OT: IP address questions for NGs

It sounds like you are dynamically assigned an IP address each time you dial into earthlink. That's most common. The router is actually what gets assigned the new IP address. Have you tried hanging up the connection to earthlink and re-connecting? This should cause your router to be assigned a new IP address. You shouldn't need to do anything to your home network side of things if you have statically assigned network addresses for your machines. If you're running DHCP for local network address assignment then I can't help because I avoid using that protocol and am not too familiar with it.

More diagnostic information is needed here. Is this a diallup connection or ADSL or cable? What make and model of router? What's your operating system?

DSL router - Dlink model 514. WinXp on computers.

Yes.

MANY times.

Don't know what you're talking about here. Used the XP wizard to set up home network. Works great. Note: I'm having no trouble with email, Internet Explorer or home network

Karl

OK, the router gets the assigned IP

That's just between you and the router. An internal address. You need to tell the router to release and renew ITS IP

Didn't it come with an instruction book? You should be able to access it with Internet Explorer.

If all else fails, turn it off and back on.

I think your assessment of what is happening is correct. What I can't figure out is how your router is picking up a non-Earthlink IP address. How do you have your network configured? Do you have a static or dynamic IP address.

Do you have anything that is supposed to be doing NAT (Network Address Translation)?

I didn't have NG trouble when I was with earthlink, it was browser trouble because they changed their system to be incompatible with my OS. I cured it by transferring to access4less.net, $5.95/mo for better service.

I would think that the first question to ask is "does Earthlink support networked operation?"

Many ISPs do not, and those that do usually put limits on the number of computers on the network. I subscribe to Comcast high-speed cable access, and while they support home networks (at a cost of $42/month), the terms of their agreement strictly limits the number of computers that may be on the network to 5.

For me, the Earthlink statement that "Home networks are not supported" pretty much tells the entire story. Read your Earthlink service agreement.

Harry C.

...

My understanding is that the TelCo assigns my dynamic IP address. I'd like to try to collect these addresses, tell earthlink they appear to be invalid, and ask again for help. (Another fellow told me its likely that Sprint is assinging addresses in an invalid range.) I can access the router through I.E. but have no clue what I'm looking at. Again; I'd like to record the address, release it, try another and so on for several iterations. How to do this???

I don't know what you're talking about here.

Karl

For starters, you are asking in the wrong place.... well, not 'wrong' per se since there are a lot of ELN people here, but not the /optimum/ place. If you don't fix it by the end of this thread, go over to earthlink.support.usenet and try again - the newsmaster (Av) is actually hanging out in the group again. Stuff that can be fixed gets fixed, and usually fast.

I've seen this before... ;-) Read on, MacDuff.

If you are on cable modem, or get your DSL connection through a third party like Verizon, Covad, or an Ex-Bell-System Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier, they are the ones who control what public IP address block you get connected to at the cable headend or DSLAM.

But this is probably where you are getting in trouble - they have to tell Earthlink that you (ELN subscriber) are assigned in that particular IP address block (and then tell them when they make any changes) because Earthlink blocks any login from an 'outside' IP.

And sometimes the carrier tells ELN, and ELN tells the computers controlling access to Web and Mail, but News doesn't get the word.

They don't want kids going off to college or (gasp!) a job, logging in with the family account name and password from home (for free) and sucking binaries through the college's big DS3 fiber pipe at DS3 speeds - that kind of abuse killed their servers before they blocked it.

He does - the router gets the Public IP address, and the router does the translation to send the right data to each computer in the house.

ELN doesn't "support" users with routers (as in talk you through problems making it work) unless you pay extra for their Home Networking solution, though they work just fine on their network. But when something goes wrong, you're on your own for support.

On a Linksys router, you fire up a browser on an attached computer and go to http://192.168.1.1/ where it asks for your administrator username and password. D-Link should be similar. After you are in, you can ask the router to release the old IP and get a new one. Write them all down.

