Cannot get online anymore via LAN

[hillbill]

I was connecting to internet via a LAN desktop. The desktop died and I bought a new (used) IBM laptop with a built in NIC as a replacement. Now I can't get online using NIC. Here's the deal:

I have an A20m (262814U) with an Intel Pro 100+ MiniPCI (combo w/modem) card. I have installed the latest drivers from the IBM site, and the Device Manager reports that it is working properly.

I know that the LAN connection is okay because I have (had) no problem when I connect with my desktop via this connection to the internet. But when I try to connect with the A20m, I get online but then the connection hangs.

For example, I will get the navigation bar of a web site at the top of the screen, or I will get the background color of the web site, but then nothing will happen. After many minutes, the web site might finally come up, or I will get a time out message.

I have installed the Intel ProSet diagnostic software to see if I could figure out what the problem is.

Under "Network Status" I get the following info:

Link: "the adapter cable is connected to a valid hub or switch port."

Activity: "the adapter is connected to a network with activity."

After a few minutes of trying to Log on to www.ibm.com I got the following statistics:

Packets sent: 238
Packets received: 1634
Errors: 12575

Unfortunately, the software doesn't provide any further answers as to how to resolve this problem

As far as I can tell, the LAN settings and Network configuration are set the same as my Desktop waa(which worked properly) so I don't think it's a problem with my settings. Is there a unique configuration for this MiniPCI NIC, or is it defective?

Thank you!

[ktkendall]

Are you using DHCP ar statically assigned, and do you have the default gateway assigned??

[hillbill]

Originally posted by ktkendall
Are you using DHCP ar statically assigned, and do you have the default gateway assigned??

Unfortunately, your question is beyond my level of technical expertise. I'm an end-user, someone else set up the LAN (he's not around to ask. ) I was given the parameters, very simple to set up, just Proxy address and Port Number under IE LAN Settings; Client for Microsoft Networks, TCP/IP protocol, and hardware adapter under Network Configuration. Everything else was left as is, whatever the default settings were. It worked fine with my desktop, but now something's not right with the laptop configuration. (BTW I'm pretty sure that the LAN is using Microsoft Proxy server 1.0, if that helps.)

[ktkendall]

Sounds like you settings are not all set correctly on your new machine, You'll need someone that knows what the settings are so they can check them out for you. Basically sounds like your tcp/ip settings are not set under network neighborhood for the lan adapter installed on that laptop.

[glc]

I seem to remember that in order to use M$ Proxy Server, you have to install a small client app on the workstation, I believe it's something like a virtual winsock - "wsproxy" rings a bell. I dealt with this once a few years ago on a NT4-based Small Business Server network with Win95 and Win98 clients to share a 56k dialup on the server.

[hillbill]

Thanks for your suggestions. I guess I'm going to have to find someone local to figure this out. I spent hours fiddling with the configurations, including checking other machine's configurations and making sure that mine were set exactly the same. I seem to have just enough technical expertise when it comes to problems like this to be able to waste hours going around in circles but not enough expertise to resolve the problem. :)

I don't think the problem is the lack of a winsock proxy, although perhaps that is a possibility. But none of the other machines seem to have it and it wasn't installed in my desktop (which had no problems.) Also, when checking out the MS knowledge base about winsock proxy I found this article (below) about two network adapters being needed and I know that none of these machines have two adapters, including modems, only one NIC.


Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - Q253468
Two Network Adapters Are Required for Winsock Proxy Server
The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Proxy Server versions 1.0, 2.0
Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2000

SYMPTOMS
When you try to use a Winsock-based program to connect to a remote host from "behind" the Proxy Server-based computer, you may be unable to do so, but connections using the Web Proxy service are not affected. Only client applications dependent upon ISA's Firewall Service and Proxy Server's Winsock Proxy Service are affected by this issue.
CAUSE
This issue can occur if your ISA or Proxy Server computer only contains 1 network adapter. When a client "behind" the Proxy Server-based computer initiates a Winsock-based network connection, the client computer must determine if the destination is local or remote. When the destination is local, it passes the connection request to the default Winsock dynamic link library (.dll) file, and permits the connection to proceed unmodified. If the Firewall or Winsock Proxy service determines that the connection is remote, it uses the remote Winsock protocol to send (or remote) the connection request.

