Modem Connected But unable to Browse

[DoctorWHO]

I have been doing Tech Support for several years now and I can usually solve most OS or Internet related problems, but there is 1 problem I have found no solution for as yet.

When a PC can connect to the ISP through a Dial-UP modem and stay connected, but is unable to browse.
Also MSN...ICQ and any messaging program is also unable to connect.
In a command prompt IPConfig tells me the computer has received an IP address
and is not generating one randomly, but pinging either domain names like www.google.com or pinging IP addresses comes back with no reply.
Pinging 127.0.0.1 tells me that TCP/IP is not at fault.
Changing modem drivers,recreating the dialup account in inetwiz with a new name, removing and re-installing TCP/IP and/or updating Internet explorer does not help in any way.
I have noticed this problem in ALL flavours of windows and I am usually forced to fix it with a clean install for the sake of saving time and my sanity.
In windows XP a rollback or a system restore also is unable to help, and as usual the client is unable to tell me what has happened or changed on the PC to cause this problem to begin with. (If I knew what causes it I might be able to find a solution)
This problem is by no means common......it is actually quite rare...but I still am not capable of fixing it without a clean install of Win9X or a SFC /scannow which is basically the same thing in XP.

I hope this message is not too long, but I tried to include all I could remember from my past experiences.

Cheers

Doc

EDIT: It also does not appear to be Virus or Spyware related because all my clients follow my advice and update their virus scanners and have ad-aware / spybot / spyware removers installed, averaging 10 or 20 cookies and spyware every week or so.

[i686-linux]

Can you ping the default gateway for that dialup connection? Do you have another ISP connection that you can try this same modem with?

[DoctorWHO]

I have not tried pinging the default gateway...but I have tried 2 different ISPs...all of which connected at 44k or higher.

[DoctorWHO]

I once decided to take home with me one of these PCs to attempt a repair and was dumbfounded when I could easily browse the net thru my shared broadband...but dialing with the modem still did not work.

[oalee]

It could be your ISP, sometimes you'll never know when they're down... always happens to me...

[goose88]

I have a similar problem. I have tried an external modem with the same results. I tried and second ISP and everything works fine, so its the ISP's fault right? However I have a laptop that when connected using the same phone line to my main ISP, browses with no problems. Nothing adds up.

[DMR]

goose88,

First of all- Welcome to TechTalk. :)

As you're a new member I'm sure you aren't aware of this, but we do ask that people abide by our "one member's question per thread" policy for reasons of clarity (among other things), regardless of how similar you problem might seem to one that has already been posted.

Please start your own thread and ask your question there. When you do, also try to give us as much information as possible concerning your particular problem. In your case this might include specifics such as your version of Windows, the make of your modem, the name of ISP, etc.

Being a new member, you should probably also have a read of our posting guidelines in general:

http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/faq.php?faq=daniweb_faq#faq_rules

Thanks for understanding.

[vloky]

I work in isp tech support and 99% of the time this issue is resolved by doing a repair on the browser.

[DMR]

Hi vloky, welcome to DaniWeb :)

We definitely appreciate new members who are willing to jump right in and help out, but please review threads before replying to them. Posting to long-abandoned threads (this particular thread is over 2 years old), or posting to threads marked as "Solved", only distracts from the many currently-active threads that need to be worked on.

Thanks for understanding.

[DMR]

Due to the fact that the member who originally started this thread has not responded in quite a long time, this thread is considered abandoned and has been closed.

In accordance with our posting rules, other members having similar questions or problems need to start their own threads and post their questions there.
In order to help us help you most quickly, please include as much information about your problem as possible in your posts.

If the member who originally started this thread wishes to have the thread reopened, please send your request, including a link to this thread, to one of our moderators via email or Private Message.

Thank you.