Can't access Internet Explorer through Linksys Router BEFW11S4

[41]

We have a LinkSys Wireless Access Point Router BEFW11S4 because AOL said to use that one because it's most compatible with AOL. It is hooked up to our main computer (a new one that has Windows XP on it). The LinkSys is active and you can sign onto AOL with the router connected, however, you cannot get onto Internet Explorer. Some webpages (like Norton's Virus definition updates) only are opened thru Internet Explorer. We did check the firmware and it has the latest version on it and in fact we ordered it directly with AOL because they put the right firmware on it.
There is nothing wrong with the Internet Explorer on our computer. We did check that out to see if it needed to be reinstalled or if it was damaged. It does work just fine when you disconnect the router and just go through the DSL connection.
Since the router has a firewall in it, I disabled XP's firewall to see if that was causing some confusion and Internet Explorer still didn't work thru the router. To go one step further, I turned off my firewall with Norton and I still couldn't open pages thru Internet Explorer.
However, when I go thru the DSL and not the router, I can open Internet Explorer and that's with both XP's and Norton Firewall Enabled. Any suggestions on how to get my Internet Explorer working with my router connected?

 

[Oldefoxx]

I have a similar problem, but involving a DLink router/firewall and a cable modem. My research so far suggests two things, both taken from

http://www.Microsoft,com:

(1) The Winsock2 key in the registry was replaced by a 3rd party, and IE 6 won't work properly until you get that key from a machine where IE 6 is working properly and import it to the broke machine (this is assuming that you are unning Win 2000 or Win 2000 Pro). However, there was another area of the site where I stumbled onto a discussion that said that IE 6 SP1 caused IE not to work with some devices that did not support some of the advanced security features. It suggested some other articles, and I went that way and could not get back to the original article. It also suggested some updates, which I tried, but they did not fix the problem. It left the impression that you could:

(1) Maybe get around this with an earlier version of IE
or do without the SP1 update.

(2) Look for the same article on

http://www.microsoft.com

and find some more useful tips.

(3) Find a PC with Win 2000 and IE 6 SP1 on it that works, and export that key to a file and import it on your PC to see if that fixes your problem.

If someone would do that export and send it to me, I would see if that fixes my problem and let you know if that is a cure or not.

 

[smylies]

Can you access 192.168.1.1? try to check the firmware version coz if it's 1.42.7, you still need to upgrade the firmware to work with it.

 

[41]

I have tried steps 1 and 2...no luck so far. I'll have to work on 3 although I'm not sure I fully understand it.
If I have any luck, I'll export the info to you.

 

[41]

I did upgraded to the following and Internet Explorer doesn't work:
Firmware Date: November 29,2002
Current Firmware : Version 1.44z
Product PartNo : BEFW11S4 ver.2/3
I think AOL excludes Internet Explorer from working thru the Linksys router which doesn't make sense to me. I have a feeling that it might not be possible. If anyone has this router with AOL and can access Internet Explorer please let me know so I know it is possible, then I can continue troubleshooting.

 

[Oldefoxx]

I instaled a second copy of Win 2000 Pro on a logical partition that I set up using Partition Magic (not that you couldn't use something else, but just in case someone asks). That adds another boot option to the boot.ini file that is maintained on the C: drive, and by default, becomes the boot system. IE 6 (without SP1) worked fine from there. I then exported the Winsock2 key to a file (I called it Winsock2) and rebooted to the other Win 2000 Pro system I was having problems with, and imported the Winsock2 file using Regedit (in the Start/Run window). That made it possible to get my other browsers working again (did I mention that AVG 6.0 caught a virus in Winsock, and I lost the ability to initiate sockets when I told it to clean out all viruses, so I had no network connections at that point?). Anyway, this restored my network connections, and the IE without SP1 works through my router, while the old IE6 that was updated with SP1 does not. Sort of narrows the culpit down, doesn't it? Now I have a choice:

(1) Install SP1 on the new version of IE6 and see it that tanks it again,

(2) Copy the folder with IE6 SP1 over onto the folder with just IE6 and see if that tanks the new install, or

(3) Copy the folder with just IE6 over onto the old install with IE6 SP1 (effectively uninstall SP1) and see if that fixes it by effectively removing SP1. The trouble with just copying folder to folder is that it does not take care of any changes made outside the folder, but as long as you have some recovery options available, it can be worth considering.

My concerns are:

If I hose up the new install, it is easy enough to replace it from CD again. If I mess up the old install, I could lose a lot of work and files as well. That makes my choices of (1) or (2) look a bit better than (3), although (3) seems to be the shortcut to getting my original install working again.

As an added precaution, I have the old install backed up on CDs and to another partition (a 120 GByte drive is really helping in this regard!). So right now I am thinking that I might try choice (1) first. This might definitively show that SP1 is the culprit. That would help others. Either way that goes, I can do a fresh install of Win2K Pro and get back to the same point quickly enough. Then I can try choice (2), which stands a chance of either tanking IE again, working, or just not working at all. If that tanks or works, it gives me a chance of reversing the process and copying IE6 directly over IE6 SP1 on my old setup (choice (3)) and getting it to work.

Actually, for choice (1), I will just download and install IE6 with SP1 already in place from

http://www.microsoft.com.

 

[Oldefoxx]

Well, this is getting more interesting. I've completed option (1) above, meaning that I installed IE6 SP1, and even used Windows Update (

http://www.windowsupdate.microsoft.com)

to install all the available patches (Win 2k SP3, and all critical and available patches). After each restart, IE6 SP1 is still working. I guess my next step is to see if I can export/import the registry from the old installation on the C: drive into the new one on the F: drive. If that works, it would be preliminary to copying the IE folder from the F: to the C: drive.

 

[Oldefoxx]

I had a sudden bombshell hit me. From my old install of Win2k Pro, I used My computer to go to the F: drive and call up IEXPLORE.EXE from f:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\ directly. It works! But if I click on the IEXPLORER Icon on the C: drive's desktop, it fails. O then tried copying the whole folder from the F: drive to the C: drive, but that did not work to fix the problem. So whatever the problem is, it is outside the IE folder itself.

For the time being, I just deleted the old IEXPLORE.EXE icon and created a new one that points to the new install on drive F: What I probably could do next is to just try installing IE6 SP1 into a different folder on the C: drive under the original Win2k Pro version and delete the original. But right now I am going to pass on that and just see if I want to keep the new install where it is at, possibly as a backup in case of future calamaties. If anybody tries one of these other possibilities and it works, please post it here.