Computer will not accept/work with ethernet cards??

[spaceman_333]

Howdy,

Computer: eMachine 533i (celeron), 4.3GB HDD, 256 PC100 SDRAM, Windows98se, IE 5.5 SP2. Bought it brand new and immediately hooked it to cable connection. The only problem was the Netgear NIC went out on 9-11-2001. It was replaced with a 3COM. This computer is one on my home network.

Problem: Two nights ago, my 10 year old announced, "Papa', the eMachine will not open the browser!" Sure enough, it would not. It was showing connected (ComCast), everything working properly in Device Manager, and showing connected in "winipcfg".
But, no browser and the "Cannot open page" message after it tried to find the website until timed-out.

I thought, "Well, this is a Winsock problem so I went through all the fixes both with downloads and in the registry. Nada! I changed to different NIC's --3 of them. They all showed installed and still no connect to the browser. Then I installed an old ISA EtherLink lll that I took out of a 486 Acer that was working. Well, it didn't work either. I tried these in different PCI slots, also.

What does work is the dialup modem.....no problem. And, the USB EZ Connect...no problem.

Last night, I did an fdisk and format and reinstalled Win98se. Just like a new machine----except----Same problem. It "don't" like ethernet cards all of a sudden.

Will someone please enlighten/help me with this?

Thank you.

Spaceman

 

[pyritechips]

Did you contact your cable ISP tech line for support? It may be a problem on their end, or it may be a simple thing like needing to power cycle your modem.

 

[rugrat]

Can you see any of the other machines on the network?

 

[spaceman_333]

Hi pyritechips,

Yes, Sir...I have power cycled the modem and all the other computers on my network and ones that I have dragged out are working fine.

rugrat!! How are you?

Yes, other computers are seen on the network.

This one is getting interesting....

Spaceman

 

[rugrat]

OK, if you can see the other machines, the card is working. When you set up the internet connection, did you choose to connect through a local area network? If so, open internet explorer, go to tools, internet options, connections, lan settings and uncheck "automatically detect settings" click ok, reboot and try again.

SeeYa

PS, doing just fine, you?

 

[spaceman_333]

rugrat,

Sorry....I can see them when the USB EZ connect is installed. Not otherwise. LAN "Auto detect" has always been turned off.

pyritechips,
I don't talk to my ISP "support". My 10 year old knows more than they do.

Keep the ideas coming, folks.

SM

 

[rugrat]

Hmmmm, have you tried uninstalling the EZ Connect and driver then the network card, rebooting then reinstalling just the network card?

 

[spaceman_333]

Yes, SIR.....

I love puzzles, but this one is "er, ahh...." puzzling.

SM

 

[rugrat]

Spaceman,

A puzzle it is, you may want to ask a mod to move this to networking so one of those Gurus can have a look. I am stumped (only know the easy stuff ) If I have another idea, I will post back.

See Ya

Just as a last thought, once the EZ is uninstalled, you may want to power down the router then hook the machines back in one at a time. The router itself may be saving a setting for that machine????

 

[IMM]

Some ISP's authenticate using the MAC address. This changes with the NIC. If this is the case there should be a page at the ISP where you can register the new NIC's MAC as the one you're using (using your dialup connection). Do you recall having to enter the Adapter address anywhere when you registered? You can find it using ipconfig or winipcfg.

BTW - swapping NIC's around is something that's quite a pain regarding removing window's knowledge of them in drivers and bios data areas.
There are procedures to wipe the driver information database and the ESCD as well as booting three times (magic numbers ) with no NIC installed if you run into driver issues.

 

[spaceman_333]

Well, Folks.....

When all else fails, be sure and check the root of the problem!!

In this case, it was me...yet again. A literal loose screw.

I don't know how...I don't know when...but---In turning, twisting, and moving the computer, a metal space cover slid out from under the motherboard. I'm surprised the thing didn't short out the whole house.

The boy's eMachine is fixed and he is very happy!!

Thank you all for your ideas and suggestions.

Spaceman