Internet troubles, requesting help

[Calantus]

Here's a rundown of my problem:

- 2 days ago we had a blackout that took out my router and so I'm currently just connecting to the internet by plugging in one of my 2 computers at a time as needed.
- Both computers were able to connect fine like this.
- I formatted my other computer due to my brother stupidly getting it so badly infected with spyware that nothing I could do would remove them.
- Now that computer cannot connect to the internet.

This is the page for my modem http://www.dlink.com.au/tech/ although you need to put in "DSL" in the left field, and "300" in the right field to get to the actual modem. The way it is supposed to work is I navigate to the modem's "page" (@ http://192.168.0.1) and put in my username@provider and password and save that to flash. Then I just have to hit connect button that comes up and it connects. On the other computer it can hit the page just fine, and can save my details to the flash, but just does not want to connect. It does not seem to even try to connect.

The computer in question has installed:

- Windows XP Home (with SP2) installed with recommended/default settings everywhere.
- The appropriate ethernet driver (as it would not even hit the modem without it).
- Firefox 2.0 (I installed this to check if it wasn't just the ancient version of IE being a bitch).
- Nothing else.

I called my ISP and they told me that it is a computer issue and I'm on my own, so any help would be very much appreciated. If you need more information or some screenshots or anything just tell me.

[Trippy]

Open up a command prompt on both computers and type: ipconfig /all

Then on both computers go to Network Connections -> Local Area Connection -> Right click Properties -> Internet Protocol Properties

and compare the results. Make sure Windows Firewall is off to remove that from the equation.

[Calantus]

[Edit by Trippy: Scrubbed the data a bit ]

I turned off windows firewall before, it didn't change anything.

The properties were the same for both.

For the ipconfig I got this from the computer connected:

Windows IP Configuration

        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : callaptop
        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : [blah]
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
        Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 124.xxx.xxx.xxx
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 124.xxx.xxx.xxx
        DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 124.xxx.xxx.xxx
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 203.xxx.xxx.xxx
        Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, 14 December 2006 3:27:18 PM
        Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, 14 December 2006 3:28:18 PM

From the computer that cannot connect I got:

Windows IP Configuration

        Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : caldesktop
        Primary Dns Suffix  . . . . . . . :
        Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
        IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
        WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

        Connection-specific DNS Suffix  . :
        Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Marvell Yukon 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller
        Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : [blah 2]
        Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
        Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
        IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.2
        Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
        Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.254
        DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
        DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
        Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, 14 December 2006 3:41:27 PM
        Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Thursday, 14 December 2006 3:41:37 PM

[Viin]

I bet your router got fried - did you try doing the factory reset on it?

[schild]

Your desktop looks like it's pulling information from a router. Awesome. /flush and renew.

[Viin]

Or what schild said - I didn't even notice the gateway and dns and crap was all messed up on your desktop.

[Trippy]

Your non-working computer is not picking up the DHCP information. How is the non-working computer wired up? Are you using a hub or switch or is it just a direct connect straight to the DSL box? Swap out the cables and ports and connect the non-working comp the same way the working on is. Then do a "ipconfig /release" and then "ipconfig /renew" from the non-working box. You could also try putting in the IP information manually but I'm thinking at this point there's a hardware problem (bad cable, wrong port connection, etc.) not software.

[Engels]

instead of ipconfig /release and /renew, you can also simply right click and 'disable' and re 'enable' the LAN connection icon you get when you right click 'my network places' and select properties.

What's tipping us off is your report that dsl modem's IP is 192.168.0.1. I suspect that that's actually your dead router's information. The second machine, which is working, is picking up the correct configuration information from the modem (the stuff that Trippy edited out). Try a release/renew, either with ipconfig or the enable/disable method.

Oh, and power spikes can fry routers easily.

[Calantus]

I tried both methods of trying to clear the information and neither worked. The IP the non working computer is using is actually the information from my modem, as that computer hasn't been connected to the router since it was formatted.

I am not able to switch the ports the computers use as both use an onboard ethernet. I did switch the cables, which didn't change anything, but other than the cable and the ports on the computers they both connect exactly the same at the moment (plugged straight into the modem, same port as there is only one).

While it may be a hardware problem, the computer was able to connect to the internet under the same circumstances before the format. No hardware was changed between when it worked before the format and when it didn't after.

I tried putting in the IP information directly but that didn't work. I suspect I didn't get everything covered as I did another ipconfig /all afterwards and there were some differences. Namely:

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : [blah 2] (this was here but the number was different from the working computer, not sure if that is to be expected or not)
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes (this was not present)
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes (this was not present... but I imagine that is to be expected)
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (this was not present)
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : (this was not present)
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : (this was not present)

What I entered was the IP, subnet, gateway, and default DNS.

