Bob writes in with a networking question
Q. Hello, I have a small business network in my home. I have had the following setup for the last few years: - Comcast Broadband cable internet service which comes into my home and connects to: - Motorola Surfboard cable modem, which connects to: - A CAT5 cable that is connected to a Linksys wireless modem, that is connected to: - A CAT 5 cable goes from the Linksys modem to a Netgear (8) port hub that connects to: - 3 cables that come out of this hub that hardwire to my Server computer (running Win 2000) ; 1 other computer hard wired (running Win XP pro); another hardwired to a Netgear hub that splits to 2 other computers (a laptop and a stand alone, both running Win XP) – The Laptop also sits in a laptop stand that provides me with a wireless keyboard. We had an electrical storm here yesterday and it seems that it wiped out all my IP addresses on each and every computer system on the network ( I cannot get internet connection on any system). I called Comcast and they helped me at least troubleshoot and show that if I “directly” hooked up any single computer to the cable modem and re-set the IPCONFIG that I could get internet connection on at least one computer at a time (as long as it is the one that is directly connected to the cable modem cutting out all hubs and routers). I want to get all of my computers up and running again along with the server as I had them working before. If you can help me reconfigure the IP addresses (or whatever else I need to get my network running with internet), please contact me back as I am looking to take care to this problem right away. Thank you in advance for your response. Please only contact me if you are confident you have experience with this kind of problem and can resolve this problem efficiently. I think it takes some experience with working with Linksys wireless routers. Please let me know either way. Thanks, Bob
A. Your computers were most likely getting their IP addresses from the router (DHCP)so that makes me think something went out on the router itself. If you plug directly into the Comcast modem then the computer will get its address from the modem. The hubs can’t give out IP addresses so the computers have to get them from somewhere and the only other place is the router unless you are using static (manual) IP addressing. I would check the router settings to make sure DHCP is still enabled and if it is and it’s still not working then you may have to get a new router.
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