Need help with Verizon DSL & Windows XP

[quilt191]

Hello All,

I am personally running Verizon FIOS without any problems. However, my father-in-law still has Verizon DSL, which he has been using without any problems for the last 4 years until now.

To make the long story short, it seems that the LAN card that came with his old Dell PC died. I pulled it (there is no LAN NIC on the motherboard), and installed a new LAN card, which supports 10/100 MBps and is RoHS complient. However, for some unknown still to us reason, he is getting the LAN "Limited Connection" error.

I have tried everything I could think of, and spent over 6 hours with 3 different Verizon DSL tech support folks. However, we cannot even get to 192.168.1.1 (which is the address of the Westell 6100). I have tried even slowing the LAN card to 10 Mbps / Half-Duplex (or Full). TCP/IPv4 is set to obtain IP / DNS automatically and etc...  It's also set to DHCP.

We know fo sure that his Verizon DSL connection does work. Why? Because when I plugged in the same Ethernet cable into a laptop that I brought with me, we had an instant Internet connection (running Windows 7).

So it must be something within Windows XP that is blocking access. I am trying to do everything to not having for him to buy a new computer at this time and save the current system.

I have deleted any and all Network cards drivers in the Control Panel / System / Devices. I have NOT messed with any registry tricks, but am now willing.

Any and all help with suggestions is greately appreciated.

[chuye]

I also was getting Limited Connection like a month ago. I had to go to Control Panel Network and Internet Connections Network Connections create new connections. That helped until I turned the PC off and had limited connection. I realized that one of my routers was causing something that would lose the connection. I am lucky that I have like 2 routers so I changed the one I had in the closet with the one was was causing interference and now it works. I have my 6100 modem connected to a Trendnet wi-fi with router which was not the problem but the other router the ethernet cable went into. So maybe making the create new connections might work.

[armond_in_nj1]

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@quilt191 wrote:

 ... if I pull the RJ-45 cable and plug it into my own laptop, the Internet works without any problems.  So the cable is not an issue ...

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I still cannot get away from the hardware side of the problem.  You've tried a new card, you've "jiggled" the cables, etc.  Have you tried another PCI slot? I assume "Device Manager" shows "operating properly" for the card, but just in case.

Grabbing for straws, but "grabbing" nonetheless.

[quilt191]

I dont mind you asking about those, but yes, I did try another PCI slot, the cable is just fine (as if I plug it into my laptop, all works),   Device Manager has the driver working.  I tried different speeds and duplex modesm for the card.  Etc.. etc..

Stumped!

[smith6612]

Do you have a Linux LiveCD/LiveDVD handy? If not, you can grab one via Download and make one from sites like Ubuntu.com or FedoraProject.org. Try booting the Windows XP machine from a Linux disk, and use the live desktop you boot into by default to see if the Internet works fine from within Linux on the same desktop. That should prove the hardware as working, and the fault to actually be with Windows XP.

You do not need to install Linux to load to a Linux desktop. It can work entirely off the CD assuming the machine has enough RAM. 1GB should do, and Linux should have support for the most common network adapters. Firefox is included with most distributions and should be easy to find. If you've never touched Linux before, don't worry about the network adapter if it doesn't work, not all do out of the box. Just reboot back into Windows and do what you need to do.

The network status on Linux is often found on the top menu bar near the system clock. It should show up as arrows or as a computer screen depending on what type of Desktop package the distro uses. Most use GNOME.

[walt178]

Another possibility is that the newLAN card is defective.  If so that wouldn't be the first time new equipment was bad.