Am receiving a valid IP but not getting internet access

Perhaps this could help

Switch the ports with a working computer and test if this all works.

If it still won't work, possible there is still something wrong with the computer drivers.

Internet explorers LAN settings are all ok, and I had tried connecting the computer to a port I know is working and still no joy.

Thanks for the responses

Did you try disabling the firewall? Also, when you say you installed the relevant drivers, did you get the correct and most current driver for the Network Card? Have you tried a repair to TCP/IP

Correct drivers, correct TCP/IP, correct settings in IE, and correct firewall settings will usually provide good internet access. .... ThinkPads_User

I did try disable the firewall which didn't help.

After posting my last message I did think about the drivers I installed. I had trouble finding the correct drivers. I need drivers for a Compaq Presario S3120AN. The Compaq and HP websites don't seem to list network drivers for this model as far as I could tell.
It has an nforce2 chipset, however the drivers off the nvidia website didn't seem to install drivers appropriate for it. I tried going directly to the motherboard manufacturers website in hopes that would work. It installed drivers which windows associated with the network adaptor however I'm starting to think that it could still be wrong. I do know that compaq can modify boards from standard and market them as their own so I'm wondering if that's what they've done in this case.

Once again the computer is a Compaq Presario S3120AN.
The motherboard is an Asus A7N8X-LA.
If anyone knows the correct driver I should be using and where to get it I could try that and see if it's just the wrong drivers.

I presume that since this PC is running XP Home it is not on a server-based (domain) network?

You need XP Pro for that.

However if it is a Workgroup then 10 concurrent connections is the XP limit (either Home or Pro).

How is the ip address being allocated? Via a DHCP router? If so what happens if you manually put in the LAN settings: i.e. ip address, subnet mask, gateway (router?) and DNS?

Do you have any other firewall software on the PC? Such as Norton Internet Security or McAfee?

Might be a DNS issue.

Try ipconfig /release  then ipconfig /renew, then try ipconfig /flushdns

If on a server-based network, have you been allocating fixed ip's from the server DHCP reservations? There is a known issue with this.

I thought about the XP Home issue (I dislike and distrust XP Home entirely). However I did not post this because the OP said it worked once. .... T

I agree with gerlis, a DNS issue sounds likely.  Maybe even an IP Conflict.

If it's not essential that your network stays up 100%, I'd restart the router.

We are on a server based network running Windows server 2003 small business. It is set up to automatically assign IP addresses to our machines through a switch. As far as I know it hasn't been set up to allocate fixed IP's from the server DHCP reservations.

The problem remains the same if I try to manually enter LAN settings.

Currently there is only windows firewall on this PC, not even any antivirus yet and as posted before, I have shut windows firewall off and the problem still occurs.

I have tried the ipconfig commands and still no help.

Thanks for all the responses so far.

Hmmm... are there any other XP Home machines on this network?

I assume that the DNS must therefore also be allocated via the router/switch?

Have you tried manually putting inthe ip and DNS settings in Windows (Manage Network Connections) to force the settings?

ip address, subnet mask, gateway (router ip) and DNS (must be the real outside DNS as found ih the router)?

There are a couple of other machines running XP home on the network and they are having no problems.

I have tried to force the settings and still no help.

Unfortunately I'm not the server maintainer so I'm not 100% sure how it has been set up in regards to the DNS etc.

From my understanding the network is as follows:
We have the internet coming in via a broadband modem/router. That is fed into a caching server. We have a local file and exchange server along with a changing number of computers, in between 5 and around 15 of them.

Try these commands in start - run - cmd

ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /renew

They will clear your dns tables, their is a small change it will help, but a small chance is better than none :)

Have tried those ipconfig commands already and had no luck.

Thanks for the suggestions

OK, seems like you have tried all the obvious things.

If it doesn't work with forced settings and other XP Home PCs are alright, then I suspect you may be right and it is network hardware.

Another thought occurred to me. Might be spyware/virus? If none is on the machine "...not even any antivirus yet...". You could have been infected from the moment this was put onto the network and hence with access to the Internet.

You'll need to download these from another machine and copy them onto this PC and run them

Download from www.filehippo.com

CCleaner
ad-aware
spybot
MS Defender

From http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware

All Windows updates inc. Windows SP3

Load some anti-virus/firewall asap!

If it is hardware, I'd suggest that if you cannot match the drivers for the network card which, I assume from your description, is on the motherboard, surface mounted, then buy and install a new network card. Disable the existing one from within Windows.

Here in the UK network cards are just few pounds (a few dollars?).

I could be wrong but I don't believe that it's a virus or spyware because I have done a format/reinstall of windows twice on this machine and it's not worked either time. Unless there is a PC on our network that is infected an targeting local machines I guess :S

I'm still holding out on the drivers being the problem though. I just wish I could say I definitely have the right drivers.

The only reason I hadn't installed the an antivirus was because I normally grab it from our file server but obviously we can't get onto it at the moment so I was trying to get that problem sorted first :S

I will get an antivirus and some spyware cleaners on the pc and run a couple scans in case though

Thanks for the suggestion of a new network card gerlis. I don't know why I didn't think to test that before. I put a testing network card in and the network/internet works fine now. I just would like to know whether the problem is the driver or the hardware. If it's just the driver then I'd like to get the right one rather then put in a network card.

I guess it's pretty much narrowed down to either hardware or the drivers.

But yes sorry for not making it clear before, it is an integrated network adaptor on the motherboard.

I think I can call this one case closed for now. I do agree it's not worth me wasting too much more time on it. I have a strong feeling that the hardware is at fault in this case so I think I'll have to run with that if I don't find the driver soon enough.

The points are all yours gerlis. Thanks for the help guys.

My first posts involved drivers (hardware/hardware related) and a lot of effort on my part as well as by gerlis. Next time, you should consider effort put in by others, especially when they have you on the right track. .... T