This is really a Windows ME question....

[Kegnut]

I don't really know much about windows...Im on the unix side of the house. I am setting up a home network for me and my roommates using a Linksys Cable/DSL router. They dont have a NIC so I bought a Linksys USB adaptor for their PC. Set the router up, installed the USB adaptor on there machine and installed the driver for it. All seems to go well...I can ping the router from the PC, ping the other PC from that PC. The problem I am having is when I open up a browser (IE, netscape, and Opera) I keep getting these error <unknown> has caused <browser> to shutdown. Anything that uses the network cant seem to find it and crashes. My PC runs fine, but what in the heck is wrong with theirs?

Thanks in advance for the help guys and gals,

J

 

[jguillory]

Unfortunately USB does not work well with Cable/DSL routers. You will not be able to have multiple computers connected to the Internet. The fix is to use NIC cards.

 

[FilthPig]

It seems as though your USB network adapters are functioning on at least a very basic level with TCP/IP, so maybe there is some hope for getting the PCs on the net.

Browser aside, are you able to ping outside addresses from the problem PCs?

What about the HTTP interface for your router? Can you open that with your problem pc's browsers without them crashing?

How are the PCs getting their IPs? Is all information assigned, or is it using DHCP? Marc Creviere

 

[Kegnut]

Yeah thats the freaky part. From the problem machine (Compaq) I can ping both the router and the other machine. If I run a winipcfg from DOS prompt I get the IP as well. Its just that evertime something that works with the network is launched, it fails. I can get to the router's HTTP interface from the machine that works properly (Dell), but not the other one (Compaq). I'm going to try and put a NIC in the Compaq tonight to see if that corrects the problem. Any more input is GREATLY appreciated...my roommate is starting to get pissed because he can't look at porn.

Josh

 

[ShackDaddy]

Ah. So here's what you do. You can just leave the USB NIC submerged in rubbing alchohol for 48 hours, then dust the interface a few times with graphite. Plug it in, but then don't use it until you've turned the power to your building off and on a couple of times. When you've finished doing all this, porn is even more exciting.

ShackDaddy

 

[Kegnut]

Great! I'll pass that info on!

 

[Kegnut]

OK, so I bought a NIC card (Linksys), USB is now out of the picture, and the PC is still having problems. Once again, I'm not that experienced in the Windows world, but my thought is that a driver is corrupt or something and the only solution for me is going to be to reinstall Windows (ME). Any more suggestions from the pros on how to correct this problem? And if I do have to reinstall, is there a way to reinstall and keep the data that was already on there?

Thanks in advance,
J

 

[Kegnut]

Any help on this one?

 

[FilthPig]

Well, if you're having the same problem with a different card, it doesn't appear to be a NIC driver issue. Maybe look in device manager to see if any hardware is showing warnings in there. As far as re-installing goes, I havn't worked much with ME, so I have no advice regarding that. Maybe try updating Internet Explorer (download the updater on the good PC and copy it to the other). Are you able to ping external web addresses?

IE 5.5 SP2 link:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/recommended/ie55sp2/default.asp

Marc Creviere

 

[Kegnut]

Thanks for the reply. I don't think it is an update issue with the browser. If anything it is an update issue with the OS. For starters, it's not just the browsers (three of them, IE, Netscape, and Opera) that are having the problem. Anything that requires the network is crashing. I downloaded an Opera browser install and put that on there and it is crashing too.

I haven't tried pinging outside addresses, but I can ping everything within the router (my machine, router). I'll try that tonight, but I seriously doubt that this is anything related to the router or NIC at this point. One more thing that can be mentioned, When I execute Netscape, it gives me a warning before it crashes say something like &quot;Could not create network socket...&quot;. I have no idea what sockets are but Im thinking that this socket thing is probably whats causing the problem. Hence, the reason I think reinstalling would do the trick. If I am wrong please let me know. This is my roommates computer and I dont think I can swing it into my budget to buy them a new one!

 

[FilthPig]

Ok, I'm remembering some of my Win9X troubleshooting. Uninstall and re-install TCP/IP. Marc Creviere

 

[Kegnut]

Thanks for the info, but can you be a little more specific?

J

 

[FilthPig]

Sure (This is all assuming that the network properties got the same facelift that windows 2000 did), Right-click My Network Places, select properties. Right-click Local Area Connection, select properties. Highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and click Uninstall. Reboot. Get back into properties of the Local Area connection, Click install, highlight protocol and click Add. Highlight Internet Protocol and click OK. If you get your IP through DHCP, you're done, otherwise enter your IP, DNS, Gateway, by highlighting Internet Protocol and clickin properties. Marc Creviere

 

[Kegnut]

Thanks. Just had a thought though...

Let's say I do this tonight and it doesn't work. Both PCs are running Windows ME so is it possible for me to burn say the Windows directory to CD, take it to there computer, and copy it over there Windows directory? This is probably a VERY stupid question (I'm already thinking of the answers I will get) so I apologize in advance.

J

 

[greg013]

You cannot install Windows in the manner mentioned above. You have to install from the source CD (or files copied to network share), and run the installation routine.

 

[Kegnut]

Screw it...I backed up there data and reinstalled from CD. All seems well now and connectivity is good with the exception that all of there apps they had downloaded and installed previously were gone. Oh well. Thanks all for your help. Greatly appreciated

J