renew my IP address.

[Allene]

Thanks, Coot and Copz. That was fast! I don't know how to release and renew my IP address, and probably I should let well enough alone. Gotta get some work done this afternoon!

It looks like we may get more thunderstorms today. Sigh! I've only been on DSL since around March of this year, so I'm not sure how good they are with this sort of problem. When I was on dial-up we had only one serious problem in nearly two years, and that was an AT&T problem. It lasted for five days because AT&T, on top of causing the problem, couldn't seem to find a way to fix it!!! Our ISP is usually very responsive to calls, so I think they've been buried in them!

[Coot]

Allene, if you have a dynamic IP address and not static, rebooting your modem will get you a new IP addy.

[Allene]

Coot, I'm not sure what kind of IP address I have. I thought they were always static on DSL, but what do I know? Anyway, I probably took care of that when I flipped the switch off and on again on the back of the modem last night. I discovered that "fix" by accident when I was setting up the new computer and moving the old one a couple of weeks ago. So it looks like I'll have to grin and bear it until our ISP gets things straightened out again. Thanks for your input.

[Allene]

Just heard from our ISP. They've been attacked by a virus of some sort that has flooded the server, so I guess that's why rebooting the modem didn't fix everything. I'm just glad I don't have to fix it!

[Copzilla]

Coot is correct, turn off the modem. But leave it off for a minute solid, let everything on their end recognize the lost signal, dump the IP, and then turn it back on.

[Allene]

Coot is correct, turn off the modem. But leave it off for a minute solid, let everything on their end recognize the lost signal, dump the IP, and then turn it back on.

Thanks, Copz, I'll remember to leave it off for 60 seconds next time. As you can see, my ISP had a double whammy--the thunderstorm was followed by a virus attack. They still aren't back to normal yet. I get the odd e-mail hours or a day late, and I still haven't received the e-mail notification of your message. It'll probably show up tomorrow. I sure hope they get this fixed by then!