hotshot

Hi Everyone,

This has got me stumped. Not that I'm all that knowlegeable, but I'm usually able to find the solution on the internet!

I have a Linksys router connecting two computers. One running XP Pro, one running 98 SE. The two computers can see each other. They can both access the router (by typing in the router's address in the browser address bar). But the 98 machine cannot access the internet.

My only feeling for what could be the cause of this is that I was having problems with the 98 not being able to see the XP, so I ran the Lan wizard on the XP and it asked me if I wanted to make a disk to apply the new Lan settings to other computers on the Lan. I said yes, and it put an executable on a disk. I ran the executable on the 98, and it seems like it fixed the problem of the 98 not seeing the XP, but broke the internet. Seems that way to me, anyways.

I tried running a program on the 98 machine that would rebuild Winsock settings. Still no go.

Any ideas?

heartbomb

I have on problem before and that I cannot share my internet connection on the windows 98 computer. And all I did is that instead of using the Automatic Addressing in your IP, I used the Static IP Addressing. I set the IP Address Manualy and before all that try to know the Primary DNS of your ISP.

I hope that gives you Ideas...

hotshot

Wayne this is the second time you have posted to manually assign an IP address as the way to solve a network problem. I don't wan't to discourage you from posting, but this just not the first step in troubleshooting a failed internet connection. Unless you have some solid basis other than it worked for me once, please stop posting this advice. It is NOT helpfull.

heartbomb

Please explain what options you selected when running the wizzard. Please run WINIPCFG on the 98 machine and select your network card from the pull down menu. Please post back with the IP address. I think we can assume the NIC card and the cable are good as the machines can speak to each other.

Let's start with this information and then we can go from there.

hotshot

Hi;

I finally managed to fix the problem last night. Thank you for offering to help.

For general info, I will outline how I fixed the problem:

Previous to getting the router, it was the XP machine that had been connected to the internet, via DSL modem. The 98 laptop had never been connected to the internet at all.

After getting the router but previous to the problem, we had been able to simply plug in the 98 laptop via ethernet cable to the router, and get internet on both machines.

I realized I should work backwards: I should get the laptop to connect to the internet through the DSL modem, without the router. We had never done that before.

So I downloaded a program from my ISP webpage that installed a PPPoE protocol for the 98 laptop. I created a connection to my ISP with my username and password. Bingo! That worked.

Then I disconnected the laptop from the modem and put everything back the way it had been before; that is, both computers connected to the DSL line/modem via the router.

And it worked. Phew.

I noticed that this time around, the DSL line automatically disconnects every once in a while. I'm not sure why that is, but it seems tied to why, this time, I had to create the PPPoE connection on the laptop, whereas before I didn't. I actually have to manually connect on both machines sometimes; before I didn't.

But anyways, I'm happy now. Thanks again; I'll keep this site bookmarked for future emergencies.

*Edit: maybe I didn't have to manually connect on the 98 before because I had cloned a MAC address? I was having problems before, when I first set up the router, and found info somewhere suggesting to clone the MAC address; I did, it worked...but then later I reset the modem because neither machine seemed to be connecting...maybe cloning the MAC address is one solution and what I did this time is another? And I forgot to clone the MAC address again when I reset the router?

heartbomb

You need to go a step further and rid yourself of the crappy, buggy,stupid, resource hogging DSL software.

You can set the PPPoE settings in the router so no matter what machine connects to the router it will work w/o going through software gymnastics.

hotshot

Hi;

sorry I took a while to reply.

What should I change in the router settings to get it to work as you propose?

heartbomb

There should be a pull down menu on the first page of the router firmware. Select PPPoE from the list. Once you select that, there should be a box for your user name and password. Fill them in and save the settings. That should be it.

hotshot

some routers, depends on settings, do automatically disconnect the DSL line after some time of inactivity. There should be a setting somewhere in the router config page.

hotshot

PPPoE is not real always on connection. It creates a fake dial-up connection. The dial up connection comes up. You need a user name and password. That's what their software does.

As noted by klapacius, there are settings in the router firmware that allow you control how often to log in or keep the connection active.