Can't Connect to Internet At Home

[Brian]

Hello...

A friend called me to say on her new Toshiba laptop with Windows XP Home,
she can connect to the net via her USB port but not the Ethernet port. And
at work, she connects to the network there via Ethernet just fine. She just
can't connect to the network at home via Ethernet.

Suggestions?
Thanks,
Brian

 

[Tim Slattery]

Hello...

A friend called me to say on her new Toshiba laptop with Windows XP Home,
she can connect to the net via her USB port but not the Ethernet port. And
at work, she connects to the network there via Ethernet just fine. She just
can't connect to the network at home via Ethernet.

The most likely reason is that the cable she's connecting to the
Ethernet port isn't connected to anything at the other end.

You haven't told us anything about what she's connecting to at home.
What's the USB cable she's plugging in connected to? What's the
ethernet cable connected to? Is she really sure that the ethernet
cable is connected to the Internet - because this kind of behavior is
pretty good evidence that it isn't.

 

[Brian]

Here is the additional info from her:


When I played with it last night, I had one ethernet cable connected between
the laptop and the wireless router and another between the router and the
cable modem. The USB came into play when I wanted to make sure I could get
to the internet without the wireless router in the mix.

OK - Leave the wireless router out of the equation for a minute. First I
tried to get to the internet by connecting my laptop directly to the cable
modem, using the ethernet cable, but that didn't work. I turned off the
power strip to the cable modem briefly during this process to force it to
reset, but no go. So I connected the laptop to the cable modem using the USB
connection instead (again, resetting the modem by turning off the power to
it) and that worked. I ran into problems trying to go through the setup of
the wireless router, because it insists on ethernet connections and I
couldn't get that to work.

 

[Malke]

Here is the additional info from her:


When I played with it last night, I had one ethernet cable connected
between the laptop and the wireless router and another between the
router and the cable modem. The USB came into play when I wanted to
make sure I could get to the internet without the wireless router in
the mix.

OK - Leave the wireless router out of the equation for a minute. First
I tried to get to the internet by connecting my laptop directly to the
cable
modem, using the ethernet cable, but that didn't work. I turned off
the power strip to the cable modem briefly during this process to
force it to reset, but no go. So I connected the laptop to the cable
modem using the USB connection instead (again, resetting the modem by
turning off the power to it) and that worked. I ran into problems
trying to go through the setup of the wireless router, because it
insists on ethernet connections and I couldn't get that to work.

It sounds like either the drivers for the ethernet NIC aren't installed
or the NIC has been disabled. She should first look at the NIC in
Device Manager and see if it has been disabled. If it has, all she has
to do is right-click it and enable it.

Let us know what the situation is with the NIC - and it would be helpful
to know what it is and the make/model of the computer - before we go
further. There isn't any point in wild guessing without solid
information about the system.

Malke

 

[Brian]

It sounds like either the drivers for the ethernet NIC aren't installed
or the NIC has been disabled. She should first look at the NIC in
Device Manager and see if it has been disabled. If it has, all she has
to do is right-click it and enable it.

Let us know what the situation is with the NIC - and it would be helpful
to know what it is and the make/model of the computer - before we go
further. There isn't any point in wild guessing without solid
information about the system.

Malke

Well, as mentioned in the first post, the NIC is working at her workplace
just not at home.

 

[Tim Slattery]

Here is the additional info from her:


When I played with it last night, I had one ethernet cable connected between
the laptop and the wireless router and another between the router and the
cable modem. The USB came into play when I wanted to make sure I could get
to the internet without the wireless router in the mix.

OK - Leave the wireless router out of the equation for a minute. First I
tried to get to the internet by connecting my laptop directly to the cable
modem, using the ethernet cable, but that didn't work.

OK, so you can use the cable modem's USB connection but not its
Ethernet connection. So that would seem to be where the problem is. IF
the cable company owns the modem, your next step is their support
department. If your friend owns the modem...I guess check the booklet
that comes with it, check it's manufacturer's support department. The
model may be faulty and you may need a replacement.

 

[Malke]

Well, as mentioned in the first post, the NIC is working at her
workplace just not at home.

Then I don't know. Perhaps she has the router set to filter MAC
addresses and the MAC address of the NIC hasn't been added to the list.

Malke

 

[Guest]

Take the USB cable off modem and pc shut down pc. Run enet to both pc and
MODEM. Take of connection to www(IE coax if cable), power up the pc, then go
start>cmd>ipconfig
your ip should be 192.168.x.x if so modem, nic, pc are ok, if not one of the
3 are bad

 

[Frank]

Hello...

A friend called me to say on her new Toshiba laptop with Windows XP
Home, she can connect to the net via her USB port but not the
Ethernet port. And at work, she connects to the network there via
Ethernet just fine. She just can't connect to the network at home
via Ethernet.
Suggestions?
Thanks,
Brian

This sounds as if the cable is provisioned for USB and not Ethernet.
You should be able to _completely power down_ everything. (nothing
plugged to power)..Restart one at a time.