If the Proxy Server is configured with a single network adapter, the destination will appear to be local to the client computer. Because of this, the client will then send an unmodified Winsock request which will not work at the Proxy Server.
RESOLUTION
To work around this issue, install a second network adapter on the Proxy Server-based computer.

NOTE: This second adapter can be a network adapter or a modem.
First Published: Feb 4 2000 2:14PM
Keywords: kbnetwork kbtool kbprb

[glc]

That article is referring to the server computer, not any of the clients.

Have you tried a new/different network cable?

[hillbill]

Originally posted by glc
That article is referring to the server computer, not any of the clients.

Have you tried a new/different network cable?

Oy, I hope that's not the problem because the cable is snaking around through walls. Since the connection was working fine with another machine I'm assuming that it is some arcane setting problem, or registry or driver problem, or whatever it is that is beyond my realm of comprehension. I was hoping that someone with experience in this area would notice something obvious to them from my description that would hit the nail on the head, but I guess its not going to be that easy.

Thanks for your consideration. I get so frustrated about these kind of problems not only because of the problem itself but also because I want to have the technical expertise to puzzle these things out on my own and I don't.

[hillbill]

Originally posted by glc
That article is referring to the server computer, not any of the clients.

Have you tried a new/different network cable?

Oy, I hope that's not the problem because the cable is snaking around through walls. Since the connection was working fine with another machine I'm assuming that it is some arcane setting problem, or registry or driver problem, or whatever it is that is beyond my realm of comprehension. I was hoping that someone with experience in this area would notice something obvious to them from my description that would hit the nail on the head, but I guess its not going to be that easy.

Thanks for your consideration. I get so frustrated about these kind of problems not only because of the problem itself but also because I want to have the technical expertise to puzzle these things out on my own and I don't.

[hillbill]

Is there any method to this madness? I'm online right now via the LAN. I had made my initial assesment based on a few sites I had a problem accessing but now I realize that there are a whole bunch of sites that I can access without a problem, but also many that I cannot access normally.

I started making a list in the last few minutes of both the sites with and without problems to see if there was some pattern, but I don't see any. Does this make any sense at all?

PROBLEM WEB SITES:
(Either took very long time to load; or just the background color or top navigation bar loaded; or timed out.)

Techbargains home page

Cnn (It popped up after a couple of minutes. Then I hit "refresh" as a test. After 5 minutes I still have a blank screen and an hourglass. Finally after 10-15 minutes the site popped up. I clicked on a link to an article, got the navigation bar at the top of the page, but no article, just like the problem with NYTimes.com)

NYTimes.com

MSN

Hotmail (No problem with the login page, but then couldn't get to mail.)

Microsft.com (Got the navigation bar at top, rest of page didn't load, but I didn't get an hourglass like I usually do.)
washingtonpost.com

support.microsft.com

ebay (half.com was okay, but when I clicked on link leading back to ebay I had the same problem)

NO PROBLEM ACCESSING THESE WEB SITES:

pcmech
Fastmail
Fatwallet
Fatwallet forum
Techbargains forum (but not techbargains home page!)
Yahoo
MyYahoo
Yahoomail
Fastmail forum (www.emailaddresses.com)
MSNBC.com (no problem clicking on various links, except for slate.com link.)
windowsupdate.microsoft.com (but not other microsoft pages!)
amazon
kmart
half.com (but not ebay!)
circuitcity
bestbuy

[hillbill]

I just discovered something else that further confuses me, but that might shed more light on the problem:

I use a webmail service at www.fastmail.fm It's one of the sites I've been able to access without a problem. There is an option to login through either a secure https channel or a regular login. I have been logging in through the secure https channel . I just tried logging in through the regular non-https login was not able to access the site! I got a blank screen and the hourglass. Finally, after about 15 or so minutes I got a "The page cannot be displayed The page you are looking for is currently unavailable" message. Then I tried logging in again through the secure channel and got connected immediately!

Thank you for your assistance.

[glc]

What version of Windows and IE is on that computer?