And if the news servers keep kicking you out, take that list of IP's you have tried and send a note to newsmaster @ (or call Customer Support, or send smoke signals if you have to) and Av will get the access list fixed.

-->--

In which case, your solution may be to forget about using earthlink's news server, and go to one of those for which you pay a fairly reasonable amount. Others here may have suggestions as to which work for them. I run my own news server, with a feed from my ISP, so my situation is quite different.

Good Luck, DoN.

I looked at the Earthlink site and it says that they do allow home networks, they just don't support them unless you pay $9.95/month for *their* home network. Here's their FAQ on it...

"Am I allowed to make a network with my EarthLink Basic High Speed connection?

Yes, but EarthLink will not provide network technical support. EarthLink will only provide technical support for the DSL line and the primary PC on which it was installed.

Also, there are several things that you must be aware of before you decide to create a network: a.. We do not provide network technical support; support is only for the primary computer DSL service was installed on b.. Businesses that are interested in networking their computers should purchase our EarthLink High Speed Business DSL service, which is ideal for LAN environments of growing businesses. EarthLink does have a fully supported networking solution for you. EarthLink Home Networking allows you to create a network of up to 4 computers. Share your DSL high-speed access, swap files, and share printers! EarthLink will provide premium network security and our award-winning 24/7 technical support. Share your DSL connection with EarthLink Home Networking. "

It seems to me that the way to solve your problem is to bypass your router temporarily by connecting your computer directly to the DSL modem and see if it solves the problem. I'm guessing it won't so then you can call them up and see what they can do to fix it. Then you should be able to switch back to the router.

If bypassing the router and renewing your IP address does fix the problem you should contact DLink and ask them how to force your router to renew its IP address.

Best Regards, Keith Marshall snipped-for-privacy@progressivelogic.com

"I'm not grown up enough to be so old!"

"Karl Townsend" wrote in message news:VDFSd.3277$ snipped-for-privacy@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...

I had some similar problems with Qwest. It seems that there were a group of IP addresses that were not properly loaded into SOME of their NG server boxes. If I dialed in to the modem pool and was unlucky enough to get assigned to BOTH the bad IP addresses AND the bad servers, I got locked out.

I'd suggest you keep a log of the IP address you were using when you got locked out and when you can access it properly. If they are different and there is any pattern, call earthlink and give them the data. You will have to endure some level 1 tech telling you that you are full of (deleted), but perservere. I wound up with a senior tech muttering "now how did TAHT happen??"

You will need to get your current *EXTERNAL** IP address from your router. I use a D-L> I'm having troubles with news groups. AGAIN! This has come/gone all winter. >

Ok... you have an assigned earthlink ip address number of the format xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. This number is the one that keeps getting set wrong. That is what must be fixed. Make sure the Internet side is connected to the "WAN" port on the back of the unit.

Re-run your "wizard" and make sure that the WAN is set to a dynamic IP address.

You also need to set the >As soon as Earthlink support finds my home network they refuse to help:

Earthlink should not be able to see your home network. And that is why I asked about NAT. Look at it this way....

Your router is kinda like two people sitting across the table from each other. The first person (known by the Internet IP address) talks only to the other person and the Internet; the second person (probably named 192.168.0.1, unless you changed it) only talks to the first person and you internal network. The second person has an additional duty of remembering the numbers of all the other computers on YOUR network.... like (maybe) 192.168.0.2 for your computer, 192.168.0.3 for the laptop, 192.168.0.4 for your wife's computer.... and on and on.

See NAT...

Ok, now perhaps it is a little clearer..... Earthlink should never see anything but your assigned IP address... and all of your internal addresses 192.168.0.XXX should be translated by your router to be the assigned address.

I think your problem is a (easily fixed) misconfiguration of your router (or computers), but on the other hand... if there is some problem between the TelCo and Earthlink.... rotsa ruck....

Have you tried tech support at Dlink?