Hi, I am facing the problemconnecting to Internetwith Windows Vista Home Premium Service Pack1. I just bought a new Dell Xps laptop and I could not connect to the Internet thru my cable modem - Motorola SB5100E. However, Iam not having any problem with my XP laptop. Could you please let me know what should I do regarding this ? Kind Regards, Adil

You should power-cycle the modem.Explanation: by design, a cable modem 'locks' to the MAC address of the device that's attached to it. Therefore, if you simply disconnect PC#1 (or router#1) from the modem, and connect PC#2 (or router#2) to the modem, the new PC will not be able to connect to your ISP.Procedure: pull the power cord from the modem, and shut down the PC. Wait at least 10 minutes (this part varies a bit by ISP and modem: some only require a quick 30 seconds, others 5 minutes, some 30 minutes; worst I've seen required an overnight shutdown - those, though, are rare.) Reconnect power to the modem, allow it to establish a line-sync (the light show stops), and wait ~5 minutes. Connect the LAN cable to the new PC, and boot the PC.Done.

Hi Cuppie,Many thanks for your cool tip. Today only I bought my new laptop and its having Windows Vista home premium sp1. I was also not able to connect internet on the new laptop. Followed many steps mentioned in other forums but none helped but your solution worked like a charm. Regards,Vikas

Also I assigned the mac address in the network adapters. How to do this: 1. Go to device manager and select the network controller you are using. 2. Right click on it and select properties. 3. Under properties go to the Advanced tab and select the Network Addresses. 4. By default we will see that Not Preset is selected. 5. Instead of it assign the value of the mac_address for your ethernet controler, you can check this by Run->Cmd-> Ipconfig /all You will see Physical address 12 digit both number and Alphabets like 001E3356A8B2 Regards, Vikas

I'm glad that it helped somebody (as we haven't yet heard back from Adil.....)Now, the second thing that you did isn't necessary. That feature (and, not all ethernet controllers have it) is to allow you to 'spoof' the MAC address (that is, use the MAC address of another adapter, for that adapter.)Example usage: you replace the PC (as the OP did), but don't have connectivity (due to a MAC lock, external firewall rules, etc.) You would punch in (to that field) the MAC addy of the old adapter. This way, the new PC appears to be the old one.