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**Lsdmeasap** · 01-09-2009, 10:15 AM

Re: Can't connect to internet after BIOS flash

Did you load optimized defaults after you flashed, if not please do so now (And always after a BIOS Flash) and then save/apply/reboot BACK to the BIOS as you will need to set ALL Settings again, especially your SATA/Disk settings.

Then go into your Integrated Peripherals BIOS page and be sure Onboard LAN is enabled, that may be the only setting that is disabled now causing you issues.

How did you flash, and did you load optimized or no? Have you tried going back to F7 and verify that it works and if so try F8 again and verify that it does not? Try the above first and if no luck please try this.

You can/could also try updating the RealTek Lan drivers and Intel INF Chipset Drivers first to see if that helps any >>>
GIGABYTE - Support&Download - Motherboard - Driver - GA-P35-DS3L (rev. 2.0)

**Ann Vill** · 01-09-2009, 04:49 PM

Re: Can't connect to internet after BIOS flash

Sorry, I should have provided more info in my initial post but I was running late and it slipped my mind. Yes, I loaded the optimized defaults after the flash (which was done with Q-Flash). I know LAN is enabled in the bios because I see the network adapter in Device Manager (and it says everything is working properly), and the drivers I was using before & after the flash are the ones you linked to in your reply.

There really wasn't much to change in the bios after the flash as I haven't tweaked it at all, other than turning off the logo screen and stuff I don't use, like the parallel and serial ports. This is a fresh unactivated XP installation on an IDE drive, so SATA was and has been disabled. I've been using the older IDE drive just to get XP installed and tweaked the way I want it. When I'm ready to install it for good I'll be using a SATA drive.

I've since gone back to the F7 bios and the problem remains. Any ideas? I'm not giving up yet, but how long is the warranty in the event I have to RMA?

**jfk&g** · 01-10-2009, 03:57 AM

Re: Can't connect to internet after BIOS flash

Hi Ann Vill,

You're right. That Automatic Private IP Address (APIPA) 169.254.x.x is used when a DHCP client cannot connect to its DHCP server. APIPA is installed with the IP protocol, and provides basic connectivity with other APIPA clients on the same network segment when a DHCP server is not available. But, APIPA cannot detect the gateway or DNS server addresses, and cannot be routed without a translation table.

First, ping the loopback address to confirm that IP is configured properly on the client. At the command line, type ... ping 127.0.0.1 ... That being successful, you can dispell the idea of RMA'ing the motherboard.

Then, if a good ethernet cable is connected on both ends, the problem is with the DHCP server, which is likely a role of the cable modem. Do you have instructions of how to reset the modem? There may be a tiny button to depress for a few seconds during power-up. Or you may need to just unplug its power cord for a couple minutes. It really could be as simple as that.

Once you get it connected again, if you type ... ipconfig /all ... again, you should see that the DHCP server, the DNS server, and the default gateway are all the exact same address (the modem, should be able to ping, probably 192.168.0.1), and that the client address is now leased from a DHCP pool on that same network.

hth

**Lsdmeasap** · 01-11-2009, 02:31 AM

Re: Can't connect to internet after BIOS flash

Thanks jfk&g!!

As for your RMA questions RMA to the place you bought it normally 30 days, Gigabyte RMA is valid for 3 years >>>

Motherboards

All motherboards carry a 3 year limited warranty (First 2 years parts & labor, 3rd year parts only)

**Ann Vill** · 01-12-2009, 12:18 AM

Re: Can't connect to internet after BIOS flash

I followed the instructions from jfk&g and I'm glad to say that everything is fixed.

The loopback ping was successful so I read through the manual for the cable modem. Everything pointed to me having to call my ISP, but then I saw where it said to reset the modem before calling. I did that, waited a couple minutes, and everything was fine. Flashed to the F8 bios again and everything still worked.

So thank you very much, jfk&g, your advice was spot on.

