This is a long shot, but is there a chance that the IE settings went into "Work Offline" under tools\ when the computer couldn't connect to anything, and now that you have a valid ip config, maybe it's only IE having issues - that is as long as the only thing that isn't working is IE and surfing. If you can't ping the default gateway (router) or the cable modem, then something may be wrong with the Nic's settings too.
Don K ________________________________ From: Len Hammond <[email protected]> To: NT System Admin Issues <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 3:38:27 PM Subject: DNS issue Good morning folks, Recently, at a new customer who just upgraded from dial-up to cable, they havn't been able to use the cable connection - it just didn't work. Apparently Comcast wasn't able to help them, so I got the call. Anyway, what I found was that ipconfig/all showed that it had an appropriate IP address, SNM, DG and DNS servers listed. IE or FireFox couldn't find any sites on the web. From the workstation I could ping the DNS servers and any other site I knew the address of but could not ping anything by name. Suggesting that DNS wasn't working. So, I installed their new firewall/router and after a call to Comcast to get them to reset the cable modem, (the router refused to accept the connection from the modem) the router started working. As this modem also has the voice channel in it, when they reset the modem we lost our phone call with them. Anyway the modem and the router were functional after that. My laptop worked fine and could surf without problems. Their PC however was like before, even after reboots and ipconfig/all showing the DHCP configuration from the router that worked with my laptop. My conclusion is that something is wrong with the IP installation. It was here that the owner mentioned the possibility of virus infection as their Kaspersky subscription has expired. I thought about trying to unload and reload the IP stack, but then realized that I have never done that to an XP box, just done it with a rebuild. And with an unknown virus condition that is still my preferred option. They are going to move all data files to an external hard drive, plus they found all the OEM disks so a rebuild is likely in the near future Bottom line: At this point, I believe there is something wrong with the IP stack on the PC. But I am curious as to where to go to just refresh the IP stack, never having done just that. In my XP pro sp3 desk machine here, the option to uninstall IP from within the Network applet in Control Panel is greyed out. Any thoughts would be appreciated, before I nuke the client machine to start over. Although that is probably my best option considering the unknown virus condition; especially since they could not tell my why they think it is possible to have a virus (or whatever). It's so cluttered that it runs slow enough to justify a refresh on that point alone. Len Hammond CSI:Hartland [email protected] ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
