Complex Internet Connectivity Problem

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Okay let me just repeat a bit for others:-

---------

I have probably done more than this, but this is what comes to mind.

Any suggestions as to what the problem may be and how I can solve it?

Like I said, as soon as I connected the network cable to the laptop. It
"saw" the modem and connected fine. However, the desktop computer cannot see
the modem or any other device attached to it via a network cable.

--------

First question, are there any lights on the NIC? Can you see or ping the
machine from another on the network?

I wonder if the new BIOS is not dealing with the PCI bus properly or if
perhaps there's an IO conflict?

Anything showing up with yellow ? marks in the hardware list?

I've had problems with fairly recent linksys and d-link NICs while old
Compaq cards seem to work fine. I just ended up buying a cheap $10 Airtel
card that solved my problems instantly, yet I have tried probably 6 others
that seem to work in some machines and not others :)

Other than these things it looks like you tried just about everything.

Charlie
 
Charlie:

Thank you for taking time to help me with this issue. I have answered your
questions below.
First question, are there any lights on the NIC? Can you see or ping the
machine from another on the network?
Click to expand...

The link light is lit, but there is no activity. The number of packets
transmitted/received stays at zero. No, I cannot see or ping the desktop
from another on the network.
I wonder if the new BIOS is not dealing with the PCI bus properly or if
perhaps there's an IO conflict?
Click to expand...

Device manager is not indicating any conflicts between any devices. Each
device has its own IRQ. I spoke with a tech person at eSupport (the people
who I bought the new BIOS from) and they said that it was working properly.
Anything showing up with yellow ? marks in the hardware list?
No.

I've had problems with fairly recent linksys and d-link NICs while old
Compaq cards seem to work fine. I just ended up buying a cheap $10 Airtel
card that solved my problems instantly, yet I have tried probably 6 others
that seem to work in some machines and not others :)
Click to expand...

Right now, I have a NetGear FA311v2 installed. Yes, I did originally have a
Linksys LNE100TXv5 installed. Both have the same problem. I hate to go out
and buy another NIC --even a cheap one-- and find out that I have the same
problem.
Other than these things it looks like you tried just about everything.
Click to expand...

Well, not quite everything. I could reformat the drive and start all over
again. What are the chances that doing that would fix the problem?

Although symptoms are showing up in various places, I'm thinking that this
is a problem in one of three areas:

1) DHCP

2) APIPA

3) WinPoET

I have tried removing most internet protocols from the registry,
uninstalling TCP/IP, File & Print Sharing, and Client for Microsoft Networks.
Then, reinstalling everything. There is no change.

When DHCP and APIPA are enabled, I get an IP address of 169.254.186.246 and
a DHCP Server address of 255.255.255.255.

Again, thanks for your assistance. Any other suggestions would be
appreciated.


 
Since I saw no alternative, I am formatting the drive and reinstalling Win2k
Pro. There is no guarantee that this will fix the problem, but I've tried
just about everything else. I even looked up several DHCP/APIPA related
items in the MS KB. Nothing worked. So, it's time to "Nuke 'em and smile".
 
Reformatted - twice!! Then, reinstalled Win2k. I still have the same problem!!

What the $%#@ is going on?

It's after 3am. I'm going to sleep.

Please . . . I am begging someone to give me a viable solution that won't
burn a whole in my pocket.

Thanks.
 
Let me begin by saying that I am an experienced PC troubleshooter and I
have done tons of troubleshooting on my own prior to coming here for a
solution. That said, the more you learn the less you know.

Getting to the point . . .

Recently, I took parts from another old Pentium machine(namely RAM and a 40
GB hard drive) and installed them into my machine.

First, I removed all HDD partitions. Then, not wanting to use an overlay for
larger harddrives, I went to www.ami.com to try and get a newer BIOS. They
"forwarded" me to esupport.com. So, I purchased a much newer (2003) Award
BIOS from them. Following the instructions sent to me, I flashed the new
BIOS without a problem.

Next, I went into the BIOS settings and configured it so that it would
recognize all of the hardware and such. There were a few hurdles there, but
I solved those. To the best of my knowledge, all of the settings are
correct.

I then proceeded to install Windows 2000 Professional. The active drive is
NTFS. The slave drive is FAT32 because there was already information that I
wanted to keep on that drive.

The installation seemed to go without a hitch. I had what appeared to be a
minor problem with the network card, but Device Manager indicates that it is
working properly now.

"Where's the problem?" you ask. Well, the computer cannot see anything on
the other end of the network cable. It does not matter whether I use
automatic settings for IP and DNS or manual settings. I get the same result.
The computer cannot see the DSL modem (Netopia) when I have it connected
directly to it. Nor can the computer see the router (Linksys) when it is
connected directly to that.

When my wife got home, I tried connecting her laptop directly to the DSL
modem. It had no problem seeing it and I was able to log in and connect to
the Internet. In fact, I am typing this from the laptop.

