Broadband connection

[Mark]

I have upgraded a family laptop from Windows ME to XP
Home. I want to connect to the Internet to activate
Windows and update the files. The laptop had a dial-up
Internet connection, but I want to use my Broadband USB
modem for speed.

The upgrade went well. However, when I tried to connect
to the Internet it tried to use the dial-up connection
rather than the Broadband connection. So I deleted the
dial-up connection - now there is only one way to connect
to the net. The laptop recognises the connection (in
Network Connections it shows the ADSL connection as
enabled, the LAN connection as 'cable unplugged'). Modem
drivers are installed and the hardware is showing 2 green
lights ('on' and 'line OK').

However, when I run Internet Explorer it has a think then
returns 'Page cannot be displayed'. I have run the
Intenet Connection and Netwrok set-up wizards many, many
times, to no avail. If the machine recognises the
connection, how do I get IE to use it? It's driving me
potty (I've even tried networking the laptop into my
desktop - which does use the connection - to make the
laptop the client using a shared Internet connection, but
that does not work either).

 

[Rob Elder, MVP-Networking]

What IP address are you getting?

 

[Mark]

Hi,

The laptop is not set back to stand-alone mode, with a
direct connection to the Internet (in theory...).
The 'Broadband Connection' TCP/IP properties are set to
obtain IP Address automatically.

When I run 'ipconfig' in the DOS window it says:

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Media State.............: Media disconnected

Ethernet adapter Broadband Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix...:
Auroconfiguration IP Address.....: 169.254.55.3
Subnet Mask......................: 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway..................:

Regards,
Mark

 

[Guest]

That should read 'is now set back to'

-----Original Message-----
Hi,

The laptop is not set back to stand-alone mode, with a
direct connection to the Internet (in theory...).
The 'Broadband Connection' TCP/IP properties are set to
obtain IP Address automatically.

When I run 'ipconfig' in the DOS window it says:

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Media State.............: Media disconnected

Ethernet adapter Broadband Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix...:
Auroconfiguration IP Address.....: 169.254.55.3
Subnet Mask......................: 255.255.0.0
Default Gateway..................:

Regards,
Mark

.

 

[Mark]

Problem solved - got the laptop networked into the desktop
and got round it that was. Still don't know why the
laptop would not 'speak' to the modem directly.

Mark