Pls help me reconnect to the internet

[Hamber]

Hi,

I have 2 pc's that are connected via a router, but only one can connect to the internet right now. Recently my sister's bf installed WinXP on the older one, but had to uninstall it because it was causing problems. After he did so, there was no longer access to the internet, and he didn't know how to fix it. I would call my isp but in the past they had been reluctant to offer support unless the problem was from their end. ::mad::
I suspect I need to reconfigure some of the settings, but I have NO idea where to start...so much technical jargon in the manuals I can't wrap my head around.
I wonder if you could tell me how to re-establish the connections, I will try and give you all the info that you require. For starters, I have a high speed internet cable connection. The 2 pc's are connected via a Linksys EtherFast Cable/DSL Router w/ 10/100 4-port Switch. I have Fast Ethernet 10/100 Network Cards installed in the pcs. The operating system of my newer (internet connected) pc is Windows ME, 30G hard drive and 512MB RAM, the older (non-connected to internet) pc has Windows2000, only 4G on hard drive (yes, it's a very old pc, but i only use it for casual net surfing. And this is why my sister's bf shouldn't have installed XP on here, it probably could not support that system), and I am sure it has less than 128 RAM. Right now the older pc works fine, I can turn it on and such but it doesn't seem to recognize that it's part of a network... I'm just going to double check to see that everything is plugged in properly just in case.
Any suggestions/help on this matter is greatly appreciated. The last time I had a pc issue I remember Vantim and Imnobs provided helpful information and solved the problem, and I am hoping this community can help me out once again...so thank you in advance! :)

[bigH2O]

Assuming you're only trying to share the internet connection and not trying to get file sharing going between the two pcs, we'll start with the IP configuration since that's about the only thing that needs to be correct for internet sharing.

First check your working PC's IP configuration (Start/right click on My Network Places/Properties). Double click the used local area connection, then select the Properties button. Scroll down the list until you get to the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) entry. Hilight it and select Properties. From this dialog box you should see one of two scenarios. Either the "Obtain an IP address automatically" radio button will be checked, or the "Use the following IP address" radio button will be checked, and an IP address will be listed. You will also have identical selections for the DNS server.

If Obtain address automatically is checked, then that means your router is acting as a DHCP and/or DNS server and is passing out the IP's on demand and/or resolving names to IP addresses. Just make sure the misbehaving box is set up to Obtain IP and/or DNS addresses automatically also, and all should be well.

If Use the following address is checked, then make note of the various address properties in the boxes. Your misbehaving box will need to be configured identically with these numbers, with the exception of the IP address entry. Whatever is in the IP address entry for the box that works, increment that number by one and use that number for the misbehaving box. For example, if your working box is set at 192.168.1.1, the other box should be set for 192.168.1.2. The first three sets of numbers have to be the same, and the last number has to be unique for each connected network device. That number can be anything between 0 and 255.

All the other number sets will have to be identical to the working box. Good luck and let us know if this fixes your problem.

[Hamber]

Hi bigH20!

Thank you for your prompt reply. ;) I will not be file sharing between the pc's, so that is not a factor. I tried to follow your instructions but didn't get that far, as I do not understand what you mean by 'misbehaving box'? I'm afraid you'll have to hold my hand through this one, if you don't mind! I have attached a file of some of the windows that are pertinent, (I blotted out some of the info, not sure if that data should be kept private). This way you can tell me if I am looking for the right things. 4 years ago, I was the one that set up the network connection, w/out anyone's help (yes, it was an amazing feat, to this day I still dont' know how I pulled it off), but since then, I have forgotten most of what I did, and the manuals are just confusing to me. Guess a few brain cells have died off since then! Earlier today I lost the internet connection on THIS pc, when I chose the 'specify IP address' option (in the TCP/IP properties window) and typed in the figures for the IP address and subnet mask that are located in the IP Configuration window. I had to undo that to get my connection back. So, right now I don't dare do anything until further instruction from you, if that's ok... I will be waiting w/ bated breath for your response! Thx :)

[Hamber]

hmmm, doesn't look like I attached the file properly, will try again.

[Hamber]

My initial image which had all 3 windows was too large, so I've separated and resized them.

