can't connect a dell laptop

[the staring frogs of Southern Iberia]

I've posted this problem before with no luck fixing it. I've gotten a new
laptop given to me from my sister in law.It was used by her company for
conducting business. It's a Dell Inspiron 2500 with win 2000 professional on
it. My problem is it won't connect to my home internet access. I can't
browse the web at all from it when I connect it to my ethernet cable.
The desktop and my other HP laptop have no problem getting online
using a cable modem and a netgear router. Both the desktop and HP laptop
connect using Cat 5 cabling. Two different rooms in the house.
I've tried connecting the cable to the Dell's ethernet connection
but no joy. The green LED on the connection lights up, a balloon on the Dell
pops up saying I'm connected at 100mps but the yellow LED flickers once or
twice then nothing. I've tried pinging google etc. and surfing but all I get
is constant 404's.
The progress bar at the bottom of IE6 climbs slowly then nothing.
What am I doing wrong?
Could it be software leftover from the business apps that is blocking
the connection? I haven't wiped the drive since it didn't come with a
recovery disk.

BTW, I posted this a few minutes ago on public.win2000.networking but it
seems the newsgroups has disappeared from the MS server.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I've posted this problem before with no luck fixing it. I've gotten a new
laptop given to me from my sister in law.It was used by her company for
conducting business. It's a Dell Inspiron 2500 with win 2000 professional on
it. My problem is it won't connect to my home internet access. I can't
browse the web at all from it when I connect it to my ethernet cable.
The desktop and my other HP laptop have no problem getting online
using a cable modem and a netgear router. Both the desktop and HP laptop
connect using Cat 5 cabling. Two different rooms in the house.
I've tried connecting the cable to the Dell's ethernet connection
but no joy. The green LED on the connection lights up, a balloon on the Dell
pops up saying I'm connected at 100mps but the yellow LED flickers once or
twice then nothing. I've tried pinging google etc. and surfing but all I get
is constant 404's.
The progress bar at the bottom of IE6 climbs slowly then nothing.
What am I doing wrong?
Could it be software leftover from the business apps that is blocking
the connection? I haven't wiped the drive since it didn't come with a
recovery disk.

BTW, I posted this a few minutes ago on public.win2000.networking but it
seems the newsgroups has disappeared from the MS server.

Win2000.networking has not disappeared from the MS server.
You have in fact multi-posted your query, which makes you
very unpopular because it leads to duplication of effort. Use
cross-posting instead.

A good starting point would be to post the full output generated
by the command

ipconfig /all

when executed on the problem machine and one of the other
machines.

 

[the staring frogs of Southern Iberia]

The following is the results from the working HP laptop

:\Documents and Settings\Owner>ipconfig/all

indows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : hewlett-63wy6j1
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : hsd1.ma.comcast.net.

thernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.ma.comcast.net.
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : VIA Compatable Fast Ethernet
Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-C0-9F-0B-57-51
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.3
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 68.87.71.226
68.87.73.242
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Tuesday, June 20, 2006 8:10:01 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Monday, January 18, 2038 11:14:07
PM


The following are the results from the non working Dell laptop which I've
had to copy from the machine

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . .: DC3RVZ01
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . :
Node Type .........................: Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled ...............: NO
Wins Proxy Enabled ...............: No
DNS Suffix Search List ...........: hsd1.ma.comcast.net

Ethernet Adapter Local Area Connection :

Connection-specific DNS Suffix...:hsd1.ma.comcast.net
Description .............................: Actiontec 82559-based Mini
PCE Ethernet Adapter (10/100)
Physical Address ....................: 00-20-EO-6F-B4-97
DHCP Enabled ......................: Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled ......: Yes
IP Address.............................: 192.168.0.4
Subnet Mask .........................: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway ....................: 192.168.0.1
DHCP Server ........................: 192.168.0.1
DNS Servers .......................: 68.87.71.226
: 68.87.73.242
Lease Obtained ......................: Tuesday June 20,2006 9.56 PM
Lease Expires .........................: Monday January 18, 2038
10:14 PM

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

These entries look fine. Now try these commands on
the Dell laptop and report the results:
ping 192.168.0.1
ping 192.168.0.3
ping 68.87.71.226
ping 66.102.7.104
ping www.google.com

 

[the staring frogs of Southern Iberia]

I tried those commands you suggested this morning. Gotta head to work and
will post results later. Briefly though all commands got a reply except for
the 192.168.0.3. That one timed out.
All others were 4 packets sent, 4 received.
Is there an easy way to copy the command prompt screen and transfer
it to another computer so I don't have to type it out verbatim?

 

[Todd]

Windows XP and Windows 2000 have different default workgroup names. Also
the laptop that was used for business may be part of a domain, not a
workgroup.

Make sure that the laptop is part of a workgroup, and that the workgroup
name is the same as the other computers you are trying to network it to.

 

[Colon Terminus]

Sorry, Todd.
None of this has anything at all to do with not being able to connect to the
internet thru the router. Workgroup name isn't a consideration. As long as
the IP address and DNS servers are correct (and the OP's are correct,
obviously being assigned via the3 DHCP function of the router) then it
should be able to connect to the internet. Something else is blocking it,
most likely something such as Zone Alarm or some other software firewall.

