Broadband problems - Internet Exporer

[Mike1972]

Hi All,
First of all, I have very limited knowledge of broadband - unlike 101% of all you guys.
The problem is-
I recently decided to get broadband. I have a desktop and a laptop. The laptop is a Dell inspiron and it is 9 months old and it has built in wifi. I set up the ZyXEL router on the desktop okay and it works perfectly. Obviously, as I am leaving this thread.
I tried to set up to the broadband on the laptop but with no success. I can receive a perfect signal to the laptop from the router okay when I open the ZyXel utility. However, when I open my internet explorer I cannot get a connection to the internet i.e. I cannot surf. I have fooled around so much with the connection settings that I am sure I have done more harm than good. Or is there another issue that I am missing?
I have spent 3 days now trying to sort this problem out; the technical support team from BT Ireland do not answer the phone and my girlfriend is about to jump ship if I don't put the laptop out of hands.
If anybody can help I will be forever indebted to you!
Kind regards,
Mike

[John A]

You should provide more information about the broadband. Is it DSL, cable, or something else? One of the easiest ways to set up broadband is to connect your computer directly to the modem, so that there's less to worry about. Then you should check the following settings.

Make sure that the IP address is being obtained correctly. Most ISPs require you to obtain your IP via DHCP, usually referred to as "automatic". To check this, go into the Control Panel, open the Network settings, and find the listing: network card -> TCP/IP. I think there's a button called "Configure" or "Properties", click this, and make sure it says "obtain an IP address automatically".

Once you're sure that your IP address is being obtained correctly, you should do a DHCP renew. Choose Start->Programs->MS-DOS Prompt. Enter the following: ipconfig /renew * This will renew all network devices' IP addresses. Next, enter ipconfig /all And look for your network card. Is the IP address correct? It shouldn't be in the range 192.x.x.x.

And lastly, configure how Internet Explorer connects to the Internet. Under "Internet Options" make sure you choose "Connect through LAN" or something similar. Then try to load a website.

Hope this helps

[Mike1972]

Many thanks for your detailed help Joe. I am afraid it didn't help though! I still cannot surf. I reset and checked all of the settings you outlined but there was no joy. Rgds Mike

[John A]

Did you connect the computer directly to the modem?

Is your IP address in the correct range? Not only should it not be in the range 192.x.x.x, another one that's a bad sign is 169.254.x.x.

And lastly, your ISP is more to blame than anything else. If your Internet isn't working, you should phone them, and they have to give you technical support. If not, be persistant, and if they really can't help you, find a different ISP. You don't deserve to pay a monthly rate for something you're not getting.

[jasbreus]

OK. This is a common problem. With DSL, when this happens, you can usually just turn off the modem. Turn off the computer. Wait 10 or 15 secs. Restart the modem. Let it cycle. Restart the computer. Connect and viola you're surfing again.
My brother and sister share the same cable connection and use a wireless Netgear router. Hers works just fine. His usually works for a little while and then stops. He has to call the cable company and they say "oh...just do whatever whatever" and in about 30 sec. he's back up again.

I surmise that whatever is happening is the same exact issue. Browsers are "looking" for something as soon as they start up and, for whatever reason they can't call up the proper info even though the internet connection is present and fine. In the case of cable....his signal strength is just fine and the Netgear Utility is showing as connected just fine. For DSL, when the connection gets terminated for whatever reason, you try connecting again and just have the "connecting to PPPoE (or whatever this is)" and never proceed past that stage (normally you go through this stage instantly and jump to "authorizing" and you're then connected).

So turning off the computer and restarting the modem etc etc does something. Apparently resetting Windows in some way. Also, apparently, this is something that pretty much any customer service person in broadband is trained to address. Pretty much, "oh this complaint again....just do this really quick and simple thing that anybody in the industry knows how to do."

I've noticed that there's a lot of questions pertaining to this apparent phenomenon. Can anyone answer what is happening? Even if someone would post a link to what IE does as its opening and what goes wrong so that it can't recognize a working connection would be extremely helpful. I also suggest that this might make a good sticky.

I've tried Googling various phrases etc and can't locate a decent solution. MS knowledge bases don't help because, again, how do you know what to ask for? "Bad broadband connection" brings way to many fixes that don't address this basic issue. As it is, I spent nearly an hour Googling before finding this sight and I just happened to see this thread otherwise I would have thought this forum was a "waste of times" along with the hundreds of other useless hits I've gotten. The solution to the problem is probably Networking 101 but again, a useful sight is hard to find unless you know where to look.

So please share any info you have as I think it would help a lot of people, and if nothing else, as a sticky, would make directing people there very quick for new thread posts.