Restart Cable Modem and Router

If you have a modem (Cable, DSL, T1, Other), and a router you are probably familiar with the power cycle! The power cycle is three simple steps and is the most common way to fix the internet not working. Most of us have had to do it, but aren't quite how it worked and how to do it right again.

I spend a lot of time going into homes and small offices to fix  network connection and get people back on the internet. Every time I go to one of these places I tend to ask if a power cycle had been done on the modem and router. A suprising number of people know what I am mean and many say they have done it already.


 

I can't count the number of times I do one power cycle and the internet comes back on to shouts of...

'I did the exact same thing five minutes ago'.

And the part that gets me is that they did do the same thing as me, just not in the same order. I hope I can explain to you the simplicity of doing a power cycle in the right order, and maybe even give you and idea of why the power cycle works to get you back on the internet and generally when its in the right order. That way, when the internet goes out you can get online the first try every time.

The power cycle.is usually used as a first step when someone cannot access the internet. If the power cycle doesn't work, then you probably need to call your Internet Service Providor. If you have common internet problems then you have been asked by your internet providor or cable company to do this many times. Here is the super short version.

  1. Unplug the POWER from the Cable Modem AND the Router
  2. Plug in the power to ONLY the Cable Modem and wait for all the lights to stop blinking, or 2 minutes, whichever comes first.
  3. Plug in the router.
See, thats not so hard. Do those things in that order and you will have done the most common successful step to restoring an internet connection to your home or small office. You don't need to unplug ANY of the other cables. I've seen people unplug and plug back in every wire, or wait ten minutes before powering things up, or power both up at the same time. I'll repeat it once more, just the three steps above. Anything else and you stand a better chance of plugging network cables into the wrong place then fixing your problem!

I know from phone support to family, friends, and customers that some prople have a difficult time telling the two apart. Below is a Pre-Step that details how to tell the two apart.

Sometimes they is only one device, but most often they are two (aside from the computers).. For those that have just one device, unplug it, plug it back in and you are done. .

The modem, whether its DSL, Cable, or Of another sort, is a different device from the router and telling them apart is very important. Don't worry about brand names grab one of the two devices and look at it. Using the list below if you fid any of the bullet descriptions to be true then that is the device type. I suggest labeling it and putting a note on the Modem to plug in first, and a note on the router to plug in after the modem has been on for two minutes (I have done this for family and it works great)

Modem Characteristics
  • Says the word 'modem' on it, ex. cable modem, or DSL Modem
  • Has a coaxial cable (like the cable to your tv) plugged into it
  • Has a phone line plugged into it
  • Has 4 or less places on the back to plug things into.
Router Characteristics
  • Generally has 5 places to plug network cables into and a power outlet
  • Says the word router on it anywhere.
  • The front lights have numbers, 1,2,3,4 (sometimes more) on the font

Why do we do the Power Cycle?

This is a question I asked myself in the early days of routers and cable/dsl modems, and there are a lot of possible reasons for the order it happens in and why it needs to be done. The most common reason is that the cable modem , or dsl modem only lets one device at a time connect to it. So if the router hiccups at all, maybe a power flux, or a routing error occurs, then the modem won't let that router connect back to it. Another problem is that often the two devices aren't perfect and tend to get out of sync and resetting them gets them back together.

Some people get the internet back on doing things in the incorrect order, and thats fine, some devices are compatible enough to know to wait, or to recheck, but I've been asked before, why does the order matter so much? Well, its pretty simple, the modem generally takes a while to get connected to your ISP. You don't want to plug the router in until that connection is secure. Thats all there is to it.  Doing it in the wrong order can work, but doing it right the first time is always more rewarding!