We have three E-Machines desktops and a Toshiba laptop on a home network using BellSouth as the DSL provider, a Westell modem and a Linksys wireless router system. Last week the E-Machine desktop that is linked directly by ethernet cable to the router lost its ability to connect to the Internet. All three other computers can still connect with no problem. In the past when the Internet connection has failed, I was able to retore it either by resetting the modem and router or by doing a system restore on the computer. None of that worked this time. The autoconfig kept assigning a 169 default IP address. After several hours on the phone with BellSouth and E-Machine support personnel, it was recommended that I install a new PCI card in the problem computer. I bought and installed a D-Link PCI card, but it did not help. I tried linking the computer directly to the modem, and I have switched out cables, all to no avail. After more hours on the phone with D-Link support personnel, I did some reading on the Windows XP support site and other postings for other ideas. I have assigned the correct IP address, default gateway and DNS numbers, and used the alternate setting tab to do the same. It now holds those assigned numbers rather than resorting to a 169 default IP and a default subnet mask, and I can ping the gateway and DNS numbers. However, attempts to reach the BellSouth site by name or number result in a "Page Cannot Be Displayed" message, as do attempts to reach any other site.
We have not installed anything new recently on the problem computer. It has had Norton antivirus for more than a year, and it does receive the automatic updates, though. I disabled Norton while attempting the above fixes.
Any thoughts or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
