Date: 01/29/08 (Computer Geeks)    Keywords: web

Hi, I'm new. I thought I'd join to get some answers about my crazy internet.
Here's the deal:
Awhile ago, my mum got broadband for her computer, which is in the same room as mine. This was provided by AOL, and with it came with a nice disc with instructions as to how to make it a wireless connection so that I can be on at the same time as her. So we got the adaptor and installed everything - but with no success. We tried EVERYTHING and nothing worked, it just wouldn't connect to the network (which we did set up).
So later on (a few months later) I got a brainwave, and thought 'hey, we don't HAVE to go wireless. There's multiple slots at the back, we'll jjst do it wired." So we did, and it worked fantastically. For about two months. Now every time I want to go on certain websites (e.g. Myspace, Hotmail, some Youtube videos, and other sites) it says 'Page cannot be displayed'/'The connection was reset'/'Action canceled' etc., you get the jist. But that's just for me. My mum can get on most websites (all of the ones I have mentioned not working for me at least). But sometimes the whole thing just conks out and neither of us can get anywhere. ALL pages take ages to load, sometimes pictures just half load.

In the error (I think it was the messenger troubleshoot thing) It says something about proxy settings, so I was wondering if it was just that some firewall or proxy (same thing? Sorry, quite bad with this) just reset themselves, or something, because that happened to my mum's old connection. She once pushed the reset button on the router, and that caused even more chaos, so I wouldn't want to try that.
Otherwise, I thought maybe the router is just dying. It gets really hot. The AOL lady we once called years ago (with a different problem) said that you need to unplug/switch off your router regularly otherwise it will die. We haven't really been doing it, but when we do it now it has absolutely no effect. We have another router which we could try  but, again, we're scared it'll just make the situation worse.

Can anyone suggest anything we can do? It's so frustrating not being able to check my emails and messages, and we're trying to put off calling up AOL for as long as possible because it's just a chore.

Thanks

Source: http://community.livejournal.com/computergeeks/1148026.html