Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[steevieb]

Mods - Not sure if this is the correct section - if not please move.

About a week ago I was having trouble with my broadband connection.
Logged in to the router, and it would cycle though the states, showtime, handshaking, training, down, etc.
Turned it off for an hour and reset, still showing different states every time it refreshed the page.
Also the monitor went black for a couple of seconds three or four times, but hours apart.
Switched off overnight and broadband seems to be working now.

However, using Seamonkey 2.6, when right-clicking on a link, the background to the link goes bright yellow.

Also the 'Menu' Button and the open application windows along the bottom are brown, not blue as they should be.

I am wondering if I have had someone try to attack my machine?
I am now using a new save file, and experimenting running as fido.

[Lobster]

[Fossil]

steevieb,
Have you tried running completely in RAM? Is there any difference to the display?
Another consideration: recalling the adverse weather of the last week or so, did the Poole area suffer any thunderstorms, lightning? Induction along the phone cable may have put the router partially out of action.

Yes, I'm with Lobster on his remark about Poole, a very nice area - good geology, interesting wildlife habitats, Brownsea Island, etc.

[Barkin]

More likely a temporary failure by your ISP than your router on the fritz.

A few months ago my broadband went down, and it took 5 days and as many calls to customer service to get it back,
( so I can now do an excellent Indian-english accent :¬).

IMO the peculiarities you've noticed in your computer display are probably unrelated to the broadband failure.

[Aitch]

I concur with Barkin

Sounds like a coincidence of 2 different problems
I think the browser problem is local, possibly savefile corruption, try pfix=ram option

Ask the ISP to test your line/service and report the problem, - if they supplied the router, request a replacement, or service call, if not, try connecting the PC direct to the modem, if you have a separate one

Else you may need to source a router combo modem, to try, or replace the current one, if not a combo
Another possible may be to see if there's a flash/firmware update for the router

Aitch

[nooby]

Suppose it where a real attack?
Which of the behavior would make that most likely?

My English made me very unsure what actually did happen.

Sounds dramatic though but may be something else than
attack.

Can we find descriptions of real such to compare with
so one know that that can be excluded as the source of the trouble?

Would some log show such intrusion?

[Aitch]

nooby
possibly the router logs, but not all router consoles give access
It would likely be in advanced settings, logs

There is a vague possibility of a rootkit also, so run an av on the PC to test

Aitch

[steevieb]

I ran a connection test from the router, looks like problems at the ISP end, but the router is also suspect (old BT Voyager 2100)

Test the connection to your Internet service provider
Test PPP server connection: PASS
Test authentication with ISP: PASS
Test the assigned IP address: PASS
Ping default gateway: PASS
Ping primary Domain Name Server: FAIL

I will try to contact TalkTalk and get a new router, or at least a line test, good idea, I did not think of that.
There do not seem to be any router logs I can see.
Could be the weather, it was very stormy last week - lost 2 roof slates.

Display problems only seem to be in that savefile, for whatever reason.
I have had savefile corruption before, but only when it filled right up, back in 2 series puppies.
I have been running as fido for a couple of days with no problems, but it is very restricting, eg no wallpaper.
I start from the cd every time, so I will start a new savefile and see how that goes, and delete the suspect one.

@nooby In view of the replies, I think it was strange things happening together, rather than an attack.
Its just when your monitor goes off by itself and the theme and browser changes colour it gets me worrying.

Mods, please feel free to change the title if you feel it appropriate.

I have never been on Brownsea, although I went round it in a canoe when I was a youngster, and my daughter slept there with Guides.

[linuxbear]

I remember Dorset fondly as a lovely place. the only problem is, when I think of Dorset, the first thing which jumps into my head is that memory of the Cerne Abbas giant. After the stark memory of the Giant's hill, I tend to remember a lot about Lyme Regis