I am having a very weird problem on my machine. Running Windows XP, SP2, Dell Inspiron 8500, Broadcom integrated 10/100 LAN adaptor.

My machine is on a Windows XP domain, and it can be seen by others on the domain too. File shares are accessible, and it responds to ping request from other computers. It is using DHCP - IP, DNS, WINS etc. all is configured ok. I have flushed the DNS cache, and reregistered the machine on the DNS server.

I have tried setting up the computer with a static IP and ensured all DNS/gateway/WINS settings are correct, but no luck.

Any DNS requests don't work. When I try nslookup for anything it says DNS server timeout and can't find DNS server name, host unknown but reports back DNS server IP address.

I was playing around when I got my new PDA phone and connected it up to my laptop on an ad-hoc wireless network. To allow the PDA to access the internet I set up a network bridge on my laptop between the LAN and Wireless network.

For some very very odd reason, and I can't figure what, DNS and everything else on my laptop then work fine. When I disable the bridge it goes back to the same situation as before, no DNS, ping, or any internet/network access doesn't work.

I don't want to get round it with the network bridge, as otherwise the machine keeps crashing with a blue screen problem with bridge.sys.

Please help.

My guess is the subnetting or router/gateway address.

I read it wrong and answer it wrong too. So get off my case you goober.

Do you mean check the DNS record on the server?

Here is my IP config with the network bridge enabled (when dns works)

Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\Documents and Settings\Stephen Allen>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : QoNos
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : TheOldVicarage.local
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : TheOldVicarage.local
theoldvicarage.local

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth LAN Access Server Driver
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-10-C6-1D-99-23

Ethernet adapter Network Bridge (Network Bridge) 6:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : theoldvicarage.local
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : MAC Bridge Miniport
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 02-0B-DB-1E-61-6D
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.8.116
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.8.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.8.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.8.1
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.8.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 29 January 2007 00:26:13
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 01 February 2007 00:26:13

C:\Documents and Settings\Stephen Allen>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : QoNos
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : TheOldVicarage.local
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth LAN Access Server Driver
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-10-C6-1D-99-23

Here is my IP config with no network bridge (doesn't work)

C:\Documents and Settings\Stephen Allen>ipconfig /all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : QoNos
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : TheOldVicarage.local
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : TheOldVicarage.local
theoldvicarage.local

Ethernet adapter Bluetooth Network:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Bluetooth LAN Access Server Driv
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-10-C6-1D-99-23

Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Wireless-G Notebook Adapter with
edBooster
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-06-25-44-50-AB

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : theoldvicarage.local
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated
roller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-0B-DB-1E-61-6D
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.8.102
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.8.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.8.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.8.1
Primary WINS Server . . . . . . . : 192.168.8.1
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : 29 January 2007 00:35:11
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : 01 February 2007 00:35:11

I get this when using nslookup

C:\Documents and Settings\Stephen Allen>nslookup
DNS request timed out.
timeout was 2 seconds.
*** Can't find server name for address 192.168.8.1: Timed out
*** Default servers are not available
Default Server: UnKnown
Address: 192.168.8.1

Should I reinstall the TCP/IP stack or and/or the network drivers as well?

Ping doesn't work in that I cannot ping anything apart from tovprimex (the server) My machine responds to ping requests and appears in DNS on tovprimex.

Do you mean this to reinstall tcp/ip?

Manual method to reset TCP/IP
The NetShell utility (netsh) is a command-line scripting interface for configuring and monitoring Windows XP networking. This tool provides an interactive network shell interface to the user.

In Windows XP, a reset command is available in the IP context of the NetShell utility. When you run the reset command, it rewrites pertinent registry keys that are used by the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) stack to reach the same result as the removal and the reinstallation of the protocol. SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters \
SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\DHCP\Parameters\

Command usage
netsh int ip reset [log_file_name]
To manually run the command successfully, you must specify a file name for the log where actions that are taken by netsh will be recorded. For example, at a command prompt, type either of the samples that are listed in the "Command samples" section. The TCP/IP stack will then be reset on a system, and the actions that were taken will be recorded in the log file, Resetlog.txt. The first sample creates the log file in the current directory, while the second sample creates a path where the log will reside. In either case, where the specified log file already exists, the new log will be appended to the end of the existing file.

Warning Programs that access or monitor the Internet such as antivirus, firewall or proxy clients may be negatively affected when you run the netsh winsock reset command. If you have a program that no longer functions correctly after you use this resolution, reinstall the program to restore functionality.

I tried this and still no success