Chuck,
Thanks for your response. As I said in my post, I have tried most, if not
*all* of the standard remedies for connectivity problems, etc, to no avail.
What I did find, a bit further down this group, was a posting referring to
taking the network card off 'auto' and making it full 10 mpbs. Here is that
post:


UPDATE:

As of yesterday morning I followed this tip from PracticallyNetworked.com
(linked from Chuck's web page). I took it off of automatic. First I tried
100 MB full duplex, as suggested on the site but I shortly lost the
connection as usual. I then tried 10 MB full duplex and it has worked
flawlessly so far. I don't know if it's just a coincidence, or permently
fixed the problem. 10 MB is fine for internet usage through my cable
company, which I primarily use the network for. I also left it as a static
IP address which didn't work on it's own. Since it is currenlty working
normally, I am not going to change anything else. I copied and pasted the
excerpt below incase anybody else with this type of problem would like to
give it a shot.

Specify Explicit Speed and Duplex Settings
By default, network cards are configured to automatically detect the proper
speed and duplex settings. This automatic sensing can fail, preventing the
computer from accessing the network.

In Windows XP, right click the network connection and click Properties |
Configure | Advanced. In Windows 95/98/Me, go to Control Panel | Network,
double click the network adapter, and click Advanced. The name of the
appropriate setting depends on the particular network card. Specify explicit
speed and duplex settings that work on your network. Most switches and
hardware routers use 100 Mb, full duplex. Hubs use half duplex. Here’s an
example, showing how to configure an SMC 1211TX network card that’s connected
to a switch.



Voila...that did the trick! So, after many, many hours of frustration, it
came down to what I thought it would be...one simple little tweak.
Now I have to find out why I can't access the main pc from the laptop, even
though I see it in the Network Neighbourhoodand many folders and drives are
shared and available to 'Everyone".
Thanks again,
Phil

"Chuck" wrote:

> On Tue, 15 Nov 2005 12:19:03 -0800, "Phil" <Phil@discussions.microsoft.com>
> wrote:
>
> >Help!
> >Picked up a used Dell Latitude cpx laptop last week. Hooked it up to my
> >wired network (linksys router) and was able to connect to the internet, but
> >not my network. I've had luck with win xp sorting these problems out in the
> >past, so I re-installed it, thinking there was a problem. Once the re-install
> >was done, I could in fact see the network and was moving files from my main
> >pc to the laptop. I thought it would be a good time to install SP2, so I did.
> >Here's where it gets weird. After the SP2, I could do nothing...no internet,
> >no network. I uninstalled SP2 and restored to a checkpoint prior to the
> >install, when everything worked. Still nothing. I did a repair install of XP,
> >still nothing. I have even gone so far as to restore the laptop to its
> >factory state with the Dell restore disk (win 98se), then installed
> >XP...still can't connect. I have even tried a brand new ethernet
> >card....nothing. (although after installing the new card, I did get a glimmer
> >of recognition and a brief period...30 seconds...of connectivity, according
> >to the 'connected' icon in the sys tray)
> >I've tried to repair the winsock with the available utilities.
> >Here's what happens. It's the standard 169.xxx.x.x ip address if I leave TCP
> >set to 'obtain IP' and I can't connect to anything. If I force feed it the
> >router ip 192.168.1.107, still nothing. There are no firewalls installed on
> >the pc, the cable and router port work fine on my main pc.
> >'Browstat status' returns
> >\Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{6F12208B-C2CC-4076-A4D5-9EAAB6D8C439} Browsing is NOT
> >active on domain.
> >
> >I have tried most, if not ALL of the suggestions for correcting networking,
> >connectivity, sharing, etc, etc. problems and I don't know what to try next.
> >Device Manager tells me that the PCMIA adapters are working, as is the new
> >D-Link ethernet card I bought today. Is there any way of testing if it's an
> >internal problem...although I don't know what it could be?
> >
> >Hoping somebody out there has some ides.
> >Cheers,
> >Phil
>
> Phil,
>
> Have you posted here before, with this problem? If so, please forgive me if I
> feed you the same diagnostics. You're not providing a lot of detail as to what
> specifically you have and haven't tried.
>
> Firstly, "Limited or no connectivity", accompanied by the DHCP assigned IP
> address 169,254.x.x, can have any of several causes.
> <http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/07/limited-or-no-connectivity.html>
> http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/0...nectivity.html
>
> The LSP / Winsock / TCP/IP corruption problem can, itself, have a number of
> causes. There are 6 known LSP / Winsock / TCP/IP repairs.
> <http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/05/problems-with-lsp-winsock-layer-in.html>
> http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/0...-layer-in.html
>
> Those are the 2 issues which, IMHO, you must solve first. Please try all of the
> diagnostics described in each article, in sequence. If no help yet, describe
> your network in detail, and I'll try and help you devise some other diagnostics
> that you may make, that use your network and its components.
> <http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/06/background-information-useful-in.html>
> http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/2005/0...useful-in.html
>
> --
> Cheers,
> Chuck, MS-MVP [Windows - Networking]
> http://nitecruzr.blogspot.com/
> Paranoia is not a problem, when it's a normal response from experience.
> My email is AT DOT
> actual address pchuck mvps org.
>