[Hamber]

IP configuration window

[Hamber]

TCP/IP properties window

[bigH2O]

(By "misbehaving box" I mean the computer that won't connect to the internet. Sorry)

You aren't saying what screen shots are from what machines, but it appears that you have one box set up for DHCP (obtain IP automatically) and the other set up for static addressing. Figure out how you're doing it on the machine that's working, and do it the same way on the machine that's not working, taking into account the differences mentioned above if using static addressing.

[Hamber]

All 3 screenshots are from my working pc. I haven't turned on my 'misbehaving box' (hehe, that sounds really bad) since it's lost its connection.
I got the IP configuration window from running 'winipcfg' on my pc (windows ME). I noticed the settings on that can be changed, right now the info given is for the NDIS 5.0 driver. If I select the other option from the dropdown menu it gives me info for the PPP adapter (whatever that is), and the IP and subnet mask figures become 0.0.0.0.
Right now I am just confused as to what my setting SHOULD be. Are you saying, it doesn't matter, as long as they are the same on both machines? If so, I will leave it at 'obtain IP address automatically', but in your last post it sounded like you saw something contradictory on another window? :confused:

[bigH2O]

If all are from your working PC, then you are using DHCP. That means your router is passing out the IP addresses. Just set up your other box to "obtain IP address automatically" and all should be well. I honestly can't remember much about win2k. At some point Windows became "self aware" when changes were made to the IP stack and would reconfigure without re-booting... but I don't know when that was. You probably want to re-boot after making the changes just to make sure they take effect.

[Hamber]

Things are not looking good. I just checked the device manager tab on my non-connected pc and found that the modem is enabled. Should it be, if I'm using a cable connection? I disabled it for now. But the larger problem is that there are 2 huge yellow question marks by the 'ethernet controller' and 'PCI simple communications controller' listings. Apparently the drivers are missing. I don't know how it got that way, but I inserted a floppy disk that supposedly has the driver info and the pc said that Windows could not detect any info. The disk was left by the person who gave me this pc. So now I have to re- install the drivers, only I don't know what version and where to d/l them, if they are available for free on the internet. I think I give up, this is going to be way over my head, and I don't want to somehow disable my currently working pc's internet connection accidentally while attempting to fix the other one's. *sighs*

[bigH2O]

As long as you don't mess with the working PC's configuration you won't mess it up.

If you click on the devices with the yellow exclamation points it should at least tell you what they are. Drivers for *anything* are available on the net. Figure out what card is in the machine even if you have to rip the cover off of it and read it directly off the board. Find the most current drivers from the manufacturer's web site and install those.

Keep with it. We'll get it eventually.

[Hamber]

Thx for the encouragement, bigH2O. I'll stick w/ it a while longer but I really hope there's a breakthrough soon. So I opened up the pc and took a look at the NIC, it is a LINKSYS EtherFast 10/100 LAN card, model LNE100TX. On the Linksys site I narrowed it down to a couple of possible downloads, they are slightly different versions, and since I'm not sure which is mine, I emailed support and am expecting a reply shortly.
In the meantime, I wonder what you know about the PCI simple communications controller. Windows says the driver is missing. I searched online for more info, and apparently a lot of other people who have Windows XP have a similiar issue. Since my sister's bf uninstalled the Windows XP, does this mean that I can just go ahead and uninstall the PCI simple communications controller? It seems to be a component exclusive to XP? I had never heard of it before. Or can I just leave it on the pc, and ignore it? People were saying the driver was missing, and they were having trouble finding it online. The advice offered by others varied, everything from uninstalling the modem to pulling out and re-inserting the NIC. Now you see why I'm so confused!
I just wanted to make sure about the modem- is it all right that I've disabled it on my non-working pc? I always associated it w/ dial up connections, which I don't have, so I figure it's not playing any role? But then there are cable modems, like the one I have attached to my working pc, I have not touched that one nor plan to. Please let me know what role the modem in my non working pc plays, if any. Thx.

