Hi-speed internet access with Windows 98SE?

[John Corliss]

My brother is trying to get high speed internet access through Charter
and he's using Windows 98SE. His network card is a Realtek RTL8139/810x
Family Fast Ethernet NIC, which is made in Taiwan. On the other hand,
the cable modem he was provided by Charter is made in China.

The end result is that when you run WINIPCFG.exe on his computer, the IP
address and default gateway are both 0.0.0.0. This should not be the
case because a Charter rep tried getting things to work and was stymied.
He said that "Windows 98 isn't really set up for high speed internet
access" and that's pure bull. I have other friends that are running
Windows 98 and have high speed internet access, and through Charter too.

IME, Chinese made cable modems deliberately don't work with NICs made in
Taiwan. For instance, I'm running a Motorola Surfboard that was made in
Mexico because the identical units made in China won't work with my NIC
which is the same type and model as my brother's.

Can anybody recommend a good Chinese made PCI NIC or am I wrong and is
it maybe something that Windows 98SE is doing?

 

[Gerard Bok]

My brother is trying to get high speed internet access through Charter
and he's using Windows 98SE. His network card is a Realtek RTL8139/810x
Family Fast Ethernet NIC, which is made in Taiwan. On the other hand,
the cable modem he was provided by Charter is made in China.

The end result is that when you run WINIPCFG.exe on his computer, the IP
address and default gateway are both 0.0.0.0. This should not be the
case because a Charter rep tried getting things to work and was stymied.
He said that "Windows 98 isn't really set up for high speed internet
access" and that's pure bull. I have other friends that are running
Windows 98 and have high speed internet access, and through Charter too.

IME, Chinese made cable modems deliberately don't work with NICs made in
Taiwan. For instance, I'm running a Motorola Surfboard that was made in
Mexico because the identical units made in China won't work with my NIC
which is the same type and model as my brother's.

Can anybody recommend a good Chinese made PCI NIC or am I wrong and is
it maybe something that Windows 98SE is doing?

There's nothing wrong with Windows 98SE 'high speed' internet
access.
There's nothing wrong with Realtek RTL8139.

My 2 cents: if Chinese made gear wouldn't work, the internet
would be a very quiet place. At least

 

[John Corliss]

There's nothing wrong with Windows 98SE 'high speed' internet
access.
There's nothing wrong with Realtek RTL8139.

My 2 cents: if Chinese made gear wouldn't work, the internet
would be a very quiet place. At least

But I didn't say that Chinese made gear doesn't work. I said that the
Chinese made cable modem might not want to hold hands with the Taiwanese
made NIC. That's been my experience as I mentioned in my OP.

Bear in mind, Taiwan is *not* a part of China. China want to reabsorb
Taiwan like they did Hong Kong. At the same time, Taiwan wants to end
Communism in China and take *them* over.

I see this potentially deliberate hardware incompatibility as perhaps
having political overtones but of course, didn't come here to start a
political discussion thread. 80)>

I merely asked:

You've answered the second part of my question and I thank you for that.

(PS. I wish I'd written down the make and model of the cable modem
Charter provided my brother. However, he did tell me that it clearly had
"Made in China" molded onto the case.)

 

[Mike Walsh]

Go into network neighborhood and manually configure TCP/IP addresses. You will need the LAN side IP address of the cable modem to use as the gateway address.

 

[kony]

It's a windows configuration problem.


Agreed, while win98's networking is spartan compared to
predecessors, it'll do this job fine.


False conclusion. Country of origin has nothing to do with
it.

But I didn't say that Chinese made gear doesn't work. I said that the
Chinese made cable modem might not want to hold hands with the Taiwanese
made NIC. That's been my experience as I mentioned in my OP.

Youu based your conclusion on data you'd misinterpreted.

Bear in mind, Taiwan is *not* a part of China. China want to reabsorb
Taiwan like they did Hong Kong. At the same time, Taiwan wants to end
Communism in China and take *them* over.

It doesn't matter if Taiwan was a part of planet Saturn,
this is why we have standards and unless either of the
devices were defective, they'll work together fine so long
as the remaining elements are in place, like a properly
connected cable (between nic and modem), between external
junction and modem, and the OS is set up correctly.


Country of origin is NEVER a factor for anyone setting this
up, including the prior exposure you had that led up to this
point.

 

[kony]

Agreed, while win98's networking is spartan compared to
predecessors, it'll do this job fine.

OOPS, meant successors not predecessors.

 

[Grinder]

But I didn't say that Chinese made gear doesn't work. I said that the
Chinese made cable modem might not want to hold hands with the Taiwanese
made NIC. That's been my experience as I mentioned in my OP.

I can attest from personal experience that a Taiwanese NIC, in a Windows
98se machine, can offer hi-speed internet access while I'm eating
Chinese food.

 

[John Corliss]

It's a windows configuration problem.
And???


Agreed, while win98's networking is spartan compared to
predecessors, it'll do this job fine.

I had my brother's computer hooked up to my modem in my house and it was
able to get high speed access. Thus, my modem (made in Mexico) works
with my brother's NIC. Charter's modem (made in China), on the other
hand, doesn't.

False conclusion. Country of origin has nothing to do with
it.

That's your opinion only. It's certainly not mine.

Youu based your conclusion on data you'd misinterpreted.

I tried four different identical modems from Circuit City, all of them
made in China. None of them, not one, would hold hands with my Realtek NIC.

When my ISP had me try another identical modem except for the fact that
it had been made in Mexico, it worked.

It doesn't matter if Taiwan was a part of planet Saturn,
this is why we have standards and unless either of the
devices were defective, they'll work together fine so long
as the remaining elements are in place, like a properly
connected cable (between nic and modem), between external
junction and modem, and the OS is set up correctly.

Sorry, but I don't buy that. Yes, there are standards, but it doesn't
take much to get around them and it's very difficult to enforce them.

Country of origin is NEVER a factor for anyone setting this
up, including the prior exposure you had that led up to this
point.

You have nothing to base that conclusion on. I, on the other hand, do
have proof for my theory.

However, you are not going to draw me into a pissing match over this issue.

Over and out.

 

[John Corliss]

Thanks, Mike. I'll give that a try if another modem doesn't work. At
this point, my brother is going to give the modem back to Charter and
ask for a list of approved modems. They wanted to rent a $30 modem to
him for $6 a month. My brother doesn't like that idea a bit and is going
to buy his own.

 

[kony]

And???

.... and considering the lax security on Win98, all the
better to have a router inbetween this system and the modem.

I had my brother's computer hooked up to my modem in my house and it was
able to get high speed access. Thus, my modem (made in Mexico) works
with my brother's NIC. Charter's modem (made in China), on the other
hand, doesn't.

The country of origin has NOTHING to do with it.
You're just wrong for assuming it did, period.