Thinkpads Forum

I have a 380ED with a Netgear FA 410XTC PCMCIA network card going to my DSL router. It is running Win98SE.
I updated AVG antivirus ,the latest version of Firefox, and I think,
a DirectX windows update.
Now, I could no longer go on the internet.
The "local network" light on my router stays off, and there is no
blinking on the Netgear adapter when I open Firefox or Internet Explorer. However, when I plug my desktop into the router, there is no problem.

On the taskbar, the PCMCIA icon is there, so the card is recognized.
In device manager, it also shows up with no warnings.

I deleted the Netgear from device manager, and reinstalled it.
It still says "device is working properly", but still no internet.

I would appreciate any help. Thanks.

Renew your IP address using ipconfig (in the command prompt) or winipcfg (from "run" in the start menu in Win 95, 98 or ME). Make sure the cable is good. Reset the DSL modem and router.

The cable is good since it works fine with the desktop plugged into
the router.
I tried winipcfg, and hit RENEW for the Netgear adapter, and
even with the PPP Adapter settings, and got the same message:
Error DHCP Server Unavailable. Renewing adapter''''
Firefox and IE still won't get me online.

Any other suggestions? Thanks.

See if you can disable that AVG program and other firewall related software before you renew your tcp/ip info. Sometimes the renew process takes so long that I have to reboot my computer. In that case, make sure all the firewall related programs remain disabled.
(or at least configure so that UDP port 67 and 68 are open for dhcp packages and/or TCP/UDP port 53 for DNS packages)

ref.
RFC 1035 and 1531

When I open task manager, all I have running is explorer and
systray.
Even in msconfig, there is no AVG startup checked.
I tried to uninstall AVG several times, but I keep getting "uninstall
failed"
Error: Action filed for file setup.exe creating backup...
Access is denied. (5)%DESTINATION%="C:\Program Files\Grisoft\AVG Free\setup.exe.install_backup",%SOURCE%"C:\Program Files\Grisoft\AVG Free\setup.exe"

When windows boots up, I see a AVG Core corrupted message.

Is it possible that this corrupted AVG is blocking my internet access?
How the heck do I remove it?

I will try to uninstall the AVG software in safe mode first.

I just tried to uninstall AVG in Safe Mode. It failed and I got the same
error message.
Any other suggestions?

I found out that I should run the latest AVG installation file and then
uninstall. I did it, and finally successfully deinstalled AVG.
HOWEVER, I still can't get on the internet.

Uninstall both the physical network device(netgear network card) and the driver. Then reinstall it and try again. Make sure the network card is enabled after it's installed.

If the problem is not at the connection(cable) and router end, then it has to be on the computer end. You might want to point the driver to a specific location even if system found the default driver by its self.(just in case the existing driver didn't get removed and already got tainted)

Thanks teetee.
I completely deinstalled and reinstalled at least twice. I even tried using an older driver, and that didn't even help.
I tried the Netgear in another laptop(760EL), and it did the same thing-(i.e.,recognized on the taskbar, and "working properly" in the Device Manager, but no light on the dongle, and no internet access.)

I also tried the Diagnostic utility on the Netgear floppy, and
got- "Network adapter not found or I/O conflict".
No conflicts show up on Device Manager.

So could it be that the Netgear card has pooped out on me,
or can it be something else?