Connection Conundrum

I am not able to connect to the internet using either IE or Firefox. I am running Windows XP. I have gone through the diagnostic tree with my isp and we have determined that my cable modem is functioning. The laptops on the wireless network connect just fine, but the main desktop computer connected directly to the modem won't connect. The isp tech support person said it looks like a problem of communication between the network card and the modem, something to do with the ip address.

I meticulously followed the instructions found at this thread:
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=155606&highlight=winsock

To no avail. Any and all help greatly appreciated.

 

Try to boot in Safe Mode with Networking. This can tell us if the hardware (ie; the network card) is functioning. If you can get online in Safe Mode, then we know that something in normal mode is blocking you. Norton, McAfee, and TrendMicro have antivurs products that can block all internet access. There have been numerous occasions when I couldn't get a PC to go online to save my life until I disabled/uninstalled one of those apps. TrendMicro and McAfee can be a bit tricky to turn off completely, so uninstalling them might be the best bet. Also, I'm sure your ISP had you do this already, but in normal mode, click Start > Run and type cmd and press Enter. Then try these commands:
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /renew
ping 127.0.0.1
ping 209.131.36.158
exit
If you get any errors at any point, make note of them and post them here. If all the commands go through w/o errors, after typing exit try to go online again.
NOTE: in all the commands above, there is a space immediately after the first word (ie; after ipconfig and after ping) and there's no other spaces. Exit closes the command prompt window.

Good luck! Keep us posted!

(127.0.0.1 is a 'loopback' address that tells us if your network card is talking to the PC and vice-versa; 209.131.36.158 is the IP address for Yahoo!)

 

First of all, a hearty thanks for the assist!

OK, here's what I did...

Rebooted in safe mode with networking and was NOT able to connect.

While I was changing msconfig back to normal mode for the reboot, I thought I would just give system restore a shot...

Restored the system back to a point when I KNEW the internet was working, and VIOLA! connection happened!

Then, just on a whim, I disabled COMODO personal firewall, and what do you know? My connection quit, just like that. Then I recalled that I had recently disabled COMODO, and that was about when the internet quit working.

Now I have un-installed COMODO and the internet is connecting normally.

Any thoughts or input? I am pretty sure my cable router includes a firewall, but I'm going to check just to be certain.

 

It is not a good idea to have two firewalls installed and running on the same computer.
Is it possible that the Windows default Firewall has been activated?
If so, when it was activated (perhaps, by mistake?) might be when your internet connection was broken.
ie: Comodo and Windows Firewall were interrupting each other.