cannot connect to internet via router hardwired to pc yet get wireless

[ultrarunner]

can you help? I have a dell hardwired to my netscape router and won't connect to internet though my wireless Mac (I am on it now) and my psp get wireless signal from router the desktop will not. I wired my mac to router and got a signal so its not the router. Something is up with the desktop. I uninstalled Norton which I installed about a week ago since my other virus protection expired and it was free from my isp. I thought maybe it was blocking me from connecting though it worked fine for a week. So basically I have no virus protection on the desktop, it won't connect via router OR directly from the modem, my mac and playstation connect via wireless signal.
?????

[lowellriggsiam]

Do you have a firewall installed, they are known to cause this. And just for the record you did say it was a dell, what OS?

[johns0]

Thread moved to mac forum where you can get more responses to your problem.

[ultrarunner]

no, firewall as I thought that might be the prob. so i uninstalled Norton. It's a Dell desktop running windows xp and has worked fine with Norton running up until just a few days ago. I bypassed the router and hooked it directly to modem but still no connect. Mac notebook works fine hooked to router, modem or wireless so its not the router or the ISP. its got to be something with the desktop itself

[nic2k4]

Open a DOS box (command prompt) and type PING 209.85.135.147 Do you get any lost packets? If not, type PING www.google.com What do you get now? If you lost all, your DNS client is screwed up. Type IPCONFIG /FLUSHDNS and try to ping google again, any change? If that didn't fix it the winsock might be damaged; that can happen when you uninstall some programs. Open the network places and do a repair connection. If that still didn't help, you can try Winsockfix. If you're still stuck, you should start looking at the hardware.

First, have you tried connecting the wire to a different port on the router? What about the wire itself? Next, find out if the network card is working; open device manager and look for the network adapter and double click on it. Any yellow or red marks? If it's not there check the BIOS to make sure it's enabled, I think you hit F1 on a Dell to enter the BIOS.

If you still can't get it to work, open a Command Prompt (DOS) windows and type IPCONFIG /ALL. Take note of the IP address for the network card. If you get something that starts with 169, it's most likely the windows default IP and means the router and PC aren't talking to each other. You can try these commands in sequence, IPCONFIG /release, then IPCONFIG /renew. The IP should change to something that starts with 10 or 192. If not, I would start to consider replacing the network card. It's an easy thing to do and cards are cheap.

[ultrarunner]

ok, I did all the pings and have nothing lost, I see 2 network adapters under device manager. I did the IPCONFIG/FLUSHDNS. The IP is 192.168.1.2. I switched to a different port on the router, no change, but remember it won't connect when hooked directly to modem so its not the router. I am doing a "system restore" through XP thinking that might help. I can't get to the BIOS screen so F1 must not be the way. Would the network card just go bad. The computer is about 2 years old

[ultrarunner]

OMG!! It worked!! The system restore or all the pings did it!! thanks so much. Now, one more question. I now have NO virus protection since I uninstalled NORTON. I can get Norton free from my ISP. Should I use NORton or buy something else

[Nelson37]

Your PC was talking to the router and had internet connectivity, that's what the pings showed. The Ping tests don't change anything, so system restore did it. Most likely a virus put in a proxy server, possibly some other screw-up ocurred.

[lowellriggsiam]

If you're running windows xp try using microsoft security essentials it works quite well.

[redwudz]

For antivirus, I use the freeware version of Avast and it works well for most any virus threat on my systems. You can add Spyware Blaster and Spy Bot S&D for extra protection. For a bit more, add something like Comodo firewall, also free. With all of them onboard, you should be immune to about anything out there. Comodo has a bit of a learning curve and is a bit intrusive until it configures itself, but it's a great malware blocker. MS firewall fails miserably most times for blocking malware access.

[AlanHK]

I can get Norton free from my ISP. Should I use NORton or buy something else

The "free" Norton is most likely a free trial that will start to nag you in a month or so and then not work unless you pay.

Avast is really free and works.

[nic2k4]

Personally I use ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite, I've been getting it on sale for $20 at BestBuy, regular is $50. I keep an eye on the sale flyer and whenever it's reduced I get one. This way I always have a license available when it's time to renew; one license is good for three PCs. Haven't had any problems with it and it's stopped infections a few times.

Obviously free is better, I just don't like Norton. I think it's worse than spyware, it's bloatware and intrusive. It spreads a lot of garbage all over the registry and installs stuff you can't remove, just to prevent piracy.

[ultrarunner]

ok thanks. I reinstalled Norton for now since I thought I better have something going until I can decide. I will look at Avast and ZoneAlarm. I am not a big fan of Microsoft in general. I wish I would have bought a mac desktop instead of dell but......
When I uninstall Norton is it as simple as removing the program under "add/remove programs" or is there something else I need to do?

[CogoSWSDS]

Add/Remove programs will NOT do the trick with Norton. You need to download the Norton Removal Tool from Symantec. It *should* remove Norton from your system. Some people have had problems with the Norton Removal Tool. I am not one of those people; it actually worked for me.

[nic2k4]

I've used Ccleaner to remove stubborn programs before, it's a little more complicated than the removal tool, but a good alternative if it won't work.

Don't feel bad about not getting a Mac, I've repaired Macs and can tell you the quality doesn't match the price. Unless you use it in a controlled environment it will fail on you eventually. Stupid things like a fan that blows directly on the hard drive causing it to die from corrosion on the PCB or everything from power supply to video controller, built in on the logic board. Or, mysterious things like a PC you turn off in the evening, but won't turn back on the next morning. To the common problem of bad solder on the BGA video chip. All these problems are not specific to the Mac, I've seen the same with PCs, but with a PC it doesn't cost $250 for a refurbished motherboard (+labor). I'm not putting Macs down, but please...

I only have one piece of advice for anyone wanting a Mac, get Apple Care for as long as you can and clone your hard drive with SuperDuper or get time machine.

[ultrarunner]

ok this is weird. I have resolved my pc issue by doing a system restore but now my mac book has gone haywire. The keyboard does not type what I type. For instance when I type an s it won't type it right away it will type the rest of the sentence and then type the s and sometimes many times. not just the s either so its not stuck. Its only a few years old. No Apple care left. Macbook 5.2 Os X version 10.6.4.
No virus protection because I didn't think I needed it. I have never had any problems up until now and just suddenly.
I have rebooted several times and took the battery out and then rebooted. What can I do?

[nic2k4]

Did you backup your system regularly? If not the best you can do is to wipe the drive and re-install OSX. There must be other ways to fix this, but just for the peace of mind of not having any remnants of whatever could have caused this, I'd say it's worth the trouble. And then start backing up; get a USB drive and SuperDuper!, to at least clone your freshly installed drive. Even pay the $30 to be able to do incremental backups. If you want more specialized help, try the forum on ifixit.

[ultrarunner]

no, I have never backed up. We use this for photos and itunes. Don't even have office for mac on it so there are not alot of files.