The problem that I am trying to resolve is that a bridged computer's network center shows it has internet connection, but its internet does not work. Here is the setup. Computer A has a wireless adapter and is on a typical home network with a Trendnet wireless router. Computer B is connected to A via a crossover cable. The wireless connection and the cable connection are bridged on computer A. This allows B to join the network. Now B can access all the other computers including the router on the network. This part works very well. However, its internet connection does not work despite the network center shows there is internet connection. I am wondering if anyone could offer some tip on how to diagnose this.hz

It is working finally. Unfortunately I do not know exactly what specific change has fixed it. Here is what I did: 1. Changed the properties of computer B's TCP/IPv4 to use static IP: 192.168.0.193, subnet mask to 255.255.255.0, Default gateway to: 192.168.0.1. This change broke the "displayed" internet connection in the network and sharing center. 2. Clicked the red broken connection sign to start the Windows' problem resolution process, then accepted the automatic fix a few seconds later and immediately the internet connection started to work. I do not know exactly what the automatic fix is. I really wish I could find it out to educate myself. The following is the local area connection details after the fix and I do not see any difference from what they were before (The auto fix changed the IPv2 properties to "Obtain an IP address automatically" and this is what exactly it was before my change). Connection-specific DNS Suffix: hsd1.ma.comcast.net. Description: Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller Physical Address: ‎00-24-8C-D9-A4-33 DHCP Enabled: Yes IPv4 Address: 192.168.0.193 IPv4 Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0 Lease Obtained: Sunday, September 19, 2010 12:00:14 Lease Expires: Sunday, October 31, 2010 04:00:15 IPv4 Default Gateway: 192.168.0.1 IPv4 DHCP Server: 192.168.0.1 IPv4 DNS Server: 192.168.0.1 IPv4 WINS Server: NetBIOS over Tcpip Enabled: Yes Link-local IPv6 Address: fe80::b16c:12e5:df88:94df%11 IPv6 Default Gateway: IPv6 DNS Server:hz

The internet connection was broken again after computer A went to sleep and woke up. I tried unplugging and plugging the cable on both A and B respectively to reset the connection and it did not work even though the network center showed there was internet connection, so I made the change to IPv4 of B again to break the "displayed" internet connection and went through the automatic fix once more. It worked! The Windows Network Diagnostics window shows the following: Problems found DHCP is not enabled for "Local Area Connection" Fixed. I remember that, before the fix, the network showed two networks: Home network and Unrecognized network. Both were associated with the Local Area Connection. I hope someone could shed some light on all of this.hz

You don't want to bridge for Internet on B, you want to use Internet Connection Sharing(ICS). click>Start>Help and Support>type ICS in the search box. Needs to enabled on the A and B. The crossover cable is correct.

Thanks, Nano. Can B access other computers on the network with ICS? It appears not because I tried ICS first and it is another long story which is not worth to tell here. It is even more important to access other computers than internet for B.hz

No. Bridge the network adapter (connections) for B to access the network. You had that working. You need both. Then enable the "share this connection" (wireless to internet) on A and setup B with ICS to the wireless connection.

Thanks, Nano. I did not know that bridge and ICS can go hand in hand. I will give it a shot next time when the internet connection breaks. As I indicated before, setting up ICS is another long story. My router uses 192.168.0.1 and there are other reasons for me to keep it that way. It appears Win 7 Ultimate does not like it and it wants to use 192.168.0.1 for its ICS, so I changed IPv4 of A to static address and A seems to like it but B never gets internet connection after many different configurations have been tried. hz

Bridging the connections will work for your described situation. It is also possible to get it to work with ICS. Regardless, all you need to do is make sure that all of your clients whether they be on the A or B side of the bridge are using the same IP settings: same IP segement, subnet mask, default gateway, and client DNS settings. That will resolve any name resolution issues you are having. Visit: anITKB.com, an IT Knowledge Base.

Thanks, JM. It will be ideal if I can have stable internet connection with just a bridge. I will keep your advice in mind and try to resolve it without going through the diagnostic process/auto-fix next time when the internet connection breaks. I thought I did exactly what you suggested - making sure B uses the same addresses. Probably it was not thorough enough. The bridge's details: Connection-specific DNS Suffix: hsd1.ma.comcast.net. Description: MAC Bridge Miniport Physical Address: 02-14-D1-41-0F-49 DHCP Enabled: Yes IPv4 IP Address: 192.168.0.198 IPv4 Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0 Lease Obtained: Sunday, September 19, 2010 7:15:07 AM Lease Expires: Wednesday, October 26, 2146 9:03:00 PM IPv4 Default Gateway: 192.168.0.1 IPv4 DHCP Server: 192.168.0.1 IPv4 DNS Server: 192.168.0.1 IPv4 WINS Server: NetBIOS over Tcpip Enabled: Yes Link-local IPv6 Address: fe80::cc0:dce:bf37:9c74%33 IPv6 Default Gateway: IPv6 DNS Server:hz

The bridge seems to be stable after a few power cycles in the past few days. I even tried to turn on B first so it has no connection to A hence no internet access initially, then turn on A and saw B restoring the connection and internet access.hz

Finally I had another incidence of Network Center showing internet connection but internet not working (i.e. email, browser do not get connection to any address). It was resolved by rebooting computer B. Now I am wondering if the bridge worked for internet connection from the very beginning but computer B has some problem sometimes.hz