Need help with your problem computer? Want to upgrade your machine? Setting up a home network? We can help!

TIPS

Q. I have recently installed a Sprint DSL modem, which works great, but I have tried every which way to Sunday to install a Linksys Wireless-G broadband router, model WRT54G, to no avail. After I go through the whole install and try to access my server, it says server is not available (but it is fine if I just hook up the modem again).

Is there a secret to this?

A. I hope I can keep the techno-babble to a minimum, Ms. F., but the secret is that you need to make sure your router's MAC address has acquired the ISP's IP address for your account. Then you need to make sure your networking is set to use DHCP in its TCP/IP settings. Ouch.

Now let's try English. Turn everything off -- the DSL modem and the router and the computer itself. Then remove the connection from the wall to the modem itself. Wait about as long as it takes to eat a gumdrop to ensure that all items have lost their prior settings.

Now switch them on in this order: PC first, then reconnect the Internet line to the modem and power it up. Then fire up that router and wait as it talks to the DSL connection to acquire the IP address that it needs to use.

The problem you encountered usually sets in because the router has one address in its memory while the ISP's connection has changed its own address.

Once they get in sync they will stay in sync, but you need to start each piece of equipment all over again to make them do that.

The way to update the IP addresses after things are working properly is to use a Repair command that can be found by right-clicking on the icon for your connection. Find that by opening the My Network Places icon and picking the View Connections command in the panel at the left. Right-click on the icon that appears for your network and you'll see the Repair tool.

In rare cases your problem occurs because the computer isn't set to use the aforementioned DHCP. So open the My Network Places icon in the Windows XP start menu and once again select the View Connections option in the panel to the left. This time double-click the icon instead of right-clicking as you did before.

In the tabbed menu that pops up, make sure the two boxes are checked ordering the computer to acquire the IP address and the DNS setting automatically. Then click on the Advanced tab. You need to see ``DHCP enabled'' there.

If it isn't, click on the Add button and select DHCP from the options presented.