The network adapter on my friend's machine connects readily to my
Netgear router, but not to his cable router, although other machines do.

I've recently reinstalled XP (Media Centre) from the original CD for a
friend. To get started loading drivers, I'd plugged in a USB-Ethernet
adapter and loaded the driver from the supplied CD. Then I was able to
use driveragent.com to identify components and supply drivers.
Eventually I had a clean Device Manager, and the machine running
sweetly.

Before handing it over, I checked that the built-in Ethernet adapter was
working. I switched the cable from the USB adapter to the motherboard
connector, and was immediately able to connect to the web. Both
adapters are set to use DHCP.

When my friend took his machine back and connected it up to his cable
modem the "Acquiring Network Address" indicator is visible in the
notification area but the connection fails "Limited or no connectivity".
A laptop connected to the same cable reportedly succeeds.

Could this be a driver issue? The PC connects flawlessly to my router
but not to my friend's router. Do DHCP implementations in the routers
vary enough to account for this? Any suggestions?

Phil, London

Is his adapter set to 100 mbp full duplex or Auto? If Auto, try setting
to 100 full.

Philip Herlihy wrote:
> The network adapter on my friend's machine connects readily to my
> Netgear router, but not to his cable router, although other machines do.
>
> I've recently reinstalled XP (Media Centre) from the original CD for a
> friend. To get started loading drivers, I'd plugged in a USB-Ethernet
> adapter and loaded the driver from the supplied CD. Then I was able to
> use driveragent.com to identify components and supply drivers.
> Eventually I had a clean Device Manager, and the machine running
> sweetly.
>
> Before handing it over, I checked that the built-in Ethernet adapter was
> working. I switched the cable from the USB adapter to the motherboard
> connector, and was immediately able to connect to the web. Both
> adapters are set to use DHCP.
>
> When my friend took his machine back and connected it up to his cable
> modem the "Acquiring Network Address" indicator is visible in the
> notification area but the connection fails "Limited or no connectivity".
> A laptop connected to the same cable reportedly succeeds.
>
> Could this be a driver issue? The PC connects flawlessly to my router
> but not to my friend's router. Do DHCP implementations in the routers
> vary enough to account for this? Any suggestions?
>
> Phil, London
>

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed)
says...
>
> Is his adapter set to 100 mbp full duplex or Auto? If Auto, try setting
> to 100 full.
>
> Philip Herlihy wrote:
> > The network adapter on my friend's machine connects readily to my
> > Netgear router, but not to his cable router, although other machines do.
> >
> > I've recently reinstalled XP (Media Centre) from the original CD for a
> > friend. To get started loading drivers, I'd plugged in a USB-Ethernet
> > adapter and loaded the driver from the supplied CD. Then I was able to
> > use driveragent.com to identify components and supply drivers.
> > Eventually I had a clean Device Manager, and the machine running
> > sweetly.
> >
> > Before handing it over, I checked that the built-in Ethernet adapter was
> > working. I switched the cable from the USB adapter to the motherboard
> > connector, and was immediately able to connect to the web. Both
> > adapters are set to use DHCP.
> >
> > When my friend took his machine back and connected it up to his cable
> > modem the "Acquiring Network Address" indicator is visible in the
> > notification area but the connection fails "Limited or no connectivity".
> > A laptop connected to the same cable reportedly succeeds.
> >
> > Could this be a driver issue? The PC connects flawlessly to my router
> > but not to my friend's router. Do DHCP implementations in the routers
> > vary enough to account for this? Any suggestions?
> >
> > Phil, London
> >

Thanks, Bob - I'll look at this when I'm next in front of the machine.

Phil

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed) says...
>
> In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed)
> says...
> >
> > Is his adapter set to 100 mbp full duplex or Auto? If Auto, try setting
> > to 100 full.
> >
> > Philip Herlihy wrote:
> > > The network adapter on my friend's machine connects readily to my
> > > Netgear router, but not to his cable router, although other machines do.
> > >
> > > I've recently reinstalled XP (Media Centre) from the original CD for a
> > > friend. To get started loading drivers, I'd plugged in a USB-Ethernet
> > > adapter and loaded the driver from the supplied CD. Then I was able to
> > > use driveragent.com to identify components and supply drivers.
> > > Eventually I had a clean Device Manager, and the machine running
> > > sweetly.
> > >
> > > Before handing it over, I checked that the built-in Ethernet adapter was
> > > working. I switched the cable from the USB adapter to the motherboard
> > > connector, and was immediately able to connect to the web. Both
> > > adapters are set to use DHCP.
> > >
> > > When my friend took his machine back and connected it up to his cable
> > > modem the "Acquiring Network Address" indicator is visible in the
> > > notification area but the connection fails "Limited or no connectivity".
> > > A laptop connected to the same cable reportedly succeeds.
> > >
> > > Could this be a driver issue? The PC connects flawlessly to my router
> > > but not to my friend's router. Do DHCP implementations in the routers
> > > vary enough to account for this? Any suggestions?
> > >
> > > Phil, London
> > >
>
> Thanks, Bob - I'll look at this when I'm next in front of the machine.
>
> Phil

Got there tonight, with a rucksac full of network gear. Plugged in the
network cable to the mainboard Ethernet socket - all working perfectly.
He's not a fool, (rather embarassed though) and I think the problem is
with his service, and he isn't quite network-savvy enough to know the
difference. Ping tests show numerous timeouts to well-run sites (eg.
bbc.co.uk) and pathping shows many lost packets. Of course that doesn't
explain the "Limited or no connectivity" messages (which I didn't see
tonight). Power-cycling cable modem and wireless router when necessary
was the advice, followed by complaints to the service provider if the
problems persist.

Phil