Replies

tracert 206.123.6.11
Tracing route to over a maximum of 30 hops
1 25ms 29ms 30ms j_ow0t
trace complete
(I’m not sure if that’s an underscore or an equals sign after the j.

tracert 206.123.6.11
Tracing route to over a maximum of 30 hops
1 25ms 29ms 30ms j_ow0t
trace complete
(I’m not sure if that’s an underscore or an equals sign after the j.

This was all covered in my phone calls with the ISP: they have gone through those settings with me and mine are what they say they should be – all automatic. They did admit that they were stumped, and suggested that I look around for such help as I’m getting here, since it appears not to be their problem.
I’m about to dash away for the day, but look forward to any further suggestions you might have. I’m also bewildered by the inability to use the restore points I made. Any idea what would cause that?

This was all covered in my phone calls with the ISP: they have gone through those settings with me and mine are what they say they should be – all automatic. They did admit that they were stumped, and suggested that I look around for such help as I’m getting here, since it appears not to be their problem.
I’m about to dash away for the day, but look forward to any further suggestions you might have. I’m also bewildered by the inability to use the restore points I made. Any idea what would cause that?

Software, in this case SystemSuite 5, for which the firewall is called NetDefense. It just popped up to ask permission and showing me the settings, with the option of letting me say yes to all future logons. All the TCP/IP settings such as you showed me are set to ‘automatic’.

Software, in this case SystemSuite 5, for which the firewall is called NetDefense. It just popped up to ask permission and showing me the settings, with the option of letting me say yes to all future logons. All the TCP/IP settings such as you showed me are set to ‘automatic’.

Thank you. You were correct about the run box, and I took the liberty of changing the directory to the root once I had the cmd box open.

I actually discovered that my firewall specified the default gateway (but not by name), and the IPCONFIG gave it as well.

PING gave four healthy replies.

With NSLOOKUP I was out to lunch:
Can’t find server name for address 206.123.6.11. No response from server.
Same for 206.123.6.10.
Server: Unknown.
Address: 206.123.6.11.

Thank you. You were correct about the run box, and I took the liberty of changing the directory to the root once I had the cmd box open.

I actually discovered that my firewall specified the default gateway (but not by name), and the IPCONFIG gave it as well.

PING gave four healthy replies.

With NSLOOKUP I was out to lunch:
Can’t find server name for address 206.123.6.11. No response from server.
Same for 206.123.6.10.
Server: Unknown.
Address: 206.123.6.11.

IPCONFIG gives me a box that vanishes in the blink of an eye (on either machine). Is there a trick to hold it long enough to read?

IPCONFIG gives me a box that vanishes in the blink of an eye (on either machine). Is there a trick to hold it long enough to read?

You have certainly given me hope, and I’m now buried in printouts to read through. The PowerQuest people did advise me to take the course you have suggested, but I haven’t had any luck with it. I may not have given it enough time, since it appeared that nothing was happening.
I have also inadvertently misled you in another respect: the original question was about a machine with XP Pro, but the machine with the drive problem has XP Home. I do, however, have a (120-day trial) XP Pro installation CD, if there’s any way I can use that.

Thank you for your interest. I have Office XP Professional, non-OEM.
The drive that went belly-up didn

The problem has been solved, apparently either thanks to a utility or to removing utilities. After spending a fortune on books and magazines and on-line time and postings using my laptop and downtime, I installed V Communications SystemSuite 5 and ran assorted utitlities with no apparent success, then removed McAfee which was still on the computer and then tried it again and miraculously found myself online with my desktop for the first time in nearly six weeks.
I’ve made so many changes and tried so many things I have no idea what did the trick, nor do I know exactly what created the problem in the first place beyond my networking two desktop computers, especially since the computers worked prior to that. The second desktop is out of commission as a result of an unrelated software change that was made the day before I finally got the other online, and if I can get that running again I’ll have a better idea. I can’t take any credit for the cure but it seems likely that a utility took care of it automatically.

Good point. No, I didn’t think to remove the drivers, and have done so at the appropriate times at your suggestion. Unfortunately it hasn’t helped, and it’s almost certainly not a hardware problem. I uninstalled the drivers and both modem and ethernet card on both machines, then I changed the modem on one machine for a spare from a different manufacturer and switched the ethernet cards between the machines, since those are different makes. I had balloons galore as new hardware was discovered and identified and drivers were installed, all of which appears to have been successful. I had also deleted my dial-up connection and set that up manually. Unfortunately it hasn’t helped: I can dial up and have my password recognized, but I then run into a brick wall when any of my applications tries to find a server.

I have no difficulty in arriving at TCP/IP properties and setting them to obtain an IP address automatically, which is what works on the XP laptop that still works, as well as on the Windows 98 laptop, but it doesn’t help on either of the two XP desktop computers, both of which previously worked well. I have repeatedly reset TCP/IP as per KB 299357 with no success, and turning off the firewalls and anti-virus doesn’t help either.

I resorted to surgery: I shut down and opened one computer and did an ethernectomy and modemectomy, removing both cards, then employing unplug and playaround I ran the computer a bit and shut it down, and ran it some more and shut it down, so it would get used to the fact that something was missing. The hardware did not show up in the usual places, so it appeared that the computer had learned something. I then reinstalled the modem but not the ethernet card but the problem remains: I can dial up but the computer can’t see the server.

Here’s a bonus that may affect or interest numerous readers. I haven’t seen any threads on the board and the search facility is unavailable, but I said that I have LapLink (which Woody discussed in his books). I have two local area connections as a result, and I require LapLink because my laptop only has a USB connection and my older ’emergency’ laptop doesn’t even have that but can transfer files via LapLink. The question is: Why did I even install XP’s networking when I already had more powerful software installed in the form of LapLink? In my case I simply didn’t know any better, it never occurred to me that LapLink constitutes a network, and ethernet is new to me, but assuming I can get it to work (and I don’t even know which cable to use) XP’s native network capability is no competition for LapLink. I should add that I’m a single user and as such only use networking for transfers and such things. As part of the troubleshooting I have uninstalled the LapLink USB driver and the program as well, and that didn’t help either – I still can’t see the server once I’ve dialled up. It may have a simple cause, but I’ve been offline with my main browsing computer for a full month now because of it, and I’d welcome any other ideas for a cure.

Thanks, Peter