pcmcia

[jjohnson]

Can't get 3-com pcmcia card to connect to the internet using DSL. Provider says that I need to reinstall win98 os and reset everything. Don't necessarily want to do this if I can avoit. Using DHCP to automatically assign the IP but seems the card won't accept a dynamic IP.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[MadMax]

May work, may not

Click Start/Run type Winipcfg
Click OK

The drop down menu defaults to PPP

Click on drop down menu and highlight "Fast Ethernet PC Card"
(that's what it says for my pcmcia card)

Click Release ALL
Click Renew All (this may take a few seconds)
Click OK

Try launching browser

[jjohnson]

Tried that, and still won't reset. Any other suggestions. I reinstalled windows 98 hoping that possibly something became corrupt in the network settings. Still not getting connected.

[MadMax]

Is this the only computer you've tried the connection on?
Mighy give your phone company's DSL department a call.

GTE - Verizon
1-877-222-2375

[jjohnson]

Already did that also, everyone else is fine with the connections. It's only this laptop.

[MadMax]

When you say "the card won't accept a dynamic IP", what happens? What error messages do you get?
Does the browser just return a "The page cannot be displayed"?

[jjohnson]

It seems that the firmware that facilitates IP addressing on the machine is malfunctioning. Perhaps a word in base memory (ie fixed address on the main board) has failed, and that word is only accessed as the base address
for the nth device, which is only attained through networking functions.

[MadMax]

What laptop is it?
Have a spare pcmcia nic?

[jjohnson]

Compaq, have tried another PCMCIA same, but I am still going to try a third just to be sure that it isn't just a fluke that both are bad.

[MadMax]

You might try nosing around Compaq's web page.
They may have an update you need.

http://www5.compaq.com/support/files/