Hi there.
I have a LAN in my home composed of 2 PCs, both of which run Windows
98SE. Both PCs are connected via a CISCO 806 broadband router primarily for internet connection sharing and secondarily for filesharing. My ISP is Insight Communications (InsightBB) and I receive high-speed [coax] cable internet access from them. I have owned the 806 router since 2002 and previously used it (successfully) to share a DSL connection.I've used the 806 to split my Insight cable connection for over a year now. When I initially configured the 806 to use my cable connection I was able to simply use the CISCO Router Web Setup (CRWS) Quick Setup option to automagically negotiate all the settings for the connection--and it worked. A few times (but by no means frequently) I have executed a 'reload' command directly at the console in an effort to allay occasional network slowdown. A few other times, I unplugged the router, but only when there was a thunderstorm/etc. occurring. IOW, the router basically functioned without any babysitting and was rarely if ever reconfigured using the CRWS.
A few nights ago, Insight performed some "maintenance" of some kind on the equipment at their end (there was notice in advance) which knocked me--and presumably all the other people in the service area (or whatever) that I reside in--off the internet. Everyone's service was supposed to be restored on the following day. On that following day, after power-cycling my cable modem and the 806 (at Insight's behest), I proceeded to run the CRWS Quick Setup (just as I had in the past)--but this time, I received an error message telling me that the router was unable to ping my ISP, and, as a result, no IP was assigned to my WAN interface/internet port. I tried releasing and renewing the WAN interface's IP, but that resulted in an error and still no IP was assigned to E1 (the WAN int). Now mind you, both E0 (LAN) and E1 (WAN) were up (Layer 1) and had their line protocols up (Layer 2). I was able to send pings back and forth between my 2 PCs and the 806 was doling out proper private IPs to both of them (IOW, NAT and LAN-side DHCP were working). So, I tried manually entering all the necessary configs and settings into the 806 using CRWS Advanced Setup, but still no luck. BTW, I should mention here that eerily enough, when I checked WINIPCFG on both my PCs (this is Win98SE, don't forget =) my ISP's DNS server addresses (both the primary and secondary addys) showed up--even after I released and renewed the IP configs in *both* PCs, and despite the fact that the router was unable to dynamically locate the addresses (or so it told me).
In any event, I disconnected the 806 and tried connecting my cable modem straight to my PCs. I tried both of them (seperately, of course) and they were both able to connect to the internet without a hitch. Many resettings of the 806 to factory defaults, RELOADings at the console, and various power-cyclings later, I'm still unable to get that blasted thing to find my ISP's DHCP and DNS servers or accept the values when I manually config 'em. I've checked and rechecked. I'm sure you can imagine my frustration at this point. =)
I would greatly, greatly appreciate it if anyone could shed any light on my problem. My personal feeling about my next step is that maybe I should try and upgrade the router's IOS or try and refresh the contents of its flash and webflash (none of the above which I've ever done to this router, so I'm a tad hopeful), but on the other hand, I've gotten by for 4 years without needing to update anything (and besides, every time I've ever tried to use the CRWS-based upgrade option, it has failed--and I mean *always*). Basically, I'm frustrated and need some fresh perspective from people who know more about this than I do. I only know enough to get me into trouble. And that's where I am. =)
Thanks a million in advance to anyone who offers some help. I will (and do) greatly appreciate it.
Cheers.