cant access network or internet??

[racerbrownn]

i did some ms updates after upgrading win98se to internet 5.5 sp2.
now internet access and network access don't work.
i tried to release and renew ipconfig and it says it's already released and it won't renew.
dhcp is enabled and ip is automatically set.
dns is disabled as is it on the other pc's that work.
the gateway settings are the same.
reverting back to ie 5.0 and reinstalling win98se were no help.
a dlink dfe530tx+ 10/100 pci fast nic card is used.
the link light on the card is on steady but the act light keeps flashing momentarily over and over. if i remove the network cable, the lights go out.
if i can't ping the router and ie and the network are not accessable, must this be hardware failure?
short of trying the pc at another cable location, is there anything i'm missing? thankx,ray.

[kadaver]

Yes, I think you are right. This sounds like a hardware failure. How does that NIC behaviour compare to the other NICs in your network?

You could plug the 98 pc into another switch port just to be sure it is not the siwtch port.

[bailey]

go to the comand prompt and type ipconfig and post the results.
I betting that the ip address it gives you is 192.254.#.#
that would be the wins address from windows.

the dchp server of the router is not giving you a address, double check your tcp/ip confiquration.
and be sure that it is set to get ip authmaticaly.
same with dns

[racerbrownn]

sorry, ive been busy...
ipconfig showed the correct ip address.
i tried to remove from device mgr and reinstall the card in the slot. then i got a real flaky ip address, even the subnet mask was wrong 255.255.0.0, not the usual 255.255.255.0 i have seen.
i got a belkin card and installed it. then it would not list in tcp/ip in network neiborhood properties, only device mgr.
then i tried a hawking card and it lists in both but still not working.
now when i ck ipconfig, both 0 and 1 adapters are all 0's.
i get a error access denied renewing the ip address.
the ip is set to obtain automatically and the dns is set to use dhcp. no gateway is currently listed, do i need to enter the dsl modem address to get things working? there is a linksys router between the modem and the 16 port switch with all other pc's working fine.
i tried to move this pc to another working cable and no help.
out of desperation, i formatted the drive and reinstalled win98se and the aopen ax4bmax drivers and the network card to no avail.
tried the network card in another pci slot and reinstalled, do i have a motherboard failure????

[racerbrownn]

the lan cable has been tested and is working fine.
i can't believe that the motherboard is damaged and is causing this problem but i can't think of anything else after the wipe of the hard drive and 2 different nic cards tried as well.

i'm about ready to get another mainboard but if anyone has any ideas, i'm game. thankx,ray.

[bailey]

double check your tcp/ip settings, they should be set to get ip and dns address automatically

[racerbrownn]

i know the settings are ok as i mentioned a little earlier but the thing that hits me is the specs for ipconfig in a dos window.
both adapter 0 and 1 have all zeros.
and what about the error access is denied for renewing the ip address??
this whole thing was working fine on last friday and didn't work on monday.
no network neiborhood or internet connections.
this is so weird! i just noticed that the newer network card has the act light in back and is momentarily flashing over and over. the origional card was the same way.
but another functional pc nearby has no act light flashing and a different pc plugged into the lan cable at the problem childs station works fine for internet or network neiborhood.
good grief!

[racerbrownn]

i was looking at some other posts and noticed the loopback test that bailey mentioned to someone in hdwe.
i ran it ping 127.0.0.1 in dos window and it was fine.

if the operating system win98se has been reinstalled on a fresh formatted hdd,
and the network settings are ip automatic and dns is using dhcp automatic,
and different network cards in different slots have not helped, and the adapter is released and access is denied when trying to renew
AND the network cable has been tested ok with another pc, THEN is it most likely that the aopen ax4b max motherboard is the only possibility left or can this still be software???

remember, both network and internet quit working at the same time.

[bailey]

both tcp/ip settings should be set to optaiin the ip and dns automatically in all the systems, the router will set them up for you, reboot everything after making the changes.

[racerbrownn]

boy, what a long journey that was.

changing the motherboard fixed the problem.

i knew i had all the software setting ok and this pc did work right till it sat for a weekend.

trying different lan cards installed ok but still no connecting.

formatting and new install of win98se didn't help so it appears not to have been software or the lan card.

as a last resort, i swapped a different mb and now it works.
go figure. way to weird for me.

i rechecked the network setting and noticed that i posted setting the dns for auto dhcp, sorry, i mean't wins in case that caused any confusion.