need help with home network issue

[mike1956]

I have a cable modem with service through Comcast. I had had only one computer hooked up to it (a Pentium II 350 clone running Windows 98SE, and it worked fine in all aspects and still does) until Christmas 2001, when I purchased a second computer (a Dell, 1.8ghz, XP home edition, 256mb). I wanted to do a home network so that we could make use of our cable modem on both computers. I bought a router (Linksys BEFSR41) and cables. I hooked everything up and almost everything works fine. BUT, one problem has stumped me since Christmas and I just can't figure it out. So I am biting my pride and am asking for help.

On the new computer, I can access the internet fine through IE. However, when I try to access the internet from within a program (like to register some software or to do an automatic upgrade or to run LiveUpdate in Norton Antivirus, etc), I never can connect. I always get an error message saying that the program can't connect to the internet, even though I may have IE open and am connected to the internet already. I have looked at all the settings in IE, XP, and the router that I know to look at, and I cannot figure out what is blocking my access. I don't have the XP firewall enabled since my router has a firewall. I have no trouble connecting to the internet in this way on the older computer. Any ideas?

Mike

[classicsoftware]

Do you have any dial-up connections installed on the PC?

If you have a hyperlink shortcut on the desktop does it load IE?

Do you have IE setup as the default browser?

[mike1956]

No, I do not have any dial up connections set up on the newer computer that is running XP. It does have a modem installed, but I have never used it.

I don't have a hyperlink shortcut on the desktop.

Yes, IE is the default browser.

Let me add to the picture with some info that I just discovered. I thought that I would test out the newer computer to see if it would connect to the internet thru the cable modem without using the router. So I disconnected the cable modem from the router and connected it straight to the XP computer. I tried to make sure that the new computer had all the same settings as the W98 one did so that, as far as Comcast was concerned, I was connecting just like I always had.

Well, no luck. I could not connect to the internet at all, even by directly opening IE. So, I reconnected everything like it was, connecting to the internet through the router. So now I am back to where I was. The older computer works fine in all aspects. The newer one will connect fine when I open IE, but it still does not permit any of the other kinds of internet connections.

Maybe these extra details will help someone have an idea of what I've done wrong. Let me ask a question. Is there anything that Comcast could be doing that prevents me from accessing the internet in this way? Do they only permit one connection from one computer? Can they tell if you have a router with multiple PC's connected?

Mike

[Gallaeglagh]

Your ISP and cable modem will see the router as "YOUR IP" address as assigned to you. Most ISPs will give you no help with a home LAN so you're own your own.

A few things you might consider

flash the router with the latest upgrade or restore the factory defaults and set it up again.

The analog modem might somehow be getting in the way, it might be best to disable it.

Go through the NIC properties, set it to half duplex, keep a note of whatever you change.

[classicsoftware]

Can you browse the other machine on the network?

What is the IP address of your NIC?

What version Of IE are you running?

Please try a hyperlink on your desktop and see what happens.

What AV program do you use and how does it update?

Since you can do all from 1 computer, I doubt it's the router or cable modem.

I would concentrate on the XP box and the NIC inside as the most likely cause of your problem.

Whay security levels are setup under IE?

[evalroy]

Mike1956,

I had a similar thing happen the other day after upgrading my wife's computer to w2k. I simply used the Internet Connection Wizard to establish my connection (choose the 3rd option, i.e. manual/LAN). I followed the prompts and it setup everything. I am not sure if this is a feature in XP but I hope it helps.

ER

[lvhjr]

I am having a similar problem using Comcast and w2k connected through a Linksys 4 port router. Ever since Comcast made the change over my w2k computer requires me to shut down and restart every day to establish the Internet connection, independent of what browser I use, IE 6.0, Netscape 6.0 or Mozilla. On occasions I had to shut down cable modem, router and computer before I could reconnect. I have a win98 unit on the same network using IE 6.0, Netscape 7.0 and Mozilla, which I rarely have to shut-down at all to connect. Removed IE 6.0 browser and reinstalled it recently and shut down requirement disappeared for a few days, but now it is back.

[bmpkns2]

I have the same router as you, and have 2 computers with win2000 professional on them, and one with winXP, i recently upgraded on this one from win98SE, had the router then, and all was working fine. It still is. The question i would ask is did you install the ethernet software from your ISP to connect to the internet? If you did, and were only going to use ONE computer, no router , that would be fine, but using the router it is best to uninstall the ethernet software on all the comps, since it is not what connects you to the internet now, rather the router connects, and you connect each one to the router.

The settings in the software change your comp settings a little bit, and hooking up to the router, it will only do it for a little while. Uninstalling it will reverse the settings it changed, then you can just set each NIC to automatically detect, NO DHCP server(since the router is now the DHCP server), and entering all those different IP addresses for each one is something you dont have to do, just tell it auto detect, and it will work.

Then on each computer go to IE and in the options, connections, setup for LAN networking, and it will work.

Good luck

[lvhjr]

Thank you for the information and I will try your suggestion.