Hello

I would be grateful if any of you uber clever people can help! I have put in a small broadband network in the office. Using 3com router, 3com usb modem and 3 com pcmcia card.

The pc with the cable - win2k and off xp is working fine
Pc with pcmcia card - win XP & off 2000 is working fine
Pc's with usb & win98 - office xp are working fine

BUT

Pc with usb - win XP & office 2003 is not working so great.

Putting in the exact settings as the other xp, the broadband works for a time once the pc has been switched on in the morning but then the connection goes.
The connection to the routergoes although the box detailign the speed of the connection and the duration is still going but it is as if the signal can not get through although the other computers remain working fine.

The pc uses Pencillian virus - the rest of us are either on Norton but mainly AVG - would this interfere with connection do you think?
Could it be a off2003 glitch? - I have downloaded all recent updates.

HAVE TRIED;
Disabling the XP firewall on the connection (router has firewall)
While testing the pop3 email account on the PC I have 'pinged' the mail server through command prompt but it says cannot connect.

Any suggestions peeps?

Jxx

I had problems a few months ago after I bought a laptop. The wireless network refused to work. After a week or so, and from looking at various help sites, I learned that XP has some issues w/ networking, especially when talking to non-XP systems. What I ended up having to do was go to the lowest common denominator of Windows and enable the MS networking protocols, like NetBUI. (I was originally trying for a pure TCP/IP network). After I installed the new protocols, everything has worked fine.

So, my suggestion is check the protocols you have running. If in doubt, enable everything then remove them selectively until you find the problem or you get things working how you like.

Thanks for that sounds v technial for me but will try to figure it out. Do you mean by going in to the porperties for hte network connction and unticking the 'compenents used for this connection' I have a list of three;

*Client for microsoft network
*file printer sharing for microsoft networks
*internet protocal for TCP/IP (shoudl i change anything in the properties box for this?)

You are a star, thanks for your help.

Jane


You may think i'm stupid for asking but where in the

Thanks.

Jane

Yes, that's the place. You can use the "Install..." button to add the new protocols and "Uninstall" to remove them. Perhaps the easiest thing to do is install NetBUI first and see if it works. If not, you can try the other protocols and mix-n-match.

However, since it works at first then dies, there could be a problem w/ the actual connection. You might try ensuring everything is tight, then look at the cable for breaks.

What happens when it goes down? That is, does it disappear from the other computers, does it not see the network anymore, or does it just stop "talking"? Is this an Ethernet network or something else?