Problem connecting to the internet

[chellethecat]

Okay, this might take a moment to explain, but... I'll do my best to be as precise as possible.

Roughly a month ago I found myself, rather out of the blue, unable to connect to the internet. I have never had a problem like this in the past. I got a connection when I first powered up the machine, and every time I rebooted it - but the connection only lasted a maximum of five minutes. The first thing I thought to do was check for any viruses or malware. Scans came back clean. I ran through a number of fixes that were tossed at me, including disabling the net card and scanning for it again. Nothing worked. After seemingly exhausting my possibilities we took a shot and determined that it had to be a hardware issue and ordered me a new card.

I got the card installed, and instantly I was back online and all seemed right with the world. This lasted for exactly ONE WEEK... and then, I noticed I was having problems with my connection seeming really laggy. I didn't think much of it at the time to be honest, as I was running an image render in a 3d imaging program and this can slow my system down if the image is intense. The image finished, and sure enough it seemed okay then... for about an hour and it started acting up again. I decided just to shut down for the night as it was late anyway, and figured I would putz with it in the morning. However, when I booted back up I once again had no internet connection.

Again virus scans and malware scans were run, and again they came back clean. Then, it was suggested that perhaps something corrupted in my windows files and to try a repair or reinstall of them. So, I did... but this did not help one bit either. Finally, I became so frustrated that I decided to hell with it, and I formatted the drive and decided to start from scratch. Not even THIS helped. I still cannot connect to the internet.

So, then we figured, okay - maybe in some weird fluke, the new card crapped out. So, I borrowed my Mom's wireless USB adapter and tried that - but not even IT will connect to the internet. I am SO tired of this, so frustrated that it almost puts me in tears. This just isn't funny anymore.

OS is WinXP Pro
ISP is Road Runner
connect to the internet via a Netgear router (normally wired connection)
Currently 4 other computers are connected to this router without problems - 3 wireless (this includes the one I'm typing from) and 1 wired

Any advice or help would be most appreciated.

[tarique_rhussai]

Well this frustration is really killing. But I appreciate your efforts. As a matter of fact there might be problem with one hardware unit [ wireless card in this case ] but not on all. I hope u get my point.

so as per the data u are having problem with 3 laptops and 1 desktop. The steps now u can do is:

1. Reset and reconfigure the router for dynamic connection
2. Check for any latest firmwares for this particular model of the router
3. Check the IP address from your Road Runner modem. The IP address should not start with 10.x.x.x or 172.x.x.x or 192.x.x.x and at any point of time u should be able to go online via modem
4. If the IP address from the modem is something as mentioned above then u will have to get the modem bridged to get a valid public IP address.
5. If all of the above things is fine then do check the IP address from the NetGear router it should be in the range of the router and the DHCP should be enabled.

Hope the above steps work for u.

Regards,
Tariq

[chellethecat]

1. Reset and reconfigure the router for dynamic connection
2. Check for any latest firmwares for this particular model of the router
3. Check the IP address from your Road Runner modem. The IP address should not start with 10.x.x.x or 172.x.x.x or 192.x.x.x and at any point of time u should be able to go online via modem
4. If the IP address from the modem is something as mentioned above then u will have to get the modem bridged to get a valid public IP address.
5. If all of the above things is fine then do check the IP address from the NetGear router it should be in the range of the router and the DHCP should be enabled.

Wrong - the other computers are working and MINE is not. And, the problem is - my connection is USUALLY wired and I don't really care about the wireless at this time. I want the wired connection which is what's not working.

1. I do not have authorization to make these changes; however through other means the router AND modem have been eliminated as possible causes of my particular problem. I even had my wired connection plugged directly into the modem and did not get a connection.

2-5. Please keep in mind that this is a case of the connection stopping SUDDENLY. I mean it literally worked fine one day and the next, gone except for the first five minutes after a reboot. Then, it worked for a week with the new card and stopped entirely after a night of slow connection and a normal shut down that night. This isn't a new connection that has never worked. So, settings are not the answer here. The setup had been working for years prior to this.