can't connect to internet

I am trying to help my daughter whose desktop computer cannot connect to the internet. She recently moved to a new home and has a cable internet service. The cable company tech people have determined that she is receiving a signal and that their modem is working properly. She has a router and cannot connect through the router or when connected directly to the modem. The cable works fine when a laptop is connected, but not for her desktop computer. I have tried a different ethernet card which i knew was good and it made no difference. Have also tried other PCI slots. She has no fire wall running. The computer had no problem connecting before her move and no software or settings have been changed. Her desktop is a home made one running Windows XP Pro. In summary, the modem works fine, as does the router, and the cable is good; a different ethernet card makes no difference. Suspect some software problem, but haven't a clue what it could be. Can you suggest anything we can try?

socko, first need to check Device Manager to see if there are any errors showing for the network connection.

• Open System in Control Panel
• Click on the Hardware tab then Device Manager button
• Expand (click on the +) for Network Adapters

Are there any yellow or red marks there? If yes, then you either have a hardware or a driver problem.

If not, please run ipconfig /all from a command prompt

• Click on Start then Run
• Type cmd and press Enter or click OK
• Type ipconfig /all and press Enter
• Right click on the command prompt window title bar, select Edit then Mark
• Use the mouse to select all the output from the ipconfig command, them click the right mouse button. This will copy the data to the clipboard.
• Start a new post here and paste the data you copied into it.

C:\Documents and Settings\Angie>ipconfig/all Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: angie-69ebxvun Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Unknown IP Routing Enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: No WINS Proxy Enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : No Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: Linksys NC 100 Fas Ethernet Adapter #2 Physical Address . . . . . . . . . . . . .: 00-0C-41-20-A2-E9 Dhcp Enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . . . . . . . : Yes IP Addrerss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: 192.168.1.3 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: 255.255.255.0 Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1 Dhcp Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: 192.168.1.1 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: 192.168.1.1 Lease Obtained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: Friday, January 16, 2009 11:42:59 PM Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: Saturday, January 17,2009 11:42:59 PM

Your ipconfig info looks okay. Did you check Device Manager? Was it okay? You didn't say so I'm assuming it was okay.

Please try the following from a Command Prompt: ping www.mozilla.org

The response should look something like this:

ping www.mozilla.org

Pinging www-mozilla-org.glb.mozilla.com [63.245.209.11] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 63.245.209.11: bytes=32 time=171ms TTL=238
Reply from 63.245.209.11: bytes=32 time=169ms TTL=238
Reply from 63.245.209.11: bytes=32 time=169ms TTL=238
Reply from 63.245.209.11: bytes=32 time=170ms TTL=238

Ping statistics for 63.245.209.11:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 169ms, Maximum = 171ms, Average = 169ms

Edit: Something got lost in my post. I'll add it here for completeness.

If that works then you have a working internet and DNS (Domain Name Server) and your problem is with your browser or other software.
If it doesn't work, please ping [removed] which is the IP address of Mozilla.org. If that works (you get responses similar to what I show) then you most likely have a DNS problem. Switching to OpenDNS could solve it. See here: https://www.opendns.com/k12/start/computer/

"If that works" - what do you mean by "works"? Also, how do I switch to "OpenDNS"? Thanks..

"If that works" - what do you mean by "works"?

Also, how do I switch to "OpenDNS"?

Thanks..

Hi socko,

He means if you're able to ping mozilla.com and get a reply, then that 'works'. If you weren't able to ping the site, you'd get a 'no reply'/timeout message.

If you follow the link provided here: https://www.opendns.com/k12/start/computer/

Select your OS which is XP i presume and it'll talk you through how to change to OpenDNS.

Hope this helps.

'Bob

Socko, if you wouldn't mind, please inform of your results when you used the ping command.

Did you see a series of Replies, a Host Not Found error, or a series of Request Timed Out errors?

OpenDNS may help resolve your problem, but this would only imply that there is another problem with your ISPs DNS servers (which should not be the case) or another setting on your computer or network equipment somewhere.

I'm all for band-aid solutions (not to discredit those who suggested it), but I love to troubleshoot the root cause of a problem and would like to know your ping results and have the chance to have you try a couple other things before switching to OpenDNS and possibly missing a potential problem on your network.

The ping command did not work. I got this response: "Ping request could not find host www.mozilla.org. Please check the name and try again." No problem indicated in device manager. Oh, by the way, I also tried a USB Ethernet adapter. I made no difference. Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance for all your help and service.

Yes, please go back to a command prompt and type ping 192.168.1.1 and press ENTER.

Then, try the command ping 63.245.209.11 and press ENTER.

Let us know the results of each command.

What make and model of router are you using?

After the above command results, please plug the computer directly into the cable modem, and then re-run the ipconfig /all command that ztruker previously had you perform, and please post the results this time.

