Three of four computers can connect to the internet.?

Question

I can't seem to resolve this issue. A cable modem is feeding into a DLink DI-614+. That is sent to two computers and a printer. These all get IP's and can share files, print etc. The fourth output is sent to a simple 4 way Hub's WAN/Uplink port. The hub then connects to two additional computers in an office located less than 100' feet from the router. The third computer receives an IP and can connect without issue. The fourth computer shows it is connected to the network, however receives no IP address or Internet. The settings seem to correct, they are the same on all computers, other than IP's obviously. These computers connect on their own fine. Additionally, when I plug a switch in before the router and hub, the router works and all computers on this router connect, but no computers work on the hub. Am I missing something? Is the simple hub acting perhaps, as a switch therefore not sending an IP to the fourth computer? I've looked for documentation for the hub online with no avail

I attemped to ping my router from computer #4, however, instead of receiving a timeout response, I am getting "Destination host unreachable". As of now, all the other computers on the network are running Zone Alarm Firewall, but computer #4 does not have a Firewall installed at this moment (including Windows Firewall, I believe the version of XP I'm running does not feature it) and that very well may be the cause, I'm not sure. There is a firewall on the router.

One thing I did notice, is that ipconfig /all returns(basically);

Windows IP Config
Node Type: Unknown
IP Routing Enabled: No
WINS Proxy Enabled: No

Local Area Connection
Dhcp Enabled: Yes
Autoconfig Enabled: Yes
AutoConfig IP Address: 169.254.167.117
Subnet Mask 255.255.0.0

Now, my routers IP is 192.168.0.1 and all others on network are 192.168.0.XXX, with subnet of 255.255.255.0. From what I understand 169.254 is an automatically assigned address when the client can't find the DHCP server. Still stuck!

Answer 1

I suspect your simple 4 way Hub is actually a router, since you describe connecting the WAN/Uplink port.
Another possibility is this is an exceptionally cheap hub that has five ports, but only four can be used.
I had previous experience with a similar cheap piece of s**t. In this case, the WAN/Uplink port (let's say port 1) is actually wired in common with the adjacent port (call it port 2). If you are connecting to another switch/hub, use the WAN/Uplink port and skip port 2. If you are setting up a standalone workgroup like a LAN party, skip port 1 and use the other four ports to the right. So in one configuration you can use ports 1,3,4,5. In the second configuration you can use ports 2,3,4,5. If you have ports 1 and 2 both connected to live devices, connectivity goes to hell if when devices on ports 1 and 2 go active at the same time.

Answer 2

Can computer #4 ping the router?

If you don't know the IP address of the router, go to computer #3, Control Panel > Network Connections. Right-click on the network adapter that's connected and select Status. Click on the Support tab. The Default Gateway should be the IP address of the router.

Now, on computer #4, open a DOS window (Start > Run, type CMD in the Open field and click OK). Type:
ping 192.168.1.1
substituting the IP address of the router.
If you get "Request timed out," try opening the firewall on Computer #4 and adding the router's IP address to the Trusted Zone.

After it's been added to the firewall's Trusted Zone, try doing a Repair on Computer #4's network adapter to see if you can now get an IP address (Control Panel > Network Connections, right-click on the adapter and select Repair from the pop-up menu).

Hopefully, that will work. If you have problems with file and/or printer sharing with Computer #4, you'll probably also have to add the IP addresses of the other machines and printer to Computer #4's Trusted Zone.