PLS HELP: got IP from router, but can't ping, win98SE

[QTPie]

hello all,

my win98SE PC can get IP from DHCP server (router), be able to browse and get files from other PCs in my home network but it can't ping the router, thus it has no connection to the internet.
What could be the problem?

The PC is very basic as my back up PC.
Cel 500, 256MB, Win98SE, CD and HDD. On-board SiS 630 NIC (identified as SiS 900 LAN)
No antivirus, firewall sw installed.

I plug another PCI NIC into it and that NIC works fine. Since it's a mATX, it has only 2 PCI slots and I need those for Video and Sound cards (those on-board suck).

Your help is greatly appreciated!
QTPie

P.S. MB is PC CHip identified in BIOS as M758-LMR-H. If anyone has the same board, would you please send me the original BIOS .bin file?

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

If it's able to do file sharing with other systems on the LAN, it's hard to imagine that the hardware is defective. Have you uninstalled all the networking components and done the network configuration from scratch?

How about the results of opening a DOS prompt and typing: IPCONFIG /ALL

 

[QTPie]

I just found out that NIC had no MAC address. Should that be the problem? Is there any program that I can correctly assign a MAC address for a SiS NIC ?

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

If the NIC truly has no MAC address, the DHCP router would not have assigned it an IP, the MAC address is an integeral part of the DHCP protocol. I really doubt it has no MAC address...

 

[JackMDS]

The MAC number is embedded in regular NICs.

It might be a Driver problem.

Remove the NIC drivers.

Switch off the computer, and remove (or disable in Mobo type) the NIC.

Switch On the computer without the NIC.

Switch Off again, install the NIC.

Switch on install the drivers, and configure the Network.

 

[QTPie]

Thank for your help.
I removed and disable the buit-in NIC.
Turned on the PC and browsed the web with D-Link PCI NIC for awhile.
I downloaded a new driver from www.sis.com.
Then I went to the BIOS and enabled the NIC.
Turned on the PC and installed the on-board NIC with the lastest driver that I just downloaded.
Plugged in the network cable. Run winipcfg, it was able to obtain IP from the router's DHCP server. I was able to browse the home network and transfer file. But still couldn't ping the router and access to the internet.
IP config window showed that the built-in NIC has MAC address of all 0s whereas the Dlink NIC has some hex #s in there.

I really dont know what's wrong, please help.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Look in the BIOS on that machine. Since it's an on-board NIC, the MAC address is probably plugged by the BIOS, maybe it's configurable? I looked on a Realtek equipped system with the on-board LAN here, but I didn't see any configuration...

 

[QTPie]

gunrunnerjohn - thank you very much for putting up with me. There's no option to change MAC address in the BIOS, though.
I hope anyone had encoutered this problem b4 can help me.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

The on-board NIC has to get it's address from the BIOS, I suppose something could be amiss there. I'm still guessing that this is a driver issue, and it's just not returning the proper MAC address.

What do you get when you open a DOS window and type:

IPCONFIG /ALL

Please post the results.

 

[QTPie]

GUNRUNNERJOHN, thank you very much. I'm sorry for the delay. I was away from from.
The result is below. I'm able to browse and transfer my LAN with NIC #1 (the problem one) but can't get to the Internet. NIC #2, a PCI one, is working fine. I'm using it to this right now.

=============

1 Ethernet adapter :

Description . . . . . . . . : SiS NIC SISNIC
Physical Address. . . . . . : 00-00-00-00-00-00
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.176
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
Primary WINS Server . . . . :
Secondary WINS Server . . . :
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . : 11 03 03 5:12:22 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . : 11 10 03 5:12:22 PM

2 Ethernet adapter :

Description . . . . . . . . : D-Link DFE-530TX+ PCI Adapter

Physical Address. . . . . . : 00-40-05-8B-DA-B2
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.180
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . : 192.168.2.1
Primary WINS Server . . . . :
Secondary WINS Server . . . :
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . : 11 03 03 5:12:23 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . : 11 10 03 5:12:23 PM

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

How about the output from a ROUTE PRINT command? It sure is curious that the MAC address shows up as zeros, that doesn't seem correct! If that is actually going out in the packets, I suspect the router will barf on them and not send them along. I just fired up a PowerSpec system that's in my shop with a Realtek on-board NIC, it comes up with a normal looking MAC address. I'm guessing the MAC address is the real issue, but I sure don't know how to fix it!

I've heard "not so nice" things said about PC Chips boards in the past, you're beginning to make me believe what I've heard. You may have to live with the on-board video or sound and use the NIC you have. Of course, there is always a USB connected Ethernet adapter, not ideal, but it will do the job.

 

[QTPie]

gunrunnerjohn - thank you very much for your help ... I've searched the web and found that other people had the same problem (MAC value is 0) with the on board SiS900 NIC, too.

What pissed me off was that I was able to browse/tranfer/ping other PCs in my Network, but I couldn't ping the router; that's why I couldn't be able to get to the Internet.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Very wierd, I'll have to remember that problem in the future.