Edit: I'm curious about something (since as I said before, I know very little about network related things).... what happened that required me to have to reset the modem? It worked fine with the PC I had it hooked up to all along, but not with the PC I flashed the bios on. Then after I reset the modem it worked fine with that PC, but not the original one, so I reset it again and then it worked with the original one again.

**jfk&g** · 01-12-2009, 10:44 AM

Re: Can't connect to internet after BIOS flash

I'm thinking that the DHCP server (the cable modem) was still thinking that the IP address that it had leased to the MAC on your machine was still valid/reserved. Your attempt to release/renew from the client would have worked, except that you no longer had connectivity from the client side, because the BIOS flash scrubbed the previous DHCP settings. So, the server wasn't receiving the release command. The lease would have eventually expired on the server side anyway (after a week or so).
.
Glad it worked! Here's a link to an article that describes how to configure the server side of DHCP on a Server 2003 machine. It's really kinda simple, which is why many network devices can provide the service on their network segment. Many network devices can also relay the lease negotiations on their segment to a central DHCP server (in a larger topology), to avoid IP duplications.
Setting up a DHCP server in Windows 2003
.
Here's a link that better shows how DHCP is actually negotiated.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Lsdmeasap** · 01-13-2009, 02:34 AM

Re: Can't connect to internet after BIOS flash

jfk&g, think maybe you can help me out.

Do you have any experience with Win95? I am trying to use a 10/100 Ethernet card (3Com) in a win95 machine and have it drivers installed and all looks to be correct but I have no clue about why it will not connect or where to start setting things up as Win95 is lost from my mind!

Any tips/guides about this?

**jfk&g** · 01-13-2009, 04:44 AM

Re: Can't connect to internet after BIOS flash

ha ... Since 1989, Win95 & ME are the only two MS OS's that I've never, ever used! haha I remember loading TCP/IP in DOS from a set of 6 diskettes to get connected, which was back in 1993, I think. So I've got to assume that Win95 included TCP/IP, but I'm uncertain if DHCP was functioning then. We used 3COM 3c905 cards back then, and they were nice/stable.

Can you ping the loopback ... ping 127.0.0.1 ... that will confirm that the NIC is setup correctly on the local host.

What network device is it directly connected to ... switch, router, broadband modem, another PC? Note that older NIC's couldn't detect the neighboring device, so the proper cable must be used (patch vs crossover).

I'm starting a new class this morning, so I've got to go get wet right now. But keep this thread alive ... we'll figure it out.

**Lsdmeasap** · 01-13-2009, 01:34 PM

Re: Can't connect to internet after BIOS flash

Ya, I think it may be DHCP and or TCP/IP issues. But I am so lost as I have not used win95 in years I haven't a clue as to where to start!

I will check about Ping tonight or tomorrow. What I am trying to use right now is a satellite. I can connect direct to it, or to a router

Any info you can provide about methods of testing or setting up any of the above would be great. if I can't get it I think I will just toss the PC, I was just trying to use it as a Printer gateway for our wireless. I would assume now that I said that I bring in a whole new world of Network/workgroup issues that only compound my thoughts of using this PC

**jfk&g** · 01-13-2009, 01:50 PM

Re: Can't connect to internet after BIOS flash

It might be better to loadup a Linux disto, than to lose hair relearning W95, eh? I downloaded Mandriva 2009 last week, and will install it this week. I used it's previous version without problems. I've also used Ubuntu about a year ago, which was also a breeze. In fact, I've used a few other distros that have also connected to my little LAN with no setup at all. In your case, W95 might be the biggest hurdle to getting connected. If you haven't loaded a Linux recently, this'd be a good use for it.

**Lsdmeasap** · 01-13-2009, 02:12 PM

Re: Can't connect to internet after BIOS flash

Ubuntu work ok? How would it be easier, I mean with Drivers for the card wouldn't that only create new issues?

