Ok folks, I'm stumped. Yesterday I switched my old COM21 modem for a Motorola Surfboard 5100i modem in order to use my provider's DHCP service. Previously I had been assigned a static private IP (10.x.x.x) and static DNS and gateway parameters. Now with the new unit according to tech support all I have to do is set it to automatic and the computer does the rest.
But no. I turn on Win2k Professional, run ipconfig and get all parameters set to 0. I disable the interface, enable it, same thing. When I run ipconfig /renew all I get is an internal error message telling me to unplug the interface or reboot (of course I reboot and nothing changes).
Initially I thought the patch cable might be the problem (maybe it broke when I unplugged the old modem). So I changed it for a new one and got no result. Then I figured my CNet switch might be the problem. I plugged in directly, no result. Finally I figured the darn modem might be defective. So I plugged in my Linux box and it happily logged on and got an address. Still having doubts I rebooted the Linux box into Win98 mode... and win98 got an address and happily logged on.
If I change both machines into their old configuration (private IPs) they´ll happily talk to each other without any trouble, which leads me to believe this is definently a Win2K software problem.
Anyone had a similar problem? Frankly I have no idea where to go on this one. I've been through most of the basic stuff you can do to win2k on the network interfaces control panel, and got not results.