EDIT: Just thought to add incase it is relevant, there is no hardware between the computers and the phone line other than the modem. No filters, switches, or anything like that. The line is a seperate one from our phone devoted entirely to being our internet line.

[Trippy]

Go back to the Dlink support page and select 300+ as the DSL modem model. Open the Troubleshooting folder and read
"Can not access Web configuration" and "Modem works with one PC but not with other".

[Calantus]

"Can not access Web configuration"

Did everything it suggested, nothing worked.

"Modem works with one PC but not with other".

I already do what it suggests here.

[Trippy]

"Can not access Web configuration"

Did everything it suggested, nothing worked.

Are you running any sort of proxy software? Under the Connections tab in the IE Options screen click on LAN Settings. Is Proxy server checked?

"Modem works with one PC but not with other".

I already do what it suggests here.

From which computer? Is there any sort of security setting that tells it to ignore connection attempts from computers that don't have the same MAC address as the one its configured for?

Edit: Open up a command prompt again on the non-working computer connected to the DSL box type in:

telnet 192.168.0.1 80

and then assuming it connects

GET / HTTP/1.0

Does it spit out any HTML at you?

If it doesn't connect type at the prompt:

ping 192.168.0.1

If the ping packets get through but the telnet does not something is blocking access to port 80.

[Calantus]

No proxy is being used by either computer.

As for the switching the modems around what I have to do is wipe the old configuration and put in a new one from the computer I want to connect on and save a new config. I have to do that for both computers whenever I switch which one is plugged in. When I go to connect, the config is specifically for that computer, so the modem shouldn't be restricting it from connecting.

[Trippy]

No proxy is being used by either computer.

As for the switching the modems around what I have to do is wipe the old configuration and put in a new one from the computer I want to connect on and save a new config. When I go to connect, the config is specifically for that computer, so the modem shouldn't be restricting it from connecting.

But you have to be entering that config from the computer that's working right? You said you can't get to the Web config page from the machine that's not working. And the config setting saves the MAC address of the machine that's connected to it which is unique to every Ethernet adapter. That's the Physical Address thing I blanked out. It won't let you connect to that account from a machine that doesn't have the same MAC address.

[Calantus]

Ah, no, there was a miscommunication there then. I can access the modem and its config pages on both machines, and can save new configs on each and they seemingly work. The problem comes when I try to connect after saving the new config.

I tried the telnet thing... and it didn't go well. It brought up a new window titled "telnet 192.168.0.1" and gave me a curser (or whatever it is called, the "_" that indicates where you are). When I typed into the window the curser moved but the characters did not show up. When I hit enter after putting them in I basically got 2 cursers over eachother (one on the first line, one on the 2nd line, in the far left) and no other output. It also seemed to mess up my modem. I had to power cycle it and then try a few times to hit it on this computer before it served me the config pages.

[Trippy]

Well okay then. It sounds like your ISP is doing MAC address checking and is not letting the DSL box act as a bridge cause it only wants your other computer to connect. Poke around the Web management interface and see if the DSL box has a "spoofing" feature (I'm guessing it doesn't). Or get a MAC address spoofer for your non-working box and set it to the address of the working box. If you do that, though, you won't be able to network the machines on the same Ethernet network.

[Calantus]

If that works that would be fine as it would only have to last until we get a new router, which should solve that problem. Assuming I can just turn off the spoofer when I get the router. Would it interfere with punkbuster do you think? The only internet game I'd play during that time would be bf2142 and it's protected by punkbuster and it might not like it being run.

It would also be very weird if that was the problem. It would mean that they changed to mac address checking just today and that it coincided with my formatting the desktop. I'm burning smac onto a cd now and will try it out once its done.

[Trippy]

Would it interfere with punkbuster do you think? The only internet game I'd play during that time would be bf2142 and it's protected by punkbuster and it might not like it being run.

Dunno. Did a quick Google and nothing jumped out at me that said that Punkbuster cares but of course do it at your own risk.

[Calantus]

It worked. Nice of them to change it up on me without telling me. Oh and the support guy not knowing that they changed the rules of their service the VERY DAY I get a problem that would be caused by it, and instead telling me it must be a problem with my hardware. Not happy with the service, but I cant really blame the support guy as he was likely left in the dark about it.

Thank you very much guys, especially Trippy.