I'm trying to set up a BT Home Hub 1.5 for a friend. BT charged him £50 to 'install' it (i.e. to take it out of the box and plug it in). They got it connected to the net on the 'engineer's' laptop using the wireless link,, but couldn't get an internet connection via the network cable to the desktop PC. The engineer then said that, as he had demonstrated a connection at the hub, he had done his job-and left! (Apparently he was there less than 30 mins). Later after my friend complained by phone they advised him to 'reinstall Windows'...doh).
The PC is running XP Media Edition, SP2 installed, has up to date antivirus and anti-spyware (McAfee and Spyware Doctor).
I have checked the connection to the Hub using my own laptop, both wired and wirelessly, and it's fine. That rules out a faulty ethernet port on the Hub or a faulty ethernet cable. I have looked into the Hub config (which strangely enough I can access via the ethernet cable from the PC) and all appears OK (other than that the BT numpty had set the wireless connection up using WEP...). The Hub diagnostics say all is fine and it can 'see' the PC, did ping test router to PC, all OK.
So the Hub seems OK, and so do the connections.
Turning to the PC hardware, I checked the network card in Device Manager and it indicates no problem, tried reinstalling the driver anyway, made no difference. The yellow light on the ethernet port is lit-all OK.
OK, so it must be the PC software. I checked in Network Connections, the IP address range is correct, the default gateway matches the router. IP and DNS addresses set to obtain automatically. Anyway I cleared all these and rebooted, all reobtained OK and appear correct. Then I pinged the hub, all OK there too.
Firewall maybe? Windows firewall is switched off, using McAfee one. I switched this off temporarily, still no joy.
Browser problem (Internet Explorer)? I tried using Firefox-no connection either.
Can anyone please suggest what else I might check, as I'm completely out of ideas having struggled with this for hours.
We even tried the Home Hub 'helpdesk' (not much help): once they had established that the Hub was installed and apparently working, they refused to assist further unless we paid for an enhanced tech support service...
The PC is running XP Media Edition, SP2 installed, has up to date antivirus and anti-spyware (McAfee and Spyware Doctor).
I have checked the connection to the Hub using my own laptop, both wired and wirelessly, and it's fine. That rules out a faulty ethernet port on the Hub or a faulty ethernet cable. I have looked into the Hub config (which strangely enough I can access via the ethernet cable from the PC) and all appears OK (other than that the BT numpty had set the wireless connection up using WEP...). The Hub diagnostics say all is fine and it can 'see' the PC, did ping test router to PC, all OK.
So the Hub seems OK, and so do the connections.
Turning to the PC hardware, I checked the network card in Device Manager and it indicates no problem, tried reinstalling the driver anyway, made no difference. The yellow light on the ethernet port is lit-all OK.
OK, so it must be the PC software. I checked in Network Connections, the IP address range is correct, the default gateway matches the router. IP and DNS addresses set to obtain automatically. Anyway I cleared all these and rebooted, all reobtained OK and appear correct. Then I pinged the hub, all OK there too.
Firewall maybe? Windows firewall is switched off, using McAfee one. I switched this off temporarily, still no joy.
Browser problem (Internet Explorer)? I tried using Firefox-no connection either.
Can anyone please suggest what else I might check, as I'm completely out of ideas having struggled with this for hours.
We even tried the Home Hub 'helpdesk' (not much help): once they had established that the Hub was installed and apparently working, they refused to assist further unless we paid for an enhanced tech support service...