It is my experience that when you have a valid IP address for your Ethernet adapter yet you are still unable to access the internet it is one of a few simple things.

Make sure all firewall software is disabled or switched off.

Check through all of the installation documents in the logical order you may well have missed something simple. This can apply to post registration also.

If you have a standalone cable modem.

Try connecting to the modem using the following url in your address bar. http://192.168.100.1 If you can connect to the modem it would suggest your modem and PC can exchange local traffic. This would suggest the problem does not lie with your computer's configuration. After entering the above URL you will be prompted for a password and admin name. Simply enter "Root" as the admin name and the password.

Did you have a previous dial up account ?
If so try connecting via this dial up account. If it dials up ok but seems to be returning blank Internet pages as well you may be experiencing the effects of corrupt files since you have had the Ethernet Network device installed. This particular effect is often seen on Windows 98/ME machines. Below is a fix that has given brilliant results in these circumstances. It is affectionately known as the Winsock fix.

The Winsock fix (only applies to 98/ME)

The following screenshots are taken from Windows98. However the screens and instructions are identical for WindowsME. The only difference is that there may only be a reference to Winsock2 with Windows ME and not Winsock.

Before continuing it is vital that you either have the original windows disk or the cab files (special windows files) which may be on the hard drive. Do not continue unless you have one of these options. The cab files are usually in C:\windows\options\cabs. If this directory does not exist then it is probable that you don't have these files on the hard drive and you will need the windows operating system disk instead.

I have included screenshots for ease of explanation of the fix.

The Windows desktop

Click Start, Settings then Control Panel

Windows Control Panel.

Double Click "ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS"

Now from the resulting screen choose "Windows Setup". Take the tick out of the communications box and click apply. All the communication applications will now be removed from Windows. You may be asked for the Windows disk. If it is required put in the original operating system CD and choose D:\win98 (assuming D is the CD Rom drive.) Once this has completed and the tick is gone press OK. Close the control Panel. If the files are on the Hard drive (as discussed at the beginning of this exercise) or you are fixing a Windows ME machine then browse to C:\windows\options\cabs instead.

The next step is to go into Control Panel again and double click the Network icon.

You are now in the Network Control Panel. Highlight and remove (one at a time) all protocols and services. You can see that these components are highlighted in my example.

Only adapters should now remain. It is important not to remove these as drivers etc may be required to reload them. Press OK to close the Network box. Now close the Control Panel. You may be advised that your network is incomplete. Simply click YES to ignore this error.

We are now ready to delete five registry Keys. It is very important to pay close attention to detail as any mistakes could render the computer faulty. Click the Start button again and click Run. Press OK. In the Run box type "regedit". Now click OK.

This will open the registry editor. There are six main items known as KEYS. Expand the key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE" by pressing the + sign next to it. Now do the same for "System". "CurrentControlSet" is followed by "Services". This will leave you where we need to be.

Highlight RemoteAccess by clicking it once. Now right click it and delete it. Make sure it is the right section you are deleting. Now do the same for Winsock and Winsock2.

That's three down and two to go. Now from the same list select the VxD folder and EXPAND it. Do not delete it.

When you have expanded the VxD folder select the Winsock folder and delete it. Do the same for Winsock2.

Close the registry editor by clicking the "X" in the top right hand corner. The computer will save the changes we have made. Restart the computer. We are almost there. We simply need to reverse the process now to reload all the communications programs, registry files and the missing Network components.

When the computer restarts go back into the Control Panel and choose ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS.

Again choose the Windows Setup tab. This time we want to put the tick back into the communications section and press APPLY.

At this point you will be prompted for the Windows disk. So either you have the cab files installed on the Hard disk ( C:\windows\options\cabs ) or you are going to use the Windows CD ( D:\Win98 ) change D:\ for whatever the drive letter of the CD drive may be. This will load the communication components that are required. When the files have completely loaded press apply. You may be prompted to restart the computer at this point DON'T. First of all we will check that the Network stack is fully loaded once more. So from the Control Panel select the Network icon. The Network stack will now have a complete Network set. Clients, Adapters and the relevant protocols.

This is a previous screen shot, but hopefully you can appreciate what I am trying to explain.

Close the Network screen and restart the computer. That's it, you have completed the Winsock fix. You should know have full network/internet capability.