Router will not give a workable I.P. address--

Howdy,

I have a home network based around a Linksys BEFSR41 V.2 Router/ 4 port switch and a Comcast cable connection. All are using either Win98 or Win98se O/S.

For the past couple of weeks, I am unable to get workable I.P. addresses from my router to the ethernet cards in several of my computers. My hobby is building/repairing "vintage" computers for my family and friends. So for the past year or so, it's been great to just plug in, connect, and download with great speed.

All of these computers have NIC's that are correctly installed and have been on my network at one time or another. Now, when I plug one in----all I keep getting is the Windows default I.P. address 169.248.12.17. Of course, it won't connect. I change the I.P. in the Network Properties Config and still it's a no go. My router is not seeing the computer that I trying to connect.

I can plug in a USB to Ethernet adapter and it works great!! Valid I.P. addresses and instant connections with any and all computers.

It works with the NIC's in two of my computers....my wife's and my main personal computer and they both have ethernet cards.

Your help and advice will be greatly appreciated.

I guess my question is, "How do I get this thing to give the computers with NIC's a valid I.P. address?"

Spaceman

Well, I can give you some general advice, having had almost the exact same setup (except a linksys router and cable modem). To be more specific I'd have to ask you a couple of questions.

1.) Are you using DHCP to assign IP address to your PCs?
2.) If you are using DHCP to have the router automatically assign IPs to the PCs you need to make sure that "Obtain and IP address automatically" is checked and "Disable WINS Resolution" is checked, as well as "Disable DNS" and that no Gateway is selected. This will allow the Router to assign the IPs automatically.

Something else you can do (and I'm pretty sure it works in Win98 SE, but I haven't used that for a while) is use one of the computers that does work and make a Network Settings disk (floppy disk) that you can load onto the other machines that will set their networks up the exact same way as the other one.

There's a chance that for some reason your NIC cards in the computers that aren't working are loaded wrong, or the drivers are out of whack. I've had this happen once before and racked my brains trying to figure out what setting I had wrong, when it turned out the when I just reloaded the drivers for the NIC card everything worked fine.

Also, if your router is still not able to find the comptuers, you can use DirectX to check to see if the computers can even talk to each other.

This is a little more complicated, so let me know if the above settings work.

Hi Webshark2000,

Yes...to both of your questions. The network configurations are set up exactly as you described. And, the proper drivers are installed in each and every NIC card. I have used all of them before and they are "Working Properly" in Device Manager.

Now, what do you want me to do?

Spaceman

Ok, you have to have DirectX version 6 or higher, but I think Win98 comes with a higher version than 6 so you should be ok.

On one of the computers that are working click the Start button on the Windows taskbar, choose Run, and type dxdiag.exe in the Open box, then click OK. The version number is displayed on the System tab of the tool.

On the Network tab of DirectX Diagnostic Tool click the Test DirectPlay button. In the DirectPlay Test dialog box, type a name in the User Name box, then choose the TCP/IP Service Provider.

Just leave the TCP/IP port spot blank. Choose Create New Test Session and you can call it anything you want. Then press OK. Go to the computer that isn't working and do the same exact thing (exept different User Name) and choose the Join Existing Session button, then click OK. It will ask you for the address of the other session. You can put in that computer's IP address, but you can also just put in the computer's name.

See if they connect for the chat session. If they do, you know that your NIC cards are at least able to talk to each other and it's probably just a setting that's off.

Something else you may want to do is make sure all of the computers are on the same Network. Meaning, when you right-click on Network Neighborhood and go to it's properties, click on the Identificiation tab and change the Network name to the same on all computers. Then turn off each computer and unplug the router and cable modem for about 30 seconds.

Turn everything back on in this order:
Cablemodem, router, 1st computer that you know works, second that you know works, then the computer that doesn't work.

The last thing you can do is uninstall the NIC card in the Device Manager in the System control panel, turn off the computer, open the case, take out the NIC card, turn the comptuer on, let it run for a few seconds, then shut it down again, put the NIC card into a different PCI slot, and turn the computer back on.

If none of this works let me know.

I was just thinking about something else. With your router you should be able to go in and change the settings by going to your web browser and typing in the router's gateway IP address (usually 192.168.1.1). If you can do this with one of the comptuer's that work, but can't do it with the one that doesn't work it means your NIC card isn't even sending information back and forth from the router (could be something wrong with the card even if it's showing it's fine, or could be a bad CAT5 cable, or even a bad port on the router).

Also, you may try shutting all of the computers down and just starting up the one that doesn't work, see if for some reason the router is only assigning IPs to the first two computers that request one.

Webshark...WOW!!!

You did so much work on this for me and I really appreciate your time and effort.

I will do these things and get back to you when they are finished.

I am using one computer as my "test unit". I just unhooked everything and set up this computer straight into the cable modem--static. BOOM! No sweat. Great connection everything fine.

Then, went into Network config. and unchecked everything and shut down this computer and the cable modem. Re-hooked the network and restarted. My main computer and my wife's is fine.
My "test unit" is blinking on the router, but it's back to the 169.274 65.114 Windows IP and not working.

---one minute delay to attach the USB-Ethernet adapter to the "test unit"---

Now the test unit is working fine with the USB adapter.


I'm doing or not doing something....should I clone the MAC address in the router's config? Or, set up the router static?


SM

Webshark,My Friend,

First, let me Thank You for all your help, expertise, and advice. I really appreciate your time and effort in solving this problem.

Second, here is the problem: "Ta-Da!!"
For lack of a better word, Port 3 on the router is "goofy". It will accept/use/employ a USB to Ethernet adapter perfectly. It will not behave itself with an internal ethernet card---it goes on strike and refuses to change it's ways. So, I shall use fickle and spoiled Port 3 with it's "adapter of choice" and try to live in harmony with it!

Thanks, again.

Spaceman

Well, it's good to hear that you got it working, but that does sound very strange. You mean to say that if you plug even one of the working computers into port 3 they don't work either?

And the computer that wasn't working will work on any of the other ports besides 3?

That is strange that it won't accept just one type of Ethernet connection, but hey, I've seen computers do a lot of strange, unexplained things.

Glad to hear you got it working, even if it's not exactly what you were hoping for.