Help please -Give me suggestions to test out

[EDB]

A non-profit I volunteer and work PT for is having network/internet problems. Specifically - After a power outage earlier this week 2 of the computers lost internet connectivity.

I would like to help them as they can't afford to have a professional... As I understand it, the network was originally set up by someone who has since left, so I'm not sure what's going on, but it IS UGLY! I think 3 of them are using AOL to connect to the internet!

There are 4 comps in the office, running windows 98SE. At least one of the comps has only 64 MB of RAM! The ISP is SBC. The modem is an Efficient Networks Speedstream 5360, which is connected to a Linksys 8 port Switch Model #BEFSR81 Ver. 2.

As they are working in the office, I have only been able to look at one of the computers, and take a quick peek at the Switch... I forgot to note what lights are on/blinking and what colors they are... (I know, that's vital info, I will find out)

The one computer that I looked at, I tried running ping, Ipconfig renew/release on. The window where the commands are run, however, goes by too quickly for me to see what the results are for pinging. (how can I change that?) After releasing and renewing, I still had no connection. I found the network connections option in the IE/Tools/Internet options/Connections menu (which has a few options in the dialup section, but seems to use AOL by default) and checked the LAN setting for automatic setting.

That still didn't work... I would love to be able to go in at night, and remove AOL from all the comps, reset the Switch with the SBC login info, and set all network connections to detect settings automatically... (That should work right?) However, I'm not sure I'll be able to do that yet.... but I'm working on convincing them... Also, will this be a security problem for them?

What can I do? I'm not too familar with 98, and am not sure how to set the IP addresses manually (I think I may have to work from the control panel/network properties applet or from the network adapter properties from the device manager.)

I'll be doing more research, but would appreciate if you could let me know some things to check off the bat (like the LEDs on the modem and switch!) As I understand it, the modem and switch have been rebooted already to no avail...

Let me know if I should provide more info... I tried to get as much as possible in the short time I was there...

Also, I wonder if the power outage could have fried specific ports on the switch or the ethernet cables... could that be?

Thanks in advance, cause I know there's a lot of great helpful people on here!

[glc]

First off, the BEFSR81 is a router, not just a switch.

Set the connections options to NEVER dial a connection, and UNCHECK all boxes in the LAN settings.

98 has WINIPCFG - put that in the run box, run it, select the correct adapter, and click More Info. This will tell you what's going on.

You do not run utilities such as Ping from the run box, you use a command or DOS prompt.

First thing I'd do is this. Make SURE you have the login and password for SBC. Power the Speedstream off. Power the Linksys off. Power the Speedstream back up, then hold the reset button in on the Linksys for about 20 seconds while powering it up. This will do a hard reset. Log into the Linksys with any computer that can pull a proper IP from it and reinput the PPPoE username and password. Linksys default login is at 192.168.1.1, blank username, password is admin. Restart all computers, run winipcfg, IP addresses should assign starting at 192.168.1.100, anything that pulls 0.0.0.0 or 169.254.x.x has an issue with either the nic, cable, switch port, or Windows itself and assigning a static IP will do you no good.

[EDB]

Thank You! I will try it out ASAP!
I appreciate you clearing up the difference between the run box and command prompt... I was under the misconception that the run box was an alternate mode to access the command prompt. I just tried it out here with my laptop, and can see the difference!

When you say 'hard reset' for the router will that change the admin and password back to the default?

I was just reading earlier that 98 uses netbeui as a protocol for file/printer sharing... will this procedure disable the file and printer sharing that they already have set up? Would I have to reset those options as well?

[glc]

Yes, a hard reset sets the router back to factory defaults, erasing any configuration changes, including password changes.

This procedure will not affect NetBEUI at all if they are using it, if the nics, cables, and router ports are okay it will just work, no configuration needed or possible. 98 CAN use NetBEUI but it doesn't HAVE to - it can file and print share over TCP/IP fine, or even IPX.

Just thought of something - 98 has a problem with TCP/IP bound to too many adapters, open up the network properties on each machine and see how many instances you have. I know AOL binds a BUNCH of crap to it. If you have more than 4, it's time to disable some.

Something else you need to tell them - get RID of AOL, if they need an emergency dialup, all SBC DSL accounts come with unlimited use of their dialup, which is a simple standard dialup networking setup using the SAME username and password as their DSL, and it uses the old local Prodigy dialup numbers.

http://public.pacbell.net/cgi-bin/findpops.cgi

If they want to check personal AOL e-mail, use the screen name service at www.aol.com, don't install the software just to check mail. This may be what's causing some of the issues - too many TCP/IP's.

[EDB]

Excellent suggestions as usual!
Thanks