Toomey Banshee Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 (edited) My home computer has crashed. It's a Dell, has windows XP and a cable modem. I talked with the cable people and they walked me through a series of things only to realize its my computer, not their modem. They also said the first three digits of my IP address (169) is assigned to windows and therefore it shows my computer is messed up. If anyone can walk me through, step by step how to delete everything on there and then I'll just reload everything from scratch, i.e. windows, aol etc. Keep in mind I am a complete and utter an idiot when it comes to computers, so go slow. Thanks. Edited May 18, 2004 by Toomey Banshee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenBB Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 OK you're gonna need a butter knife, a roll of duct tape, and a car battery...j/k man. So you're gonna reformat the hard drive and reinstall XP? Do you have any kind of recovery discs or XP discs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toomey Banshee Posted May 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 Benn, I am not saving anything on there and will actually be installing windows 98, which originally came with the computer. XP was installed by a friend after it got all messed up last year and I dont have the disc. I just used all the duct tape, aka "Alabama Chrome" on the wife the other night, ah never mind, its a long story. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nater006 Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 1) uninstall AOL if its there (not AIM though..) as it tends to do some funky stuff with the network adapters. You'd be surprised -- it can hose 'em up pretty good though. 2) the 169.254.*.* IP is autoassigned by Windoze to keep it happy if it doesn't have a valid connection to the outside or an IP assigned by that connection 3) in the Network Connections area, you should see like 2-3 things. The "Local Area Connection" is the only one you care about. Anything else (Bridges, in particular) can pretty much be trashed and you probably don't need any dial-up connections but those don't hurt anything. 4) in the Properties of that Local Area Connection, under the General tab, there should be some stuff listed. The only stuff you really need checked is "Internet Protocol TCP/IP" and Client for Microsoft Networks if you have any home networking going on. The good thing is that if you are getting an autoassigned IP, the network card driver is intact.. it can be a PITA if its not. Did you try cutting the power to your cable modem, waiting 60 seconds, and plugging it back in? I've seen where they don't initialize to the PC correctly and won't dish a IP address so when the PC times out it just goes to the autoconfiguration (169.254) IP. My bet is that its a software thing -- possibly caused by AOL. Trash the Bridges, any virtual AOL adapters, etc, and see what happens. The sucky part is you can't remove the TCP/IP component in XP.. its listed as a core component and thus is not removable.. so if it ended up corrupted and the system hasn't bitched about the file integrity being compromised, you may have to just reinstall. As for reinstalling... back up your stuff to a floppy or whatever, and then reboot with the XP cd in the drive. If it doesn't prompt you to boot off the CD, reboot again.. and press F12 while its at the first "Dell" screen. It should then ask you if you want to boot off the CD... at least most newer Dells have the BIOS capability to do this. The reinstall is pretty straight forward -- just remember to back up anything you want to save, beforehand! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ledofthezep Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 Right on nater! Good info there. You may also check & see if you have a firewall running that may be masking the IP,...giving you a 192.168... address. If you do have a firewall, try disabling it, then release/renew your IP address and see what kind of errors you get.... Open -Start --Programs(or All Programs) ---Accessories ----Command Prompt Type: ipconfig /all --will show all ethernet adapter information To release/renew your IP(should be using DHCP with the cable) Type: ipconfig /release(releases IP & ethernet connection) then type: ipconfig /renew(renews IP & ethernet connection) Try that after disabling your firewall & see what you get...if you even have a firewall. Also, if COX didn't have you try this, I'd try this before I did anything else... -Shut the computer down --Unplug power to the Cable Modem ---Wait about 20-30sec & turn the cable modem back on ----Wait at least a minute -----Turn on the pc and see if you have a connection. Just some things to try... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cotton eyed Joe Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 Wow. You guys know a lot of shit about these computers. Glad someone does, because I sure as hell don't. This is what I used to fix the last computer at the shop. A 46oz dead blow hammer. Then we took the monitor to a shooting range by my parents cabin and blasted it with the DE. The next one is going in the 50 ton press. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toomey Banshee Posted May 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 Hey thanks a ton Nater and Led. If it means anything I have Norton Internet security 2004 with a firewall. When the computer crashed I was getting updates for Norton. After I installed the updates the computer re-booted and said something to the effect of Norton was messed up and to unistall it and reinstall Norton. I did and since then the computer has been FUBAR. Also I did unplug the modem and waited at least a minute or so and it is still screwed up. I'm gonna print this out and go home and try it after work. I'll advise in the morning. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeepman380 Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 If you ever do get the problem fixed it's always a good idea to create a restore point on your computer from time to time just in case stuff like that happens so you can restore it back to when everything was working properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lincster Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 You have to reinstall your operating system. You will also need the drivers for everything. I.E. graphics, speakers etc. Not hard, takes anywhere from 1-3 hours depending on how much stuff you have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nasty01banshee Posted May 18, 2004 Report Share Posted May 18, 2004 how did it go on the jerky boys tape ???? old man on the phone "what ??, he should be touchin' the blue wires in the back ???" TV repairman on phone: "nothing, he shouldn't be touching anything, sir." background noise: (sparks flying and a mexican kid yelling something in spanish) old man on the phone "what the hell did you tell him to touch the blue wires for, he's getting electrocuted for crissakes ????" TV repairman on phone: " i did'nt tell him to touch those wires !!!!" and on and on i only wish i could transfer that from cassette tape to a .wav file without it consuming the rest of my evening.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nater006 Posted May 20, 2004 Report Share Posted May 20, 2004 (edited) Hey thanks a ton Nater and Led. If it means anything I have Norton Internet security 2004 with a firewall. When the computer crashed I was getting updates for Norton. After I installed the updates the computer re-booted and said something to the effect of Norton was messed up and to unistall it and reinstall Norton. I did and since then the computer has been FUBAR. Also I did unplug the modem and waited at least a minute or so and it is still screwed up. I'm gonna print this out and go home and try it after work. I'll advise in the morning. Thanks again. Aha! Disable that badboy (Norton Internet Security). Lots of times it will mistakenly block traffic from the DHCP server -- thats the server that gives your computer its IP address, DNS server addresses, etc. everything it needs to function normally on a network and the internet. Take that Norton firewall down... that could very well have some corrupted rules on it or similar that are causing the problem. If you want a terrific buy... get the Netgear MR814 from Circuit City. Its $30 after rebate now. If anything, it'll be a hardware firewall between you and the outside world -- much more secure than the NOrton software would make it. Plus you get wireless LAN capabilities and then some Good info,a lso, Led! Edited May 20, 2004 by nater006 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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