cant install my modem!!!please help!

[mikejones]

please wil sum 1 take a min 2 read this and help me out cuz its driving me mad
hi im trying to instal my ntl cable modem its was originanly conected using the usb wire but the connection kept dropping so i decided to intall it using an ethernet wire. i have just formated my disk so i was starting from scratch and there so there wouldnt b ne problems with it already being instaled with usb. however wen trying to instal the cable modem the ethernet light on the modem wont stay on steady it just flashes on and off and none of the 2 led lights on the back of my pc on the nic card where the ethernet wire goes into (i dont no if they r ment to b on neway)

neway wen i tried to instal the modm an error mesage comes up saying - DHCP release/renew failed - you hav 1 netwrk adaptor set to DHCP - via rhine 111 fast ethernet adapter

please wil sum1 help in neway in telling me wot this error mesage means and how i can instal my modem using ethernet wire thanks in advance
mike

[mikesgroovin]

My first thought would be, what kind of ethernet cable are you using. Make sure that it is a CAT5(5e) standard straight-through cable.

-Mike

[mikejones]

yes it is (i think) i got it from pc world its a belkin fast cat5 networking rj45 patch cable, is this the right type?

[extralov]

mike did you give your internet provider the mac address from the modem? What operating system are you running on your PC?

[mikejones]

wot is the mac address? i was on win xp wen it stopped workin via usb but i av now reinstaled win 98 and it wrks fine via usb but i still cant install it via ethernet

[HoLoCroN]

Originally posted by mikejones
wot is the mac address? i was on win xp wen it stopped workin via usb but i av now reinstaled win 98 and it wrks fine via usb but i still cant install it via ethernet

MAC is short for Media Access Control address, a hardware address that uniquely identifies each node of a network. In IEEE 802 networks, the Data Link Control (DLC) layer of the OSI Reference Model is divided into two sublayers: the Logical Link Control (LLC) layer and the Media Access Control (MAC) layer. The MAC layer interfaces directly with the network medium. Consequently, each different type of network medium requires a different MAC layer.

In other words.... it is a unique number assigned to any type of networking device (NIC, HUB, Switch, Router, Wireless Network Card, Print Server etc.) It is used by TCP/IP and DHCP to determine where the IP addresses are assigned to on a hardware level.