The bottom line is that the problem appears to be within the boundaries of
the desktop computer. Something is not working properly.

Here is a summary of what I have tried:

1) Uninstalling and reinstalling TCP/IP (including removing TCP/IP, winsock,
and winsock2 from the registry)

2) Uninstalling and reinstalling the NIC.

3) Resetting (not just power cycling) the modem.

4) Reseating the NIC --including moving it to a different PCI slot.

5) Using both automatic and manual TCP/IP settings.

6) Uninstalling and reinstalling WinPOET (which, BTW, is not installed on
the laptop).

7) Changing network cables (this seems mute now since the network cable I
had been using works with the laptop connected to the modem)

8) Verifying settings under Internet Properties.

I have probably done more than this, but this is what comes to mind.

Any suggestions as to what the problem may be and how I can solve it?

Like I said, as soon as I connected the network cable to the laptop. It
"saw" the modem and connected fine. However, the desktop computer cannot see
the modem or any other device attached to it via a network cable.

Here are a couple of oddities:

1) The Local Area Connection dialog box has an Authentication tab on the
computer downstairs that is running Windows 2000 Professional. The only
thing different is that it is wireless.

2) WinPoET only gives options for dialing a connection.

Any help is very much appreciated.

Thanks,
Fractalman93
=================
Fractalman93 said:
Reformatted - twice!! Then, reinstalled Win2k. I still have the same problem!!

What the $%#@ is going on?

It's after 3am. I'm going to sleep.

Please . . . I am begging someone to give me a viable solution that won't
burn a whole in my pocket.

Thanks.

--
Click to expand...
===================
Your BIOS is on top of my suspect list.

If this was my machine then I would do this while debugging:
- Use fixed IP addresses.
- Set the nework adapter's parameters to 10 MBits/s simplex.
- Use a different network cable.
- Start a continuous ping to the router, and also to some
Windows machine.
- Monitor the network traffic with Ethereal.
I don't know what WinPoET is but I would not use it while
testing things. Let's keep things as simple as possible!
 
Please keep quoting to a minimum.

Yes, I too have suspected the BIOS since that is the only other thing that
has changed. I'm going to call eSupport and see what they can do.

Since my DSL modem uses PPPoE (when not in bridge mode), I have to use
WinPoET to talk to it.

Right now, I am keeping it simple. I'm directly connected to the modem.
And, yes, I have tried 3 different network cables. The physical connection
is not the problem.

I have tried using manual (fixed) IP settings. It does not seem to matter.
However, I will go ahead and define them again for troubleshooting purposes.

Thank you for your assistance.

One more suggestion about quoting: Please put the quotes
<strong>below</strong> your reply unless you are responding to specific bits
or questions (which you were not).
 
Here's the latest . . . .

I called tech support at eSupport and they are trying to tell me that it's
not the BIOS since it recognizes the NIC and assigns it an IRQ. They told me
that the only alternative would be to try reinstalling the old BIOS. If that
works, they'll refund me. The bad thing about that is I would have to
purchase a HDD controller card that would recognize larger harddrives so that
I would not have to use an overlay. This adds yet another variable to the
equation.

Pardon the expression, but this seems like a damned if you do, damned if you
don't scenario.

Another other suggestions at this point?
 
First I agree 100% with avoiding an overlay, they're fine unless something
goes wrong and then you risk total data loss. Also if you try later to
install a second OS Dual Boot) the install process won't recognize that
drive and scandisk will try and fix it, thus breaking your data :) If you
happen to be getting coffee when scandisk asks "You have 15 seconds to stop
me, or else...." you can then watch for several hours while the clusters are
rearranged :)

Whatever NIC worked before should work now, assuming same drivers etc so the
only thing I can think of is that maybe the BIOS is okay but the board has a
revision or a hardware fault that simply didn't show up this problem with
the old bios.

This ASUS MB came with a driver CD for things like the PCI bus - I don't
recall offhand but I think that is a combined PCI and something else driver
that has to be used before the PCI will work properly. Most MB makers don't
explain these things very well and I'm still stuck as to why this is
necessary but in my case it seems that it is. Can you find anything on the
MB makers website along similar lines?

I found with this MB that ASUS issued several revisions quite rapidly (It's
5+ years old now so I guess they don't bother any more) and each revision
fixed one thing but seemed to break something else :) I don't think it's
impossible for the PCI to be working well enough to see the NIC but not well
enough to drive it, but like I said above I never quite figured out what the
deal was with this so called driver package I have here never mind offer any
detail about others. I'm just thinking of something that I had "Missed" in
the past and that was one of them :)

Also I find that when installing an OS it seems best to set the BIOS to
expect a non Plug and Play OS, that seems to force the BIOS to identify
hardware but again that might just be peculiar to this MB. Does not seem to
have any adverse effects though so that's what I do....

Charlie
 
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