Dead LAN connection - help please, I'm stumped!

[hassled dad]

The LAN connection to my ADSL router/modem has gone dead. Please can you suggest what I can try to fix this problem. I'm nowconvinced it is somewhere in the software.

I'm as certain as I can that it is not ahardware problem. I have swapped ports, leads and cables (and even installed a network card and driver software in parallel to by on-board network connection) until I'm blue in the face, but cannot get either the new or old connection to work.

I have worked through everything I can find about the LAN connections under Network Connections in Control Panel. In the opening screen, it shows the connections as enable, but when I try to repair either connection (with a cable connected to the router/modem) it reports that it failed to renew the connection. (I have two other computers connected to the router modem, a Win 2k laptop and an elderly WIN 98 desktop, and they connect just fine.)

The connection died after a failed installation of Checkpiont Securemote VPN software, which I then de-installed. (Warning - I strongly recommend never installing this stuff, it seems riddled with bugs, but my workplace uses it so I had to try...). I believe that Securemote altered something that I have not been able to locate. I have even tried re-installing this stuff to no avail.

I am using Win XP home on a self-built machine based on a P4 and Asus P4S533 mother board. In almost 2 years of use this is the first problem I haven't been able to fix, and it's driving me nuts! Please help me stop babbling before the men in white coats come for me... or at least help me fix this.

[njovin]

First off, try doing a system restore to a point before you installed the VPN software.

Second, you use the terms router/modem as if they are the same thing. How is your DSL connection setup? Do you have to sign in through PPPoE, or does the router do all the work for you and just assign you an IP address.

If the router is provided by your DSL provider, I would also suggest calling them, as you are entitled to free support while using their service with their equipment.

[hassled dad]

The system restore worked, I have my network and internet connection back.

Strange how a software fault can appear to be exactly like a hardware fault.

I'd guess there was some interaction between the McAffee fire wall and Securemote. After the restore, McAffee gave me a message saying it was reconfiguring the Winsock filter, whatever that means.

My faith in Microsoft software is restored (surely some mistake here...?). Perhaps it's time I bought a decent book about Win XP.

FWIW, I have a one box four port router-modem made by Netgear. I'm very pleased with it, you can plug in any computer to it and the computer can access the internet over my DSL connection. Of course you have to configure the router/modem to connect over DSL, but you should only need to do that once.

Thanks again!

[VirusEJ]

Any chance of letting us know where you got that NetGear Hub from? Or was it just from the store?

Thanks

PS - Glad u got ur problem sorted.

[hassled dad]

Tried buying it through Amazon, which couldn't seem to ship it somehow, then bought it through dabs.com, a UK on line store, which was OK (but oh how I miss NewEgg...)