My ISP is quite special. I have a cable 512k connection from them, but it's shared between 10 users and in addition they won't troubleshoot it for me if i have more than one computer connected. No wonder the IT infrastructure is 4th rate here.
Anyways, my problem is that I can't open any web page whatsoever. It just returns a page not found. But if i type in the IP address, the page loads fine. This is something I don't understand much about, and I'm not getting any help from my service provider for the above mentioned reasons. Is this a software problem on my end, or something out of my control, and if so, what would be the way to fix it? Basically I have to call them up and tell them how to fix it, so any help would be appreciated.
When I run the modem through my USRobotics router, it frequently tells me there's a DHCP problem with the internet. I know that's not good, but I have no idea how to go about fixing it.

when you say that entering the address gives you a page not found error yet entering the IP gives the right page, my guess would be that there is a problem with the DNS and getting the ip address for websites! Can you ping any websites like google etc?

Wow 10 people connected on that connection speed, I am not surprised you are having issues.

It sounds likely what Jimmy has mentioned could be the issue.

I would say something to do with the modem/router configuration.

I also had this issue with my new ISP, well to explain it:


I was with Telstra Bigpond ISP and recieved both my ADSL modems and in-built routers from them, which were pre-configured, DNS and everything.

It is still set to vic.bigpond.com or some such, and when I swapped ISP's using rapid transfer service, I decided to disable this (thinking it was irrelevant) but this caused the Ethernet connected computer to fail with website (I didn't try direct IP's), but once I re-enabled this, it started working again.

So it could be possible, something like this may be what is causing the issue.

use opendns as dns server :
208.67.220.220
208.67.222.222

Seems like the DHCP for your ISP is not working. The purpose of DHCP is to auto assign the IP for you (dynamic IP), and the DNS plus the gateway setting. If you can access the page using IP, that means your IP and gateway setting is working fine. Only that your pc cannot resolve the domain name to it's corresponding IP, which is the job of DNS. So your problem could be software (configuration) or hardware as in your router or switch/hub configuration.

* The following steps is assuming you're using WinXP

Have you tried to connect to the internet from 1 pc directly? If that works, then you can get hold of the DNS from the connection status. Keep that number, I'll show you how to use it in the later step.

If connecting directly won't work also, then you can call your ISP, ask for the DNS server IP. Should be the same with the one you obtain from the method above. They have to give you the DNS Server IP, as this is their responsibility. The reason you can give is that you're doing a manual configuration. You can also obtain from their website, provided you can other means to go online and also that they did post it. (they should). Or you can also try the DNS Server IP posted by mHelmy.

Once you get your DNS Server IP, goes to your connection property. Right click on the connection that you use to connect to the internet, and select "Property". Since you're sharing the internet, most likely you're using LAN(Local Area Network). In the list at the middle, look for "Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)". Select it, then click Properties. At the lower portion, select "Use the following DNS server addresses:". Then key in DNS server IP you obtain from above into the boxes. If you have 2, key in both. If it already have some IP keyed in, then try to note it down, in case something else gone wrong.

That should do the job. Let me know if it still doesn't work, i'll show you more method to troubleshoot.

Good Luck

I had DHCP enabled, but still it didn't help?

Maybe mine just doesn't handle DNS so well.

DNS configuration is per ISP. When you switch ISP, by right it should configure itself automatically when your modem first connect. If it didn't fetch the info properly, then you'll have to set it up manually. Looks like now you're using Telstra Bigpond ISP's DNS server while you connect to another ISP. It wil lstill work, but there's an initial lag when you first access new domain for every new session, it's because your pc ask to have the domain name resolve in a DNS server outside of your ISP's network, so it need to do a few more hops to get it done, at the same time increases outbound traffic.

I think I better contact them and ask for the right one then lol.

I don't particularly want to have it slower and consuming more bandwidth.

I've tried the steps suggested, but they don't really work. I suspect they're blocking it on their end, though of course they won't say so. I notice it especially after I do a large upload. The internet cuts out and stays off for a few hours, and when I call they insist everything's working. Then mysteriously it starts working again after I either complain to the floor manager or if I wait for a few hours. So because they insist on only one computer rather than a router, I'm thinking to spend $50 for a secondhand P2, and attach the modem to that, and then just use ICS to share the connection. At least that way I fall within their regulations, and they should be more inclined to troubleshoot it speedily.

Sounds like pakistan is not encouraging IT to grow, seeing from internet to it's power supply, which is both very essential but not working properly. What a pity