XPlain why there is NO NETWORK NOW!!!

[phlyx]

My son has a Dell PIII-450 (Verizon DSL thru a network hub) and it has been running great up until the end of last week. He was unable to get on the network yet everything seems to run fine. It has a built in network card so I thought it may of gone bad so I disabled the on-board NIC and installed a PCI NIC which the system detected and seemed to fire up okay. But it still had the same problem. I can see the light on the NIC be on and the light on the hub is on which “looks” live. I replaced the NIC with a couple different PCI NIC’s and then a couple ISA NIC’s and no matter what I do it does the same thing. XP says the network is connected (except with the built in it says cable is unplugged) but I cannot get a ping to see anything except the NIC. I tried it on my cable and port on the hub and it still did the same thing. I removed all network services from XP, rebooted, reinstalled and still got the same thing. Tried to renew IP settings and faults out. Manually set the TCP settings for gateways and DNS to what my computer was (except for the actual IP) and still can’t ping a thing except itself. I’m really scratching my head on this one as I have removed network services and tried a multitude of NIC’s and always get the same results.

Any suggestions???

~ Phlyx ~

 

[bcastner]

faq779-4625
faq608-4650

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=899759

 

[phlyx]

I knew there was a reason I posted this in here....

This site rules!!! Wait, let me try that before I start patting people on the back.... hehehe

Thanks!

~ Phlyx ~

 

[LloydSev]

Just out of my curiousity...

You said you plugged in an ISA NIC and XP detected it... ??

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[phlyx]

Nooo.... it only detected the PCI cards, the ISA cards I had the drivers for and XP installed them with no errors....

~ Phlyx ~

 

[bcastner]

I used to have to do it all the time.
ISA Plug-and-play cards are supported by XP, non-plug and play cards are not officially supported.

But they can be used. See Helmig's walkthrough as an example:

http://www.wown.com/j_helmig/wxpne2k.htm

 

[LloydSev]

Didn't realize that.. I was always under the assumption that XP removed support for ISA.

Guess I learned something new today.

Computer/Network Technician
CCNA

 

[phlyx]

UPDATE Went home at lunch to do that reset per the tech tip, powered up the DSL modem & hub, then my son's PC. Then went and powered mine up. His came up and BOOM, it was online as soon as it fired up. Huh? Then MINE would not get online. I started messing around and found port 3 on my 8 port hub would not light up when a cable was plugged in it. Then I found that I could not get online even if I plugged my PC directly into the DSL modem. So in summary it appears my DSL modem and hub are toast and there was probably nothing wrong with my son's PC all along.

Any suggestions on a good DSL modem/hub or the new wireless, or what....

Oh what a mess.... :-(

~ Phlyx ~

 

[sab4you]

Does your hub have a specific port to accept your network cable from the DSL modem? And does it have a button to change into crossover mode?

 

[phlyx]

The hub is a 3Com (can't remember the model) but it doesn't have a specific port for the DSL modem. Not sure if it has a switch for crossover but I have had the same DSL modem and hub working fine for at least three years without problem. Right now my son's PC is online fine and mine will not see anything. I set his to a specific IP and mine was set to automatic but it appears something is different or when I set his to a static IP it did something in the hub so it doesn't see but one PC. Not sure. I do know that port 3 on the hub will not light no matter what is plugged in telling me there are physical problems with it to start with....

::sigh::

~ Phlyx ~

 

[jimp56]

perhaps your dsl provider is no longer allowing you more than one IP address from the same connection? are both IP addresses that are assigned automatically from the same subnet?

you could probably easily remedy this by using a SOHO router as opposed to a hub....(if I am understanding the situation properly) Also, a router would enhance your networking capabilities, i.e. if you both want to share files, etc.

 

[sab4you]

I like jimp56's idea.

To test it out, plug one computer into the hub, and leave the other unplugged.

On the plugged in computer, click start/run and type
CMD

then hit OK.

This will open a command prompt. In the command prompt type
ipconfig /renew

Once that finishes, try your internet and see if it works. If it does, then unplug this computer from the hub and plug in the other computer and do the same steps.

If it works both ways, when only one is plugged in, then plug them both in and run the same ipconfig /renew command. If one works and the other doesnt, then I think jimp56 discovered the problem.

 

[FWPIII]

I had a similar problem with my broadband provider only allowing for 1PC and 1 IP. I was using a hub at that time and only the first pc logged on could access the net. I replaced the hub with a router, no more problems and I can connect multiple systems without any issues. It is an inexpensive solution.

 

[phlyx]

Looks like it will be resolved regardless of the cause as I am heading out to Wally-World (Wal-Mart) and picking up the new Belkin 802.11g Wireless DSL/Cable Gateway Router. This baby has four network ports, is the DSL modem and a wireless gateway, too. And on top of that it's under $40.... wow. Why aren't cars getting cheaper???

Also, the ipconfig /renew only works if you are using the TCP/IP setting to automatically assign IP addresses. I ended up manually putting an IP address in to get my son's PC to work. And on top of that when I powered up mine this morning, it worked fine. Of course my son's PC was NOT on which points to only one IP. Does anyone know if Verizon changed that lately????

Thanks!

~ Phlyx ~