Home Network works for file transfers but not internet access

[Guest]

I installed a hardware firewall router. I connected the
first computer (WinXP Pro) and it worked flawlessly. I
added a computer (WinXP Pro also) and the network b/w the
two computers works perfectly; however, I cannot connect
to the internet on the second computer. Actually, once I
plugged in the network cable I had instant internet
access as well as access to the other computer. As soon
as I closed and reopened internet explorer, my internet
connectivity was gone. I power-cycled everything, renewed
the ip and such--anything simple that I could do b/c I
dont know much about networking--but none of it will give
me my internet connectivity back on the second computer.
I've run through network wizards several times and still
no luck. I can still access any shared files and the
network works in everyway besides internet access on the
second computer. I even reinstalled Windows and regained
the temporary internet access that I had the first time
but that too seemed to magically fade away. I dont know
how to proceed with any further troubleshooting b/c as I
have said I have virtually no knowledge of network
troubleshooting or networking itself. Thank you for any
answer you can offer me.

 

[Guest]

No help here. I have been fighting similar problems for months.

I have managed to get every thing on my network working until I reboot my Laptop(the only one of 3 that seems to have a bug) As soon as I reboot I get the bogud microsoft network client IP and my system goes to hell and I have to restore my system to get it going again.

I connect to internet fine but no networking fo I set a dchpnodetype to broadcast (it was on peer to peer)
now other computers can connect the lap top but it does not see the others,

I add the microsoft network client to my ethernet adapter properties and the network runs like a top until I reboot then POW back to 168.254.201.8 dead in the water until I restore my system.