Need software network disconnect alarm

[MrMoody]

My insomniac jacka** roommate keeps unplugging my network cable from the router at 4 AM so he can play games online. He never bothers to plug it back in when he's done, of course.

I need a program that runs in XP and plays an audio alarm when the cable is unplugged, preferebly free or really cheap. Anybody know of any? TIA.

[Faustus]

What. What does he need to unplug you? He should be able to use the router at the same time. I'm confused.

[smearbrick1]

Sounds like your insomniac - jackass roomate needs to buy himself his own network cable and just leave it permanently plugged in.

[thevoelk]

You could always go into the router and enable MAC address filtering. Basically, only allow your MAC address to be allowed to send and receive traffic through your router. Depending on your router, it may be unavailable, or only available for wireless, etc.

[LloydAZ]

My insomniac jacka** roommate keeps unplugging my network cable from the router at 4 AM so he can play games online. He never bothers to plug it back in when he's done, of course.

I need a program that runs in XP and plays an audio alarm when the cable is unplugged, preferebly free or really cheap. Anybody know of any? TIA.

How many ports does the router have?

How many devices are on the network?

If you have more devices than ports on the router, a simple solution would be to purchase a cheap 4 or 8 port switch and plug it into the router. Voila! More ports added to the network. Now he won't have to unplug your system.

Also, Windows XP already lets you know if your network cable is unplugged, it just doesn't have an audio alarm. Look at the network monitor in your task tray. You could check www.nonags.com/nonags and see if there is something there in their network utilities section that will work for you.

[MrMoody]

It isn't a matter of jacks or cables, he thinks my computer slows his game down and I can't convince him otherwise. The only thing running on my machine that uses the internet is a private web site that is low bandwidth and sees only occasional use but needs to stay up. I've told him not to, but a few days later he just does it again. "But it was glitching!" (i.e. lagging) he says. So I need the computer to scream and wake me up so I can bust him and keep him from accomplishing his task, thus making it useless to try.

[TooLFooL]

i'd go with the mac filtering and don't tell him. it will be fun!

[MrMoody]

I actually thought about that before. It would be funny for about 30 seconds. Then he'd just want me to fix it.

[jimmalenko]

Who owns the router and who pays for the DSL ? If answers to both questions are YOU, then I'd tell him to F**K off !

[offline]

Broadband right? Disable the routers login and DHCP server and use your box for both. That way if he unplugs your connection he is unable to play at all. If he asks, just say the router is sensitive and all that unpluging must have caused a problem. Tell him you have auto disabled your web service after hours but the box must be left on. Simple

Using Windows built in PPPoE

[Faustus]

Broadband right? Disable the routers login and DHCP server and use your box for both. That way if he unplugs your connection he is unable to play at all. If he asks, just say the router is sensitive and all that unpluging must have caused a problem. Tell him you have auto disabled your web service after hours but the box must be left on. Simple

Using Windows built in PPPoE

Yeah this is your best bet. That or explain to him that if he does it again you know some people who can ensure he'll never walk again....

Or more the router back to your bedroom. 8)

[guns1inger]

You could look at this little app. It is basically an enchanced ping program with an option to start beeping if it is unsuccessful. Just set it to ping your router when you go to bed. http://www.kwakkelflap.com/fping.html

EasyPing, found here -> http://www.raccoonworks.com/Products.htm seems similar, but windows based, you can make it louder when it goes off.

[ROF]

@guns1inger

Thanks for the EZPing link. I've been looking for something like this for someone with disconnect issues. This should be a good warning that a disconnection has happened.

[MrMoody]

Thanks offline and guns1inger.

It's a cable modem and doesn't log in. I don't think disabling DHCP would work, I'm sure he's already connected when he unplugs me. DNS maybe would, hmmm ...

EZPing would be perfect but it's a CPU hog and seems to be limited to 9999 pings.

FPing would work if I could get my system beep louder or piped through the audio output ...