 

[the staring frogs of Southern Iberia]

I just hooked up the Dell and tried your commands.

192.168.0.1
Request timed out
Reply from 192.168.0.1: bytes32 time(10ms TTL 250
Request timed out
Reply from 192.168.0.1 bytes32 time (10ms TTL 250
Ping statistics for 192.168.0.1
Packets sent = 4 Received=2 Lost=2 (50%loss)
Approximate round trip
Minimun= 0ms, Maximun = 0ms


Pinging 192.168.0.3 with 32 bytes of data

Destination host unreachable
Destination host unreachable
Destination host unreachable
Destination host unreachable

Ping statistics for 192.167.0.3
Packets sent = 4 Received = 0 Lost = 4 (100% loss)

Pinging 68.87.71.226

Destination host unreachable
Destination host unreachable
Destination host unreachable
Destination host unreachable

Ping statistics for 68.87.71.226
Packets sent = 4 Received = 0 Lost = 4

Pinging 66.102.7.104
Reply from 66.102.7.104 bytes =32 time=134ms TTL = 233
Request timed out
Reply from 66.102.7.104 bytes =32 time=84ms TTL=233
Reply from 66.102.7.104 bytes=32 time=84ms TTl=233

Ping statistics for 66.102.7.104
Packets sent=4 Received =3 Lost=1
Approximate round trip times in milliseconds
Minimum =84 Maximum =134 Average = 75 ms

Pinging www.google.com
Unknown host www.google.com

I took the liberty of trying to ping just "google.com"
and got these results
Reply from 72.14.207.99 bytes=32 time=40ms TTL=234
Reply from 72.14.207.99 bytes=32 time=40ms TTL=234
Reply from 72.14.207.99 bytes=32 time=38ms TTL=234
Request timed out

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

You have an intermittent network connection. This could be
caused by one of the following:
- Bad network adapter
- Bad network cable
- Incorrectly terminated network cable plug
- Extremely strong interference

You can probably get it to work by forcing the Dell network
adapter to run at 10 MBit/s instead of 100 MBits/s although
it would be better to resolve the problem properly.

 

[the staring frogs of Southern Iberia]

Since I have no problem hooking up with the HP laptop using the
same cable, I will have to assume it's a bad network adapter. This morning I
tried connecting and actually got to google. Thinking the problem was
resolved I tried a few other sites. Some loaded but very slowly and some
never loaded at all.
It does seem to be more of an intermittent problem. The cable is
fine along with the terminal plugs. I made them myself.
By network adapter I assume your referring to the Actiontec PCI one
in the Dell. Could it be drivers or just a bad card?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Since I have no problem hooking up with the HP laptop using the
same cable, I will have to assume it's a bad network adapter. This morning I
tried connecting and actually got to google. Thinking the problem was
resolved I tried a few other sites. Some loaded but very slowly and some
never loaded at all.
It does seem to be more of an intermittent problem. The cable is
fine along with the terminal plugs. I made them myself.
By network adapter I assume your referring to the Actiontec PCI one
in the Dell. Could it be drivers or just a bad card?

I suspect the card but only a trial with a different card will
tell for sure. They are cheap. The intermittent operation also
confirms that your suspicion of some company software
blocking network access is incorrect.

 

[the staring frogs of Southern Iberia]

Thanks for the help. RE: the firewall. Those thoughts didn't belong
to me. When I first ran Belarc, it showed no presence of a third party
firewall other than possibly Norton which is usually the first thing I dump.
I think my next move will be to wipe the drive, reinstall with the
most recent drivers and try that. If that fails I'll look into a newer card.
Never having worked on a laptop, is that a DIY?

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

I tried those commands you suggested this morning. Gotta head to work and
will post results later. Briefly though all commands got a reply except for
the 192.168.0.3. That one timed out.
All others were 4 packets sent, 4 received.
Is there an easy way to copy the command prompt screen and transfer
it to another computer so I don't have to type it out verbatim?

While in the Command Prompt screen, do this:
- Click Alt+Enter
- Click Mark
- Use your arrow keys to navigate to the beginning
of the area of interest.
- Hold down a Shift key.
- Use your arrow keys to select the lines of interest.
- Press Enter
- Open notepad.exe
- Click Edit / Paste

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Thanks for the help. RE: the firewall. Those thoughts didn't belong
to me. When I first ran Belarc, it showed no presence of a third party
firewall other than possibly Norton which is usually the first thing I dump.
I think my next move will be to wipe the drive, reinstall with the
most recent drivers and try that. If that fails I'll look into a newer card.
Never having worked on a laptop, is that a DIY?

Reloading Windows because of a minor problem like this
is a little over the top. Loading Windows is not hard but
finding the various drivers (screen, network adapter,
sound card, APM) can be quite difficult. At the very least
I would store a snapshot of the current installation on another
disk before embarking on this exercise.