XP Network Connection Setup

Steel Angel

Just finished finally reinstalling xp on a system that had a disk crash a week ago. But now I seem to have an issue with not being able to get an IP address from my cable modem.

I installed the chipset driver and ethernet port driver for my Asus A8N-SLI motherboard and XP can tell that the cord is plugged into either port, but I always get an 169.xxx IP address and no access to the internet. No routers or anything complicating things, the system is directly hooked up to the cable modem by the cat5 cable. I'm currently using the same cable and modem to access the internet from this machine, so I know it's not a technical issue with those parts. Can anyone think of anything I'm missing?

Violynt

Plug the modem into the etherent port and then reset the modem.

If that doesn't work, go to cmd prompt and type ipconfig /release and then ipconfig /renew

Steel Angel

No dice, which isn't too surprising. I didn't get any results from repairing the connection from the control panel option. Anything else I should look into before calling up my ISP to see if it's a problem on their end?

Violynt

I doubt it's a problem on their end. But call them anyway and have them run you threw steps and if it's still not solved they will send some fool out to fix it for you.

deke55555

Do you have any special software from the cable company installed on the working PC?

Some cable and DSL modems only function properly (directly connected) while special software is moderating the connection.

Steel Angel

deke55555 wrote: »

Do you have any special software from the cable company installed on the working PC?

Some cable and DSL modems only function properly (directly connected) while special software is moderating the connection.

No. Comcast does have some crappy stuff on a CD, but that only ever touched my other computer, not the one working now. This one has always been plug in and connect as far as I remember.

deke55555

The 169.254 address means that the computer can't find a DHCP server and is creating a random IP address. This either means that your modem doesn't assign IP addresses or the not-working computer can't talk to the modem.

Check the working computer's IP configuration, does it have settings manually entered? If so, try copying those to the busted one.

If the settings are automatically generated, try using ipconfig on the working computer, then entering those settings on the non-working one manually.

Doublecheck the drivers for the ethernet port, and if possible, try installing a temporary ethernet card to test whether it's the port hardware.

With the other computer working, the possible sources of the problem are: Cables, the ethernet port on the PC, the ethernet hardware on the board, the drivers for the ethernet hardware and the settings configured in XP.

Steel Angel

Called up Comcast, got things fixed. Since this house has VOIP service from Comcast in addition to cable modem service, the modem has a battery pack for backup power that seems to require yanking to do a reset on the modem, a fact I wasn't aware of since the service and modem was added while I was away. Between that and some tools on their end, things seem to be working now.