**jfk&g** · 01-13-2009, 03:07 PM

Re: Can't connect to internet after BIOS flash

I guess I'm just not familiar with the immediate problem. Is there a driver issue, causing the connectivity issue? Does W95 have a Device Manager? Is there a yellow exclamation mark by the NIC? Did this machine ever have a successful connection to any LAN? What changed since then?

I don't mean to be too quick to change the OS, but if there's no sentimental value in that machine, why not? I mean, that OS is so obsolete it's kinda hard to place any value on it.

How old is the hardware? Is it a 486 machine with FP memory, or maybe an early Pentium with EDO memory? ATA33 controller on the mobo? I assume it's pre-AGP. Does it have PCI slots (just kiddin', ha)? I'm pretty lost, just kinda guessing at what it might be. If the legacy hardware is a constraint, then maybe you're right about keeping the old OS.

Ubuntu is too easy. ha Really! I kinda lean away from Debian and toward Fedora, so my preference is Mandriva. But either one is hands down better than W95, in every way. But they're going to have somewhat modern hardware requirements.

**Lsdmeasap** · 01-13-2009, 11:51 PM

Re: Can't connect to internet after BIOS flash

Ya, I guess I did not explain fully. Yes, there is device manager, all drivers are installed properly. But there is no connection to the internet, and there is no "Connect to" or "Network connections" folder in Win95 to be able to investigate further

I have yet to try to ping things, working on other projects right now.

Changing OS would not be a issue at all, I just really need it to print only. Actually thought about sticking XP on the PC just wanted to try to get it going without it first to be sure the PC itself can handle the hardware.

I will have to get back to you about what is actually in there as I am not sure. I can tell you it is a IBM Aptiva though

I may see how a Ubuntu Live disk will boot and see what happens in there? I can tell you several disks I tried to boot to would not Boot at all. Some would and some would not, funny thing is the Win95 is one that would not boot? So no way to reinstall that at all if things go wrong with a XP layover or clean install. Disk itself is fine as I booted to it on another machine

**jfk&g** · 01-14-2009, 01:26 AM

Re: Can't connect to internet after BIOS flash

I had an IBM PS/1 back then. It came preloaded with Windows 3.0, which was a giant leap from DOS 5/6. There was no expansion slot for video on that mobo ... it had integrated 1mb video, so I was able to run 800x600 16bit on a 15" IBM Multisync monitor. It had a 253mb PIO HDD, and a single floppy device that would accept both 3.5 and 5.25 media. I eventually upgraded the 486DX2-66 cpu to a Kingston TurboChip 133, and pushed chips into the mobo to increase the CPU cashe memory, and also increased the Fast Page (FP) memory SIMMs from 4mb to 24mb.

I ran a small business office for five years on that box, from 1993-1998 (joined AOL in 94). We progressed from command line Sprint Mail to FAX machines, and eventually got our own T1 line with a CSU/DSU and router. Our LAN was 10Base2, using thinnet coax with BNC connections. Our 3COM 3C905 NICs were ISA cards. I never upgraded my OS to Windows for Workgroups, and I skipped Win95 altogether, jumping to a K6-2 350mHz machine with PCI slots, an AGP1 slot, PC100 memory, 6gb ATA33 HDD, and Win98fe in 1998.

My IBM PS/1 preceeded your IBM Aptiva. That's when transitions were made to Win95, PCI slots, and VESA slots before AGP. My PS/1 was a model 2155A-52C. If you can find a similar model number on your Aptiva, that might be enough to find a data sheet on the hardware.

But like I said, I have never owned a Win95 machine, and I can't really re-call any W95 experiences from the past. Our office machines were on the same LAN, but we had no file and printer sharing. We each had our own dot matrix printers back then, and sneakered floppies over to Wes's machine to use his nice laser printer when need be. W95 probably has file & printer sharing, but it's going to be very primitive.

ANYBODY ... have any experience with Windows 95 workgroup file & printer sharing?

hmmm ... now that I think deeper about it, it'll probably involve configuring a WINS server for each host on the LAN that wants to share files & printers, unless W95 supported DHCP ... I dunno.

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