Help

[Csargo]

I'm on my mom's computer right now, and there's something wrong. It won't let them log in to look at their bank account, my mom's school account, hotmail, and not even Java or mIRC chat. I'm not sure what's wrong everytime we try to log in to it says that their computer's not connected to the internet and as you can tell it clearly is. Anyone have any ideas?

[Lemur]

Start with the basics. Is the cable modem/DSL box connected? Cycle the power on it. Is the ethernet cable plugged in? Replace it. Do you have a router between the PC and the internet connection? Reboot it.

There should be a green light next to the ethernet connection on the PC. When the PC is on, is the green light on? It should be. If it's off it means you have a bad cable, a bad connection, or a dead router.

The first rule of a network problem is isolate, isolate, isolate. Find where the break in the chain is, or you'll be flailing around forever.

If none of this works, please post in detail the make and model of your cable modem/DSL modem, router, wiring setup, and PC. Without that information, nobody here will be able to help you.

[Papewaio]

Do you have any firewalls?

IE stopped working yesterday at home because the firewall decided that it was no longer a program allowed to access the internet.

Looked at the firewall settings, found that IE was unticked, reticked it and away the internet went.

For good measure I then downloaded Firefox (it still would have been blocked if it was unticked) so that next time I could more easily isolate if it was a problem with IE or the Firewall/ADSL Modem etc. Because if both FF and IE fail then the assumption would be that it was further along the chain towards the ISP.

[Csargo]

Do you have any firewalls?

IE stopped working yesterday at home because the firewall decided that it was no longer a program allowed to access the internet.

Looked at the firewall settings, found that IE was unticked, reticked it and away the internet went.

For good measure I then downloaded Firefox (it still would have been blocked if it was unticked) so that next time I could more easily isolate if it was a problem with IE or the Firewall/ADSL Modem etc. Because if both FF and IE fail then the assumption would be that it was further along the chain towards the ISP.

Yes, there is a firewall. I'm not sure how to change the settings on it though. Downloaded FF and it doesn't work at all.

[Csargo]

Start with the basics. Is the cable modem/DSL box connected? Cycle the power on it. Is the ethernet cable plugged in? Replace it. Do you have a router between the PC and the internet connection? Reboot it.

There should be a green light next to the ethernet connection on the PC. When the PC is on, is the green light on? It should be. If it's off it means you have a bad cable, a bad connection, or a dead router.

The first rule of a network problem is isolate, isolate, isolate. Find where the break in the chain is, or you'll be flailing around forever.

If none of this works, please post in detail the make and model of your cable modem/DSL modem, router, wiring setup, and PC. Without that information, nobody here will be able to help you.

Compaq Presario Intel(R)
Celeron(R) CPU 2.80GHz
2.80 GHz, 248 MB of RAM
Microsoft Windows XP
Home Edition
Version 2002
Service Pack 2

No router I think.

DPX2203C Series cable modem with EMTA, WebStar by Scientific-Atlanta, Inc.

I'm not sure what you mean by wiring setup.

[drone]

If you are posting here using the same computer, it's unlikely that there is a hardware issue. You can surf the web with no problem, but not do certain interactive web stuff? My guess is your firewall, are you using XP's built-in firewall, or another one? It probably has certain ports blocked (https = 443 should be necessary for most logins, IRC = 194 and 6665-97)

[Csargo]

If you are posting here using the same computer, it's unlikely that there is a hardware issue. You can surf the web with no problem, but not do certain interactive web stuff? My guess is your firewall, are you using XP's built-in firewall, or another one? It probably has certain ports blocked (https = 443 should be necessary for most logins, IRC = 194 and 6665-97)

I would guess it is the XP one. Can't log into secure things.

[Lemur]

I'm sorry, I assumed you were using a different PC to log into the web. The other posters are correct -- if you can see the web with the PC, then you have connectivity. My bad. They are also correct that you're probably having a firewall problem. Carry on.