I've lost internet connectivity on two of the four computers on my network, and I can't figure out why.
On the network I have:
A Westell 2200 DSL modem
A Trendnet TEW-633GR wireless router
Four computers:
DSK 1 -- A desktop which is wired in to the router via ethernet cable
DSK 2 -- A desktop connected by wireless receiver
LAP 1 and LAP 2, two identical Toshiba laptops, both wireless.
All four computers are running Windows XP Pro, SP3
Everything has worked fine on this network for some time. About a week ago, I started having problems with DSK 2. I'd be surfing the internet (using Firefox, recently upgraded to 6.0.2), and then I'd lose connection. When I tried to restart Firefox, I'd get a message saying it was already running, to close it out first or restart the computer. When I restarted the computer, everything would be fine -- for a while, then the same thing would happen again. Alternatively, if I went into task manager and ended the process (firefox.exe or mozilla.exe, I forget what it's called) and then tried to reopen Firefox, it would just give me a blank page saying "New Tab" on the tab and "about: blank" in the address bar. Again, restarting the computer took care of it -- for a while. It seemed to be hanging up when I used any sort of flash video (youtube, etc.), and I read somewhere that the way to fix this was to open a youtube video, right click on the video, and disable hardware acceleration. I did this, but again, I started having the same problem.
The other day, I came home to discover that I had lost all internet connection on both DSK 2 and LAP 2. If I try to open Firefox, I just get the blank "New Tab" page, no matter what I did. Home page, bookmark, typing in a new address in the address bar; all give me the blank page. Meanwhile, DSK 1 and LAP 1 could access the internet, but only intermittently. I called my provider (AT&T), and the woman I talked to, after trying a number of solutions, said she was sure it was my wireless router. I thanked her, hung up, and switched out the router for a new backup router I had sitting in the closet, a Trendnet TEW-652BRP. DSK 1 and LAP 1 both worked fine, but I still had the same problems with DSK 2 and LAP 2. I hooked the old router back up; still, DSK 1 and LAP 1 work fine (no more problems with intermittent connection), but the same problems with the other two.
When I open Internet Explorer on either DSK 2 or LAP 2, it's unable to connect, and it tells me to run the diagnostic tool. When I do, it tells me there is a problem with the Winsock provider catalog. I've tried all the fixes I could find for that (netsh winsock reset, etc.), but none of them work. When I look at my wireless connection on either computer, it says it's fine, no worries, but still I can't connect to the internet on either of these computers, though the other two computers connect just fine.
And get this: neither DSK 2 nor LAP 2 can see any other computers on the network, but DSK 1 and LAP 1 can see DSK 2 and LAP 2, can transfer files to them, access shared folders on them, etc.
If it was just one computer, I might think it was a hardware failure, but the chances of two computers suffering hardware failures producing the exact same symptoms at the exact same time seem mighty slim to me. The only thing I can think of that I've done to DSK 2 and LAP 2 that I haven't done to the other two is to access NFL Rewind, which I recently signed up for. It was only a day or two after I first used this program that the two computers started acting up.
I'm at a total loss. I've tried everything I can think of. Since the two laptops are identical models, probably even from the same batch, since I purchased them about two weeks apart, I tried going in and comparing the connection settings for both of them (TCP/IP, acquire IP address automatically, all that stuff). Both have the same settings. But still, one can access the internet and one can't. If anyone can help me with this, I'd greatly appreciate it. I've spent almost all of my spare time for the last week working on it, and I've gotten nowhere.
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