Legion World Forums LEGION WORLD Science Police Headquarters Looking for a quick answer to a computer question

Since you all seem like computer geniuses to me, I'm going to ask a question and see if you can help. I have a laptop that is hooked up into a router that I share with my parents computer, which is hooked up to our DSL modem. Recently, I think the router has screwed up and I've lost my connection.

Basically, I tried to hook up my computer directly to the modem, since I have stuff saved on there that I wanted to post online (no disk drive...stupid move). But when I hook the modem up to my laptop, I'm not getting a connection. Anyone have any idea why? I have DSL installed on my computer. When I go to "Network Connections" and try to connect with DSL Connection, it's not connecting.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated! Witty comments too!

Sorry Cobie. For both watching this thread go on with no response and for not knowing the answer.

Thanks anyway, Nighty!

I don't really know why you're not connecting either Des. Could be as simple as a loose or disconnected wire on your ethernet card. Your DSL software could also be corrupted. Have you tried reinstalling it since having your problem?

Also, probably a dumb question, but it's worth asking. Are you having any problems connecting with your parents' computer? Might be a problem with your DSL rather than with the computer.

Can I just check this: Your original layout went:

Laptop --> Router --> Parents' PC --> Modem

(rather than

Laptop-----------\
-------------------------->Router-->Modem
Parents' PC---/
)

And you had no trouble connecting via Parents' PC before?

'Boot, the second layout is the one that we did. We were both connected to the router. My parents PC, when connected directly to the Modem, seems to work fine, but my laptop, when directly to the laptop, does not.

My buddy thought it might be my Ethernet card in my laptop too (at this point, I stop understanding what that means). It also might be DSL--I've had problems with installing it on my laptop before.

Thanks guys for jumping in to help!

Well, if both your parents' PC and your laptop are hooked to the same router, and theirs works, than it's obvious that the DSL is not the problem, and neither is the router. The problem would appear to be with your laptop.

The Ethernet card is basically what allows your computer to connect to and communicate with the modem. If that is either non-functional or disconnected, then no information will pass between the modem and your computer. Chances are a wire has come loose and your computer is no longer connected to the Ethernet card, and your computer can't "talk" to the modem. At this point I'd suggest either having a cmoputer savvy friend take a look at it, or taking it in to the shop (hopefully the one that installed the Ethernet card) to be looked at.

Agreed - looks like the problem is with your laptop. Check the drivers, etc first, but a hardware fault is likely.

Is your Ethernet card internal to the laptop, or is is it a PCMCIA Card [often just known as a PC Card - a thick, credit card-sized device plugged into a socket on your laptop and ejectable without opening the thing up]

This may be important--

When my parent's PC is hooked up to the router, it doesn't work either. So basically, the router is definately a problem. When my parent's PC is hooked up directly to the modem (without the router), it then works normally.

However, when my laptop, which used to be hooked up through the router also, is hooked up directly to the modem, it isn't able to get connect.