[bigH2O]

A modem is sucking up a watt or two of electricity... that's about it. Yank it and throw it on the bone pile. As you suspected, you only need it for a dial up connection. Delete the PCI simple communication controller (yellow x), power down, pull the modem, and fire the system back up. If you get a "new hardware found", it was something else. Let us know what it tells you and we'll proceed from there.

[vantim]

One more idea. Did this start after a windows update? You may beable to do a driver rollback on the offending piece of hardware. In device manager, double click the ethernet controller and go to the driver tab. Choose rollback the driver and see what happens.

A pci simple communications driver is either a nic or a modem. BigH20 may be right on deleting it. I would try the rollback option on the linksys card first. Does your motherboard have a built in ethernet controller as well? We can probe into that later though.

[Hamber]

Hello Vantim & BigH20!

Sorry for not having responded earlier- was on vacation for a while and was also very busy.
Vantim, this whole mess came about after my sister's bf decided to install Windows XP onto my older pc, which is on Windows2000. This pc hasn't much hard disk memoty (4G, I believe), and I don't think it had the necessary components to support a program like XP. It started acting funny after the installation, and wouldnt' shut down properly. So he uninstalled it, but left me w/ a pc that couldn't get online. Right now I have one pc working, (thank gawd), running on Windows ME. It is still hooked up to my older, non-working pc (w/ Windows2000) via a linksys router.
Anyway, back in December, I deleted the PCI thing. I then went to the Linksys site and d/l the appropriate driver for my network card. They had tons to choose from, I wasn't sure what version my card is so I had to take it out and take a peek, that was a feat in of itself, being technically impaired as I am!. As it turned out, I hit jackpot, it was the driver required for my pc to recognize the card's presence. It's now listed on the device manager, which it wasn't before.

So the next step for me ( I think) is to configure my router properly so that my 'non-working' pc can connect to the internet. I am confident that everything is hooked up properly, but I have no idea how to go about making the correct settings on my pc's so that they can communicate w/ each other and the web.
Just so you know, I had contacted Linksys support, and they seem to think that they are too 'important' to respond to my request for technical help. I am tired of waiting around for them. I am hoping someone in this forum is familiar with the Linksys EtherFAst cable/DSL Router. It is model BEFSR41 V.2, and has a 4-port switch. I believe BigH20 instructed me earlier on how to make the network connections, but that was before I discovered that my non-working pc didn't even recognize the ethernet card. I am ready to start from scratch now. I have complete access to the router's web-based utility, if I recall correctly, I had to go there years ago when the connections were first set up. So if anyone is kind enough to tell me what to do next, I would be grateful. TIA.

[vantim]

Well, judging from your previous posts, if you have obtain an IP address automatically set in the tcp/ip properties for that card, you should be able to surf. Make sure you have a known good cable from your network card plugged into one of the ports on the router. When you boot your pc, it should assign you an IP address and Gateway.

To find out if it successfully received an IP address click on start, then click on run. In the run dialog box type "cmd" without the quotes and then click "ok"

A command prompt window will open up. Then at the command prompt type "Ipconfig/all" (again without the quotes) then hit the enter key. You'll receive an answer that looks like this:

[vantim]

Of course your IP settings will be slightly different than mine, but you should have an IP address and a subnet mask and a default gateway for your router.


If the IP address comes up 269.xxx.xxx.xxx (numbers for x's though) then you are not receiving an IP address from your router and we have some more work to do. Let us know.

[vantim]

After rereading your post... (I'm often guilty of not finishing them) I see you are connected to your router. I'm a little confused though, if you're plugged into the same router that your other pc (the one running ME) is connected too and you can access the routers internal config.... You should be able to surf. If not, can you clarify?

Is this a different router? or a different location?? or did you reset the router???

[Hamber]

I am confident that all the hardware (network cards, cables) is in place. My windows ME pc is connected to my non-working windows 2000 pc via a linksys router, but only the ME one can get online. I have taken the liberty of making some screenshots of various windows on both my pc's, in the hopes that they will provide some useful info that will help you better assess my situation. I will upload the files asap.

About the router's internal config...yes, I have access, but I believe at some point when I was making a feeble attempt at solving the problem myself, I may have inadvertently changed some of the data. My bad (stupidity). You will see what I mean when I post the screenshots.