Prometheus
New Member
PC #3 used to be connected in a home network, and one day it stopped working. Went over settings, couldn't figure it out, did a reformat on C drive (multiple partitions for program, data, and OS) - process didn't take long - and everything worked fine for a while. Later on (about a month or two?) same thing happened, except this time the same steps didn't work. Clean reformat this time, nothing except Win XP is installed, still can't connect to the network. I should also mention that there was one change in the system.
There were two physical hard drives on the computer, one 40gb, the other 80gb. Originally the 80gb one was the master drive and the other the slave, but for some reason (still have no idea why this is possible) the master drive stopped working. By stopped working I mean no data could be saved to it nor could data be removed from it (scandisk, virus check, spy/ad ware checks did nothing). VERY weird - I have never in my experience met up with anything like this - through reformat of the drive and when the computer booted back up, the data was back. So now the 80gb drive is set to slave and left in the system, while the 40gb drive is set to master.
So the Win XP troubleshooter didn't help at all. Going through forums, haven't found much, decided to finally post the problem ( only get a chance to work on it sporadically).
System specs of the afflicted PC:
Intel P4 2.8 GHZ CPU
512mb PC3200 DDR ram
MSI 845E max atx mb/usb 2.0
Ati radeon 9600se 128mb ddr vc
Toshiba 4x dvd-r/-rw drive
5.1 digital sound
10/100 ethernet
350w atx tower
Doubt you'll need all that info but whatever. PC #1 (win98se, desktop) and PC #2 (winxp pro, laptop) have continued to work on the network. PC #1 custom built Jan05, PC #2 ibm thinkpad sept04, PC#3 (winxp home, desktop) custom built Feb04 (bought to replace an acer pc)
Network settings
Linksys wrtg4g router
Ip address is statically set in pc#1 and pc#3, dynamically assigned for pc#2. I have left two address locations open in the router setup for the two desktop pcs.
All 3 computers are in the same workgroup (HOME). Ping commands work from pc#1 to itself, remotely and pc#2, same thing with pc#2, but pc#3 always times out
What I have tried:
-clean reformat of the hard drive, once Win XP is installed, I try to set up my home network
-new network cable
-changed the router port connection to a different connection port
-partition master drive again - reformat, winxp install, install updated drivers for network driver found off realtek site
-tried dynamic ip addressing - always resolved to 69.xxx.x.xxx ip address, instead of 192.168.1.10x
-disabled all firewalls - pc#3 still not visible in network places nor could pc#3 access the internet
-LAN connection is always enabled on pc#3 but packets sent and received = 0 in status
-one time did try direct connection from pc#3 to cable modem, bypassing router (if router was problem somehow)
…there might be more, but it's been a while, I'm at the end of my rope
Edit: I have now acquired an external NIC, the networking problem has gone away but the weird acting hard drive still exists. Thanks for all the help everyone, I had never thought the culprit was the network card.
There were two physical hard drives on the computer, one 40gb, the other 80gb. Originally the 80gb one was the master drive and the other the slave, but for some reason (still have no idea why this is possible) the master drive stopped working. By stopped working I mean no data could be saved to it nor could data be removed from it (scandisk, virus check, spy/ad ware checks did nothing). VERY weird - I have never in my experience met up with anything like this - through reformat of the drive and when the computer booted back up, the data was back. So now the 80gb drive is set to slave and left in the system, while the 40gb drive is set to master.
So the Win XP troubleshooter didn't help at all. Going through forums, haven't found much, decided to finally post the problem ( only get a chance to work on it sporadically).
System specs of the afflicted PC:
Intel P4 2.8 GHZ CPU
512mb PC3200 DDR ram
MSI 845E max atx mb/usb 2.0
Ati radeon 9600se 128mb ddr vc
Toshiba 4x dvd-r/-rw drive
5.1 digital sound
10/100 ethernet
350w atx tower
Doubt you'll need all that info but whatever. PC #1 (win98se, desktop) and PC #2 (winxp pro, laptop) have continued to work on the network. PC #1 custom built Jan05, PC #2 ibm thinkpad sept04, PC#3 (winxp home, desktop) custom built Feb04 (bought to replace an acer pc)
Network settings
Linksys wrtg4g router
Ip address is statically set in pc#1 and pc#3, dynamically assigned for pc#2. I have left two address locations open in the router setup for the two desktop pcs.
All 3 computers are in the same workgroup (HOME). Ping commands work from pc#1 to itself, remotely and pc#2, same thing with pc#2, but pc#3 always times out
What I have tried:
-clean reformat of the hard drive, once Win XP is installed, I try to set up my home network
-new network cable
-changed the router port connection to a different connection port
-partition master drive again - reformat, winxp install, install updated drivers for network driver found off realtek site
-tried dynamic ip addressing - always resolved to 69.xxx.x.xxx ip address, instead of 192.168.1.10x
-disabled all firewalls - pc#3 still not visible in network places nor could pc#3 access the internet
-LAN connection is always enabled on pc#3 but packets sent and received = 0 in status
-one time did try direct connection from pc#3 to cable modem, bypassing router (if router was problem somehow)
…there might be more, but it's been a while, I'm at the end of my rope
Edit: I have now acquired an external NIC, the networking problem has gone away but the weird acting hard drive still exists. Thanks for all the help everyone, I had never thought the culprit was the network card.
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