Hmm, no I didn't try a power cycle of the modem.. That might work tho, thx. I don't think I've ever had that problem before the few times I've had 3 or more machines using it in close proximity (time wise).

The ethernet (broadcom) is showing up in the device manager and I disabled it then re-enabled it but that didn't seem to work either.

Flunar,

Did you try powering off the modem for five minutes? I wonder how long MAC (hardware Ethernet) addresses are retained if the modem has been configured to allow more than one connection.

Is the Ethernet adapter being correctly recognized in the Device Manager?

Jim

Message Edited by jimw on 03-16-2005 06:08 PM

Well, no go with anything. Both of my other systems have no problems seeing the modem/dhcp server and the settings look all the same. After looking around though I'm guessing its an issue with comcast locking things down with macs/IPs. They never used to be such twits. I pay for two "reasonably static" IPs shouldn't be a big deal to let me vary the machines.

Flunar,

Exactly how MAC addresses get registered is (unfortunately!) a function of the age and configuration of the cable system, as well as Comcast policy. In many cases, the "power cycle" sequence clears the prior settings from the cable modem, and that's all that's needed.

One of the advantages of most SOHO broadband routers is that it's easy to "clone" the MAC address of one of the connected PCs as the MAC address of the Internet side of the router.

It's also possible to "clone" a MAC address on Win2K and XP, as described in these notes. That's riskier, because you'd need to disconnect the PC with the "real" MAC address completely while trying the "cloning" experiment.

Were it me, I'd buy a router! :)

Jim

Thx for the info jim. I figured it out that it had to deal with the MAC addresses and normally I haven't had problems with fast switching machines. All it took was a power cycle of the cable modem to get the new lappy online. A bit of a pain but normally I only have 2 comps regularly hooked up.

I use only a switch because up until recently I didnt trust a router to make gaming/file transfers easy. Nowadays more games/software can take NAT etc. into account. I just remember the nightmares of friends trying to get stuff to work. It was just easier to get "Static" ips for 2 machines.

Know of any good routers though? TIA

Flunar,

Here's my two cents worth - I've had good luck with Linksys and Netgear products. NAT traversal can still be a pain! But most routers can be configured to do "port forwarding", which works as a last resort in most cases.

Jim