Are you aware that most cable modems I have experience with are extremely touchy to hardware changes. What this means is, if you plug a different computer/device into the cable modem, it must be completely powered down, including removing any backup batteries that are found in Voice over IP units. My suggestion is that you plug the computer directly into the cable modem only after you have unplugged any other devices and completely reset the power on the unit. After this, test your internet connection, and come back with the results of the ipconfig /all command if it still isn't working. Which, most likely the internet isn't going to work, but you have to try the most obvious thing first.

Pinging the IP address appleoddity mentioned will tell us if the problem is your internet connection or the Domain Name Server (DNS) of your ISP. I thought I had included information on doing that in my previous post, but when I just looked now it wasn't there. I added it so anyone reading this in the future will have all the info I intended to provide.

Will do as you suggest when I get down to my daughter's home again this weekend. But as I said in my original post. It makes no difference whether I go through the router or plug directly into the cable modem. The ISP cable company had me ping their site and determined that I am getting a good signal, ie the problem isn't on their end or with their modem. This past weekend we tried connecting a different (ie a second laptop) laptop and it worked fine whether through the router or directly to the cable modem, so it seems apparent that the problem is some setting or software on the desk top computer. If you guys can't get me straight, I guess I'll have to reformat the desk top's hard drive, but I really haet to have to do that.

Will do as you suggest when I get down to my daughter's home again this weekend. But as I said in my original post. It makes no difference whether I go through the router or plug directly into the cable modem.
The ISP cable company had me ping their site and determined that I am getting a good signal, ie the problem isn't on their end or with their modem. This past weekend we tried connecting a different (ie a second laptop) laptop and it worked fine whether through the router or directly to the cable modem, so it seems apparent that the problem is some setting or software on the desk top computer.
If you guys can't get me straight, I guess I'll have to reformat the desk top's hard drive, but I really haet to have to do that.

I don't usually explain my reasoning behind everything I ask. The purpose of plugging it into the cable modem is not only to eliminate the possibility that there is something configured wrong with the router, but also to see how the settings change in the ipconfig /all command so I can gain more information about your problem and diagnose the failure. It is clear that there is most likely a software problem on the laptop, but, I've been around the business long enough to know better than to take the word of others without first diagnosing every possibility myself. You can follow a thread in the software forum that I am currently active in and understand why. Its not that I don't believe you, I just know that for reasons you might not understand the information given to me that you are sure is correct, may not be. We could both waste a lot of time if that was the case.

Formatting the hard drive seems a bit drastic, but its going to be hard to troubleshoot a problem if you only have a little while at the location to work.

Did as you instructed.Whether thru router or directly thru cable modem the response was the same: "Destination Host unreachable". Then re-ran the ipconfig/all command connected directly to the cable modem: Windows IP Configuration Host name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . angie-69ebxvun Primary DNS Suffix. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .; Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Unnown IP Routing Enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: No WINS Proxy Enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : No Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection 3: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .:Media disconnected Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Linksys NC 100 Fast Ethernet Adapter #2 Physical Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .: 00-0C-41-20-A2-E9 The make and model of the router is: Netgear 54Mbps Wireless Router, Model WGR614 v.6

This is interesting. Because your computer is telling you that your cable is disconnected after you said you plugged it directly into the cable modem.

All the evidence you have provided can only possibly point to one thing. Some obscure software problem. But, my reasoning and experience tells me that this is not a software issue. I don't have any other way to explain this issue.

I believe we are missing something here, but I can't tell you what. To recap, you have told me that you have tried at least three different ethernet adapters on the desktop computer. When the desktop is connected to the router, the connection information you posted shows that it has a healthy connection to the router, yet your internet still fails. When you plug it into the modem directly the computer tells you that the cable is disconnected. You say you have plugged a laptop into the router or cable modem and it works both ways. All the evidence, except for the one about plugging a laptop in and having it work, points to a problem with the modem.

I have a question. Are you sure that the laptop you plugged in wasn't also connected wirelessly to some nearby wireless connection that would mask any problem at all with the hardwired connection?

Secondly, hook the router back up to the cable modem, and plug the computer back into the router. When you run an ipconfig /all command it should look similar to this post you made earlier. If so, then you need to login to the router and determine the status of the WAN connection.

To do this, open internet explorer on the desktop and in the address bar type in 192.168.1.1 and press ENTER. The default username on your router is "admin" and the password is "password"
Look for the maintenance menu on the left hand side of the router and then click "Router status." Look for the status of your "Internet Port" and post back here with the information it provides.

Also, being able to login to the router and check its status with the above directions is one more piece of proof that the computer, software, ethernet adapter, and cable are all just fine and functioning properly, again pointing back to the modem as being at fault.

You helping folks are doing a great job. But I wonder if it might be much simpler. How about Browser Connection Settings? Should look like the image below: 📎Browser_Connection_Settings.jpg