Right a friend of mine has a prob with his comp

I went over to his house earlier today and tried to rectify the problem.

Clicked on IE Icon and no internet, so first thing I check for is an IP address and yep we have one, he lives next door to me and has same ISP so his IP number is much similar to mine.

I check for virus's, I installed, spybot s&d, spysweeper, ad-aware, spy emergency 2000, counterspy, all come up clean (I got the up dates from my comp)

I ran hijackthis, again it was fine.

I Tried sfc /scannow no problems detected, I did a tracert and it was very fast.

I installed a program that repairs IE and still no connection.

I even did a repair using winxp CD but still to no avail.

I uninstalled his NIC just to see if it might have been that, but nope.

He has no router so its not a router issue.

All was fine until a couple of days ago, he told he has installed no software/hardware for ages.

This one has got me beat.

If all else fails (if there is anything else left to do) I will format and reinstall windows.

does any other program connect to the internet bernard or is it just ie that wont? how does your friend connet to the net? broadband? dial up? you could go on the control panel and have a look at Network Connections check the status of any connections to the net there and see if they are connected. also make sure your neighbour hasnt locked his firewall if he has one, that could stop the computer connecting.

The firewall is turned off, none connected.

He's on BB NTL same as me, and ipconfig shows he has a IP number much similar to mine.

Like I say id a tracert both to bbc.co.uk and one to ntl.com, 5 to 10 Ms all the way.

No other program will connect.

Sent and received packets seem to be ok.

Also on local area connection status>>support, I clicked on repair, still nothing.

I also tried ipconfig /release then ipconfig /renew,and still IE won't connect, or anything else for that matter.

He doesn't have much on his HDD and its only 40gig, won't take that long to format/reinstall, may be the best option, as there might be just one or two other things gone a stray somewhere?

can he receive emails and has their been any auto updates ( some programes update with out you knowing at the time.
_________________
Hey I'm new, talk to me

BERNARD
JUST AN IDEA IF YOR MATE IS USING WINDOWS XP TRY ROLLING THE REGISTRY BACK A FEW DAYS TO BEFORE THE HASSLES STARTED! IF THIS DOESNT WORK YOU CAN SOON UNDO THE ROLL BACK!
_________________
This guy is liscensed to chill, and thrill, but the opportunities to thrill are rather less than anticipated!!!!

I think i agree Bernard! but do a back up disc before!
_________________
This guy is liscensed to chill, and thrill, but the opportunities to thrill are rather less than anticipated!!!!

have u checked the modem and tried reinstalling modem drivers? or did u check the auto detect in IE lan settings?

IF nothing will connect to the internet then i think it is the wrong path to concentrate on fixing/repairing IE. The problem seems to be at a lower level.
Assuming that you have checked all the settings in network connections
I would look at it being a hard ware problem.
You should try using your modem at your friends house. or vice versa.
_________________
Hey I'm new, talk to me

you can swop modem/routers around as much as you like.
mac address is assigned by the manufacteurer.
_________________
Hey I'm new, talk to me

I absolutely agree, this is a weird one. I'm quite baffled that you can ping, yet can't connect to the net. What other applications have you tried? Microsoft Mail applications and msn messenger don't count - they probably all use the same "tunnel" to hit the net. Does he have a third party browser like Firefox or netscape? can he use icq or yahoo messenger?

Today we tried firefox, ICQ, Emule, outlook express among several other programs and none of them connect.

I formated/reinstalled winxp and it and still wont connect.

We will phone NTL up tomorrow and see whats what.

It might be a faulty modem??