I have my Cable modem hooked up with a USB simply because it was so easy. I have just purchased a router to start a little network and I cannot get the internet to connect with the ethernet cable for the life of me. I haven't even hooked up the router yet, just tried switching from USB to ethernet. I also noticed when I switched them the activity light on my modem went out. I'm stumped, I just can't figure it out. By the way, I have Optimum Online with a Motorola SB4200 Surfboard modem. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Josh

Sorry, running XP on a Dell 8400

Anybody??

When you switched to the ethernet connection did you also configure the Network Interface Card (NIC) in the PC and set up a new internet connection using that adapter rather than the USB?

_________________
MS MVP Security 2006-2008

I believe that it set up its own connection which said enabled. As far as configuring, I did not. How do I go about that?

OK, I found the configure button, still no luck. There has to be a setting somewhere that I am missing. Please help, this is so frustrating

Lets start over.
Disconnect your USB connection and reboot.

If you have on-board LAN, make sure you have installed the drivers from your motherboard utilities disk. Also make sure the on-board LAN is enabled in your system BIOS.

Now, power down your PC and "unplug" it. Not all power is removed from motherboards when just using the power button. Some motherboards maintain power on the devices that remember hardware device settings. Whenever changing hardware (like networks, sound cards, or video cards) unplug.

Unplug your router.

Unplug your cable modem.

Wait about 30 seconds.

While waiting, plug an Ethernet cable from your computer to port 1 on the router.

plug another Ethernet cable from the "WAN" port on the Router to the Cable modem - make sure it is the WAN port on the Rounter and not the Uplink Port.

Now turn on the Cable modem and wait 15 seconds.

Turn on the Router and wait 15 seconds

Now turn on the PC.

Can you connect?

_________________
Bill, AFE7Ret
Freedom is NOT Free!

I haven't actually installed the router yet so should I just omit the steps involving the router?

If you omit it, you will have to do it again when you put it in.

Before we get to far, is this Ethernet connection in your computer on the motherboard? If so, is it enabled it in the BIOS menu?

I may have stepped in where Oldfrog was taking you. Sorry Oldfrog.

In most broadband systems in the use, IPs are assigned dynamically through DHCP. This means that your ISP assigns an IP when your modem announces its presence on their network. When your computer announces to your modem it is on line, it gets its IP assignment from the modem.

When you put the rounter in line, the router takes the IP assignment from the cable modem, and the router then issues a new IP to each computer attached to it.

When you plug the ethernet cable into the pc and the other end into the router, it should get a solid green light on the PC connection and you should see lights on the router indicating you are communication at 100bps. Do you get them?

So by turning everything off and back on in sequence, IPs should be reissued to all devices and a connection to the Internet established.

_________________
Bill, AFE7Ret
Freedom is NOT Free!

OK, I followed all steps to the "t" and I still get nothin. The activity light does not light up at all. Is it possible that my network card is bad?

Could be.

What I would do at this point is to go into device manager and see if there are any conflicts.

I am not sure how USB network connection works but if there is an entry there for that I would delete it. Perhaps someone else can help there.

But I would remove the driver for the Ethernet card for sure. And shut down and unplug. At this point you have a choice. Since PCI ports have been known to go bad, you could pull the card and try it in another slot or just try it again in that slot.

I guess I would decide based on how lazy I was that day. But if you decide to change slots, get yourself a soft paint brush and the vacuum out and clean out the insides while in there.

Then power up and see if Windows finds the card. If it does not, then I would guess that card is bad. Fortunately, they are cheap.

_________________
Bill, AFE7Ret
Freedom is NOT Free!

The USB connection disappears when I unplug the USB cable. I'll give removing it and re installing it a try. Can't hurt right? Luckily Dells are awesome to open up and mess around with. Although, last time I opened it I would up with 10 stitches in my thumb due to really sharp metal inside. I'll give it a whirl tonight when I get home. I'll keep you posted, I really appreciate your help and quick responses.

OK, I've followed all instructions perfectly, contacted my ISP and went and bought a new NIC. I've still got nothing. The NIC I bought didn't come with a driver for XP(Linksys NC 100) so I assumed it would have had one in XP, nope. I went to their website, nothing. This is a nightmare. Before I took out the old NIC, I ran a diagnostic, and my internal loopback test failed. Thats what made the tech guy at Opt Online suggest a new NIC. I'm out of ideas. Any more help would be awesome

When you go to Control Panel and double click on Network Connection, what is in there? Do you see your NIC? If you do, right click on it, do you see Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)? If you do, click on it and select properties and does it say Obtain an IP address automatically? Same for DNS?

_________________
Bill, AFE7Ret
Freedom is NOT Free!

Yes to both

XP should have the drivers necessary for any NIC that complies with the Ethernet standards - it should just be Plug and Play.

Now with this new card, do you have lights on the NIC? On the Router for that port? If not, there's a problem for sure. Try a new cable. Try a different router port. Try a different PCI slot.

_________________
Bill, AFE7Ret
Freedom is NOT Free!