new ethernet card cant connect, help!

i bought and installed a new ethernet card cause mine blew out I guess. anyways I went to set everything up, computer recognized everything and I selected automatically obtain IP address and DNS server address but I could only get this:

IP: 169.254.5.21
Subnet: 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway: (blank)

DNS Primary: (blank)
DNS Secondary: (blank)


I found comcast's DNS server addresses from a link or portforward but the default gateway is the problem I'm having I believe. What do I do, it seems like an easy fix. I dont have a router either. Thanks in advance.

 

So the computer connects directly to the modem?
What happened with the old network card? When you say it "blew out", is it possible that the modem was damaged as well?
Did you power cycle the modem?
Why are you manually setting server addresses?
Finally, did you call your ISP to walk you through setting this up?

 

yes it does.

when i went to turn it on one time it wouldnt recognize the network cable, saying it was unplugged, so i thought it was the cable or the modem and i hooked up my ibook and am posting from here now so i know its fine.

its nothing with the modem so i dont need to do that.

because it wouldnt give me any DNS addresses or default gateway so i thought i'd try to force them through.

no i havent, i was trying to get away without this.

 

Turn off the modem when you change the attached device. If it works with the iBook, it won't work with any other computer until you do a power cycle of the modem without the iBook connected.

 

wow it worked, thank you so much. I had no clue I had to do this, do I have to do it every time I switch the connection?

 

Yep, the modem remembers the MAC address of the device attached until it's power cycled.

A broadband router solves this problem and lets you connect multiple devices at the same time to your broadband account. Highly recommended.

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