Problem w/Comcast HS, Router and laptops?

Question

Specifics: Have Comcast HS Internet
Have Linksys 802.11b wireless router
Have 3 Dell Laptops hooked up all hardwired with
network cables.
As of last week everything worked fine.

Now one laptop will not access the internet but the other two will.
I've changed network cables, swapped the non-working laptop into another port on the router even tried wireless to no avail.

Now the weird part -- If I plug the Comcast cable directly into the laptop I can access the Internet . In fact thats how I'm typing this question.

Anybody have any ideas???

I did the uninstall and install of the Network card and still cannot connect.
I checked ipconfig and appear to have a valid IP address in the 192.100.x.xxx range.
Any other ideas?

There should be no conflicts since this current configuration/setup has been working for at least 8 months.
Only other thing of importance, the morning before it stopped working there was a brief power failure lasting about 30 seconds.

Thanks to all for your help.

What I finally figured out and it worked was doing a "ipconfig/release" then a "ipconfig/renew" from the DOS prompt.

Answer 1

Sounds like your laptop isn't getting an IP address from the router.

There are lots of ways to reset your tcp/ip and dhcp configuration, but the easiest way to explain is probably to just re-install your network card from the device manager.

If you are using windows XP right click on "My Computer" and go to Properties. Select the "Hardware" tab and click the Device Manager button. Locate your network card under the "Network Adapters" section. Right click it and choose Uninstall. Once it's gone, click "Action" at the top of the window and choose "Scan for changes". It will re-find your network card and reinstall the drivers. It will also reset your DHCP information.

You can access your IP address information by clicking on Start and going to Run. In the "Open" box type in the command:

cmd

and click ok. This will open a DOS prompt. At the prompt, type:

ipconfig

and hit Enter on your keyboard.

This will spit out your IP address information. Hopefully, you will see something like 192.168.0.100 or 10.10.0.100. If you see something like 169.254.212.10 (or anything starting with 169.254) your laptop is having problems communicating with the router.

Answer 2

Did you check to see if the machine your having trouble with is set up for DHCP? If it is, does it have a conflict with another machines IP address?

When you plug the Laptop into the router, like you normally would, are you able to ping your router?

EDIT:
as a responce to the user above... Lynksys aren't bad. They actually have more options than any other routers / access points I have seen. Typically, when people have trouble with them, it is because it is set up wrong. The ones that ameritec / at&t / etc give you are pretty dumbed down, and not very secure, hense the reason they are so easy to get working.

Answer 3

First uplug the powercable from the cable modem and then unscrew the co-axial cable(i.e. comcast cable) from the modem, the unplug the capacity cable from the modem. Waite for a minute the 1st reconnect the coaxial cable and then capacity on the modem as quickly as each and every of the sunshine are green then turn on the router. in the journey that your laptop is already related to the community merely restart to connect with the internet. If not test for the community you would be waiting to discover the call netgear or the call which you assigned to the community hook up with that community.

Answer 4

Some routers (cheaper ones) can hold up to 6 computers, but only 2 to 3 of the 5 will get internet at all.

a router gives an internet cable the the "route" to a computer, and if you plug an internet cable "directly" into your computer, or laptop, you have a 80% to 100% chance of getting internet, compared to using the router on mulitple computers.

otherwise: you boosted the signal to "one" computer (this may be the wrong way to say all that I wrote in short, but I tried, by the way, if you need more help, use yahoo, google, ask, etc. for help)

(p.s. get Adelphia, DSL, Dial-up, much better)
(better in the way of "connecting to internet")

Answer 5

Just my previous experience, call Comcast or your phone provider and have them send you a wireless modem. Linksys SUCKS! I had a Linksys router and nothing but issues. They're help line is out of India, you call them and can barely undstand what they're saying. I was on the phone with them for over an hour, they were no help so I gave up. I got a wireless modem though Ameritech (Comcast has them as well), installed it in about 20 minutes and haven't had any problems. I've had it for over 2 years and it can support multiple computers.