LAN card work only with router

Question

Hi,All,DELL Latitude CPX Laptop with XP Pro + SP2 . I try to use WIRED internet at home, since the old CPX has no netwrok card, I  use a USB LAN adaptor. when I use a CAT5 cable connect the adaptor to my cable modem, the computer keeps trying to acquire IP address, and failed finally,which shows it has limited or no connection(the yellow triangel shows up).   however, when I put my router in the middle, it work.  the whole process is :   jack in the wall--> cable modem-->router-->usb adaptor--> laptop.   but if take the router out, hook the adaptor directly to the modem, it fails.   to be clear, my router is Belkin wirless router but it is also a switch ( has 4 ports back). I plug the CAT5 cable to any of 4 and it works. so anyone could tell me what is going on? by the way, I run a 'ipconfig/all' with the LAN adaptor hooked to the Modem. and the results is uploade to my yahoo album: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/bigworld005/detail?.dir=7210&.dnm=ba6e.jpg&.src=ph regards,T Message Edited by bigworld005 on 03-24-2006 07:37 PM

esquire · Answer

Did you have the router connected originally or was it introduced along with the USB network adapter?

Your cable modem could be locked to the router's MAC Address. Each network adapter has a unique ID called MAC Address (or Physical Address in Windows). There are few ways to get round the problem:

1. Disconnect the router and reset the modem (please refer to your ISP on how to do this) then connect your USB adapter

2. Clone the router's WAN MAC Address to the adapter (if supported by the driver)

A variation of #1 is to clone the MAC Address of the adapter back to the router after you have established a connection successfully to the adapter. Most broadband routers firmware support MAC Address Cloning.

bigworld005 · Answer

Hi, esquire,    I have a desktop at home. so the cable modem is usually connected to my desktop. when I bring my laptop back home, I use the router.   but you see, whenever I hook my desktop (has a LAN card with it) up to router or cable modem, it always works. never pop up the problem of not being able to acquire IP address, which the laptop suffers.   regards, t Message Edited by bigworld005 on 03-24-2006 09:10 PM

BBraxton · Answer

If, when you use your notebook computer somewhere else, it has a 'hard-coded' TCP/IP address then unless you change it back to 'acquire address automatically' it will not work.

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

LAN card work only with router

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