Constantly Active Modem & Router

Little Hal · 27-11-2009, 09:16

Hi,
I've been using an NTL Cable Modem for several years but have recently (about 4 months ago) added a Netgear Router into my setup so that I could experiment with Linux on my old PC & an old laptop (with XP) that I bought cheap and, ultimately, see if I could network them. I've been using/building/upgrading my own PCs for over 20 years so I don't consider myself a newbie BUT, this is the first time I've got involved with networking. I've also added a NAS box to the router.

That's the background.
The question is: Should my modem and router be constantly active when only my main PC is on and nothing else connected (the other PC has not yet been introduced and the laptop - using a wireless connection - is switched off) AND I am not browsing or otherwise using the internet with my main PC and the NAS box is switched off.

The modem 'enet' light and 'recv' light are constantly flickering as is the internet port light on the router. This suggests traffic of some kind .. but why? I've been through the few apps running (I'm basically working with spreadsheets and letter writing with Open Office) and sifted through all the services but can find nothing to account for it.

I'm using Comodo for a firewall and NOD32 for threat protection.

Any suggestions or pointers would be appreciated.

Hal

Aragorn · 27-11-2009, 09:24

Perfectly normal.
There is always background noise on a network, such as broadcast traffic, management traffic and even port scans (which will be blocked by your firewalls).
Nothing to see

Little Hal · 27-11-2009, 17:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aragorn

Perfectly normal.
There is always background noise on a network, such as broadcast traffic, management traffic and even port scans (which will be blocked by your firewalls).
Nothing to see

Thanks.
Since my post it occured to me to power everything off except the modem & the router. They are both still flickering so no connection with anything happening on the PC. I also remembered to RTFM (for the Netgear router, don't recall ever having anything for the NTL modem), and that confirmed that the blinking light shows "data is being communicated through the Internet port.".

It just seems odd to me that originally the modem flickering lights did not happen once the PC was fully booted (if I wasn't actually on the 'net), so it has only started since the introduction of the router.

Ah well, guess I've still got a lot to learn!

Thanks again for your post.

Regards, Hal