Ok heres the story, please bear with me. Was surfing happily on 2 computers (both Win 98) linked to a surfboard cable modem. NIC cards were really old so I decide to replace them and had a few bucks to spend so I decided to buy a router as well. Got the new NIC cards and they installed flawlessly. Installed the router (with some difficulty) but they surfed right along last night. Did some gaming and then went back upstairs to bed. This morning the went back downstairs (computers been on all night) and can not connect to the outside world at all. Checked my routers configuration and it seemed to be ok. Well, unfortunately I started to tinker and now can not get in to the router to do anything. The Linksys uses a browser based setup to change settings. Now when I type the ip in the browser window I get the "page can not be displayed error. On the main computer it has a very odd IP as the IP assigned to my NIC (not sure about computer 2) and winipcfg will not allow me to release it. No idea why winipcfg refuses to drop that IP. Things I have tried to get back on the internet: - uninstall/reinstall NIC - disconnect the router and put the network the way it was with the hub and nics. - reinstall win 98 over the top of itself - pressed the reset button to reset the router nothing worked...next step is use hammer on router nics and both computers. Any ideas? Jimmy

BTW, the link light on the cable modem stayed on while the modem was connected and would flash activity. All the lights on both computers indicators would stay on constantly while the nics were connected to the router including the full/col light and the dectection light at the very bottom. Have tried connecting the hub to the link port and a regular port, tried the cable modem directly connected to both WAN an Link ports. Please , any ideas? I'm thinking the router is bad, but could be wrong. Jimmy

Jimmy, I think the first thing you should do is isolate the problem. Here are somethings to try. 1. Remove the NIC in one of the PCs via the add/remove hardware. Reboot the PC 2. Make sure that there are no conficts in Device Manager. 4. If everything looks okay, shut the PC down and install one of the original NIC cards and start the PC back up. 5. Install the software for the NIC and reboot. Again look at Device Manager for conflicts. 6. Try to access the internet via connecting that PC directly to the cable modem. From here you can get and idea of what your problem may be. If this doesn't work, try another NIC then try another PC with different NICs. What you need to do is verify that the cable modem is or is not the problem, then work from there. If you can't access the internet after all of this, put the original NIC in your PC and contact you ISP for help. Now one thing it may be is that some ISPs require the MAC address of the NIC in order for you to access the internet. I realize that you were able to use everything fine and then it just quit working but you may want to try it anyway. I would start by using the original NIC and see what happens. If this works, Linksys has a screen where you can put in the MAC address of the NIC and it will use that MAC with the ISP. jim

I set up a Linksys BFSR41 on a Starband satellite system the other day and I locked up my router in the exact way you described. What I did was just push in the reset button and reset the router to it's default. Make sure you hold that reset button long enough to reset the router. Here is a page that pertains to setting up a router with a Starband unit but it might be helpful to you. Here is the Link

Ok here is an update: Tried everything as described in the first reply that was not mine. Also updated the firmware. Should have thought to do that first. :) Here is where we stand as of now. Can connect the NIC (both computers seperately) to the cable modem and access the internet. When I connect the router and one computer (or both for that matter) the cable modem accesses the net and then for some reason the router will not let the info get to hte computers. I talked to a friend who has the same ISP and he said he had to call them to get them to reset his modem. Our ISP will not allow but two independant IP's and he said his 2 computers had them "leased" already. He call the cable company and he them release two IP's assigned to his two computers and everything worked fine. Needless to say by the time I got up with him this evening the tech support was closed at my ISP and will have to wait until the morning to contact them. I will keep everyone posted as to if this works or not. Could be helpful to router newbies like me :) Also I reccomend anytime you have trouble setting up a new router, update your firmware if any is available. It made mine more intuitive. I'll keep everyone posted. Jimmy

JIMMY, 1. ask your isp if they do MAC filtering, which means if they do they will need the new mac address of your nic card 2 if not, then hold reset button till red diag light goes on & off 3. right click network neighborhood/properties, select tcp/ip for your nic card/properties, in gateway tab enter 192.168.1.1, under ip address tab either leave it to automatically or specify an ip of 192.168.1.3(assuming no other pc has same ip addresss)reboot 4. start/run/winipcfg, in drop down menu select your nic card & write down adapter address, click ok 5. access router setup page, Advance tab/Mac clone address, type in mac address,click apply,click setup tab,status tab, under WAN ip address see if your pulling an ip, if you are write down the first 2 sets of DNS#s,close browser 6.right click network neighborhood/properties, select tcp/ip for your nic card/properties, Dns configuration tab, click on enable, in server search order enter the 2 ip's for dns, enter a host name, click ok & ok ,reboot,& walla, your online (i hope)

Ok final update, Got on the phone with my tech support people at ISP and here was the simple fix: 1. ISP to release mac and ip's for my computers. 2. reset modem and router (turned off modem and left off for 5 minutes) 3. rebooted machines , router and cable modem. Problem fixed. Jimmy